How to Reward Yourself When You Turn Your Life into Fun Games
By: Victoria Ichizli-Bartels
Tags: Rewards, Ideas, Self, Gaming, Self-awareness

Points help us to appreciate what we do

One of the most prominent authorities in gamification, with whom I had the honor of talking to online, Yu-kai Chou, often emphasizes — including in the title of his acclaimed book — that gamification is

“beyond points, badges, and leaderboards.” — Yu-kai Chou, Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards

Many gamification experts agree with him.

I do too. Very much. That is one of the reasons I start introducing Self-Gamification with awareness, then go on to kaizen and gamification, and only after that, I talk about rewards and points.

You probably sense a “but” here.

Here it comes. Allocating points (or badges, stars, leaderboards, and any other means of recording your score in a game), not the amount, but the process of recording them, is crucial in Self-Gamification, and I dare say in gamification as well.

Here’s why.

When you pause to give yourself points in your self-motivational games, you take a moment to appreciate what you’ve achieved.

Have you noticed that you are the last person you usually expect to appreciate what you do? Most of us hope for others to praise us before we allow ourselves to acknowledge all the effort we put into various projects and tasks; be it at work or at home. But if we take little steps and appreciate each of them, we will be less dependent on external praise, and blame others less for not praising us enough. We will appreciate life the mindful and kaizen way, moment by moment.

That is where Self-Gamification comes full circle. Using game design elements and recording scores in our games helps us to melt procrastination and lets us become more aware of what we do during the day.

The point system helped me to overcome my procrastination when I thought a task was too hard to do, and to avoid spending too long on other duties that were “cozy” to be with, while the more pressing projects waited their turn. Limiting available points to just one per project per day was a brilliant way of keeping a balance between preferred and less-favored projects.

By the way, as mentioned briefly above, I discovered that buying something for oneself could be part of a well-being game. I noticed that when I included shopping in my self-motivational games and did it intentionally (i.e. making it one of the tasks for the day and giving myself points for shopping), I enjoyed the process more. Besides that, I started experiencing the purchase of those things I thought I had to buy but didn’t like buying (for example groceries, or essential toiletries like shower gel), as a treat. I began to be more aware of and grateful for the simple things in life and to take less and less for granted.

Another positive byproduct was that I started buying fewer things I didn’t need. I realized that the things I needed were also the things I wanted. And those I thought I wanted but didn’t need were on the list (often in my head) because I had heard someone say, or read somewhere, that they were good for me, or because I wanted them in the past and therefore thought I still had to want them. But I didn’t really want them now. Self-Gamification, including non-judgmental seeing, helped me to become aware of this and to be more deliberate and intentional with my shopping.

The same goes for having a cup of espresso or tea. I consider it a treat (and part of my well-being games) and give myself points for having it. Having reached the points I wanted on that day for a specific activity, I move on to the next game, which could be a household chore or something else.

Recording points for various types of activities also made me aware that I was taking care of my family, my friends, and my health when I had thought I was doing none of it. Keeping score also helped me to see where I wanted to do more and to invest more time.

Bonus points made me proud of completing a task and delivering what I had promised to a customer, a partner in a project, a friend, or myself. A star showed me that I had reached one or more of the goals I had set for the day. And when I gathered all the stars I wanted to collect, I smiled like a winner for that day, which I was. Which I am today, too. And so are you.

So create a well-being game or a shopping game for yourself and record points there in a certain way: limiting points for some tasks (like browsing through a department store or perfumery) and increasing them for others (like saving money on certain products). A reminder: you don’t have to record all these points. Now you have the idea in your head, you might start observing yourself recalling it and smiling during your shopping trip, as soon as the thought of bonus points pops up in your mind.

Turning various activities into games and treating them like video or board games (including a lack of material rewards) can help you both take the drama out of these activities, and be more intentional about performing them.

Here is an inspiring story about a writer who struggled with writer’s block, and how a fellow writer from her writers’ group suggested rewards in the form of stars: