Strategy 12: Gamify It to Make It Stick

ASK YOURSELF THIS QUESTION:

Have you ever stopped playing a video game, a board game, or a sports game...

...and said “I wish I was practicing instead?”

Of course not!

Games are fun and you want to keep playing.

Practice is work and you typically want it to be over as soon as possible...

The difference between games and practice is keeping score.

What does this have to do with habits?

In order to stick with your most effective habits day in and day out...

YOU NEED TO GAMIFY IT!!!

Just think about this, blackjack is so addictive that many people develop gampbling problems because of it and have to seek counseling.

What are you doing when playing blackjack? You are simply counting numbers.

But when you are counting numbers at work or managing your finances, you want to stop as soon as possible.

The big reason for this is the concept of variable reward. You can read about this in the book Hooked by Nir Eyal.

You need to take advantage of these principles to make this whole self optimization journey stick.

Ultiself certainly helps you do that.

If you have read up to this point, you already know what to do:

Now it’s time to truly integrate consistent self improvement into your life. Here is the best way to do it.

Strategy summary

KEEP SCORE:

You get a dopamine boost every time you check off a good habit in your Ultiself tracker.
To “Keep Score” track the number of habits you complete each day and each week and your habit completion percentages.
This way completing good habits becomes a game!
The Ultiself app actually gives you points for completing habits, habit streaks and hitting various milestones.
This creates a system of variable reward to get you even more hooked to building your best self.