"Gaming" Life

About a month ago while listening to a podcast (it's become a new professional habit this year) I came across an interview with "Nerd Fitness" owner and "Level Up Your Life" author Steve Kamb.

I debated writing about this approach to goals, as some ideas take hold of your brain in different ways. And then this morning I found this on imgur while sipping some coffee and thought it was a nice visual representation of Kamb's approach (and in fact, likely how someone how games a lot could see the world).

The idea is simple enough from the exterior, but I'm sure complex once you dig into it more and more: Gamifying your physical and mental health. The interview suggested that this extends beyond just going go the gym or staying fit, and can easily apply to practicing social skills, developing new habits, working toward larger goals, etc. Just like in the games, you gain experience points toward a new "level."

This fits into my current perspective on habits, having also heard that we need to ditch bad habits to make room for the ones we want. People always talk about "adding" or "gettting" new habits, or maybe "making it a habit." Also important to acknowledge is the habit currently taking up that spot in your life.

For example, to make room for morning writing, I ditched my previous routine of searching the 8 websites I used to start my day with. I justified these websites (e.g., reddit, imgur, ESPN, social media, news sites) as warming up or getting reconnected to the world. At best they were in fact that...at worst, I looked up and felt "informed" but 4 hours has magically disappeared.

The point is, these incremental changes and our smaller "gains" in our lifes are important alternative ways to think working toward the changes we want to see in our lives.

References:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/