Gamification

      I know I'm not alone when I say I am an expert at procrastinating things, even the smallest of things. I have a tendency of convincing myself that I produce my best work under a lot of pressure which then justifies the decision to wait till the last minute in my head. This is extremely common for humans these days, and although it isn't an illness or a disability it definitely should be taken more seriously. It is something that many people, especially teenagers, can't seem to overcome. Would you believe it if someone told you that games can actually teach us how to stop procrastinating? It sounds crazy because often times people say that video games promote procrastination, however, it is possible. 

Gamification 

       Video games itself cannot help us stop our procrastination, but those of you that play video games know how addicting and rewarding they can be. That is what keeps players coming back for more and spending hours and hours playing. The goal is for us to be able to focus on homework, office work, emails, studying and anything else the way we can focus on video games. I came across the word gamification in an article on blog.bufferapp.com, which basically defined the word as the "challenge, motivation and reward" aspect of a video game. Since this is what keeps us focused on a video game for hours, what if we were able to gamify our lives? Basically, when trying to complete a task that you have been procrastinating we could implement some of the things video games have to make us feel rewarded and want to continue to work. I am sure most of you have heard of the very underrated studying trick where you set a gummy bear (or any of your favorite candy) at the end of each question/definition you have and then rewarding yourself by eating it once you've gotten it right. This is an example of gamification. The article made a good point when it said that humans were built to "play" which basically means we naturally respond positively to things that make us feel good/ things that are rewarding to us. Completing a 10 page paper doesn't sound fun, nor is it very rewarding in the sense that you don't get anything in return. Our brains work off of a lot of chemicals, two of the most important ones include dopamine and endorphins. These are important to our bad habits of procrastination because they bring satisfaction and pleasure to us. Without dopamine being fed to our brains, we are likely to just feel unmotivated, bored and extremely unlikely to finish a task. Knowing this, it is important to be able to implement some of the things game creators think about when creating their games. We need to make our "work" into something more rewarding and fun, kind of like a video game. 

How-To Gamify 

        How you gamify your life is really up to you, it has to be based on what satisfy you and what brings you happiness. There are so many creative ways to gamify your life even in the smallest ways that will make all the different. One example of a good way to gamify your life is to make things into a reward or points system. If you have a tendency to procrastinate making important calls for work, then you can set up a system where you gain points or rewards every time you complete a phone call. This one is good for people who need reinforcement, many people strive when they have a set goal and this points system will give them a goal to accomplish which will encourage them to get it done sooner so that they can feel the satisfaction afterwards. Another example is like the one I mentioned previously. If you are someone who procrastinates your reading or writing assignments, you can buy your favorite candy and have a piece ONLY after each page you finish reading or writing. Food is actually one of the best ways to reward yourself believe it or not, we respond the best to this. This can even be implemented if you've been trying to lose the holiday weight you gained but you keep procrastinating going to the gym. A solution for that is basically telling yourself that after every successful visit to the gym you can have some french fries or a slice of pizza. These all seem a little silly, but they can actually be very affective. 

The Psychology 

       In psychology this would be called positive reinforcement. This is the process of using a reinforcing stimulus following a specific behavior which will make it morel likely for this behavior to occur again. The easy way to explain this is to use children as an example. We want our children to behave a certain way and when they behave the opposite way they are punished and when they behave to way you want them to they are often rewarded. This will make it so that the bad behavior will stop occurring and the good behavior will continue to occur. This is how we train our brains/ others brains to behave or act the way we want it to act. Using positive reinforcement can be an effective way to help you procrastinate less. 

Final Thoughts 

          I think procrastination is something that should be taken more seriously and more studies should be on how we can help ourselves stop procrastinating. Thats why when I found out about the "gamification" concept it was interesting to me and helpful as well. Who would have ever thought that some of the answers to stopping procrastination lies within video games, something that is known to help promote procrastination. 

       

Link: 

https://blog.bufferapp.com/brain-playing-games-why-our-brains-are-so-attracted-to-playing-games-the-science-of-gamification