Resetting Activation Through Gamification
Story Time: My Space Jam Mornings
One thing that has always been difficult for me is getting out of bed in the morning. I am usually tired and want to sleep more. But, I know I have to get out of bed eventually. When I was first going to school, I came up with a way to get myself moving in the morning. I imagined I was on some sort of team and the way my team succeeded was if I got up out of bed, dressed, and downstairs to eat breakfast. To encourage me to get going, I imagined Stan Podolak, Wayne Knight’s character from the movie Space Jam, encouraging me. Why Wayne Knight and why was pleasing him a source of motivation for me? I have no idea. But, this bizarre game worked. It got me moving in the morning.
Getting Out of Stuck Via Game Creation
Getting started when one has ADHD can be hard. The motivation to get started just does not seem to come. We need to find ways of getting activated that excite our brains. However, this is no easy task. This can leave us in a place of “stuck.”
One way to get out of stuck is to gamify the task you are struggling to complete. Creating a game makes an otherwise boring or mundane task and makes it interesting. Instead of just doing it, as Nike would tell you to do, you can enjoy the experience because it is fun and exciting. Besides, when has “Just do it” ever worked for an ADHDer?
The first step in creating a game is deciding the rules. What can you do? What are you not allowed to do? How is it scored? How long does this game last? Does the game end when a certain point total is reached, or is it broken into a certain number of time periods? Another thing you need to decide about your game is how many players play the game. Is it a solo game? Are there teams? If so, how many players on each team? You will also need to decide what the arena is. Is it played indoors or outdoors? Can it be played anywhere, or does it work better in a specific location? Furthermore, what uniforms do the players wear? Or, are there uniforms at all? Is there more of a dress code, like golf? All of these questions you get to decide for your game.
Resetting YOUR Game
You want your game to be winnable. If you keep losing the game you created, it is time to hit the reset button and start over. This time the game must be winnable. However, this can be easy to accomplish because you invented the game. If it is too easy, it will not be fun, and the whole point of making it a game will lose its luster. You need the game to be both winnable and the right amount of difficult. To find the right balance you must experiment with the rules. This should not be a problem because it is a game you invented, which means you can change the rules whenever you want.