Gamification is a powerful tool that can be used to try and help keep motivated on side projects. It can also be an unhealthy crutch when not used properly. This blog is mainly to document how I choose to leverage its benefits and avoid the negatives.

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How I See Gamification

Gamification to me is an avenue to turn an activity into a challenge by adding some sort of scoring system as a way to make progress feel more tangible. Many analog processes typically fall into this, such as exercising, eating healthy, managing a budget, and daily life in general. Gamification allows you to try and find ways to get that dopamine rush which can add a level of excitement to what would otherwise be a boring activity. Humans are competitive by nature, and often times your greatest competitor is yourself.

I got pretty heavily back into exercising thanks to fitness apps like Garmin Connect, Strava, and Peloton. Exercising does have its own inherent feedback loop of feeling good once you complete the activity, but finding the motivation to go at it again is often more difficult. Seeing the progression of my resting heart rate improving, fitness increasing, and consistency becoming more steady all have led to that increased starting motivation.

I also have struggled with getting side projects to a usable or finished state, and gamification has helped significantly with that. Tools like GitHub provide an activity chart that gives you a good feeling seeing that you have managed to contribute to things regularly rather than not at all, no matter how small the contribution.

Examples I Use

• Garmin Connect
  • I keep an eye on fitness metrics such as resting heart rate and sleep quality in order to motivate me to keep up exercising at a regular cadence.
• GitHub
  • I use the GitHub contribution calendar as a way to motivate me to get in daily updates to side projects.
• Peloton
  • I take a different on-demand class every single time I get on the bike or step on the mat. This allows me to keep up a variety and not tire doing the same workout repeatedly.
  • Their exercise breakdown is pretty great, and the real-time telemetry is particularly useful for relative effort level.
• This Blog
  • This is an open outlet for me to log what's on my mind and allows me to de-stress or be excited about a topic once per week on a random subject.
  • Honestly, a great way to write down my thoughts from time to time, and I really don't care if anyone ever reads it.

Examples of Small Steps

• GitHub
  • If I want to maintain my streak, I can do something as small as updating dependencies on my projects. I may be more into a game or another activity at the time, and this allows me to save time on a future migration while also spending only a few minutes on a project for the day.
• Peloton
  • Often times doing something is better than nothing. A five-minute meditation class to relax or a low-impact class on a day I feel crappy is always going to be better than nothing.
• This Blog
  • My topics don't always have to be super serious. I reviewed a video game. That's probably about as off-topic as it gets compared to the norm here so far.

Drawbacks

Gamification can definitely become an obsessive, unhealthy practice if not exercised properly. Pushing yourself too hard can lead to injury or decreases in performance/motivation. This all leaves you worse off than if you just paced yourself and took it easy. Working yourself to the point where you begin to hate your hobbies or neglect the things that can improve your quality of life is far from the ideal.

Conclusion

Gamification is a great solution to enable yourself to actually work on side projects by doing incremental steps, be a healthier person, or find the motivation you need to knock out those goals. Full commitment is never a requirement, and baby steps can be taken as long as it can help keep progress move forward and not come to a complete halt. Burnout is a very real possibility just like work and life in general, but can be overcome by continuing to make the tiny strides.