Getting Sh*t Done with A Little Gamification

Gamified Tasks Getting Sh t Done with A Little Gamification

I was recently chatting to a guy who was complaining that his task list was so long that he couldn’t even work out where to start from. He had all the tasks in Excel but just couldn’t figure out what to do first. Nothing had due dates, just he knew they all needed doing “at some point”.

We had a long chat and I gave him a simple algorithm to help get started.

Algorithm 1.0

  • First, prioritise each task with a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being vital and 5 being “whenever”
  • Next, give each task a difficulty rating of 1 to 5, 1 being easy and 5 being mega tough.
  • Finally, sort by priority then by difficulty.

You will end up with a list a bit like this

TaskPriority
(1=Highest)
Difficulty
(5=Hardest)
Get the kids bags sorted11
Fix iPad15
Paint the Fence22
Learn new song32
Tidy wiring in living room33
Wash the windows43
Mow the lawn51
Create an app55

Then, what you are looking for is a “quick win”. Look for the task that has the highest priority with the lowest difficulty, in this case, “Get the kids bags sorted”. This is an easy job that is very important and will get you started. The first step of any journey is always the most difficult and all that jazz. Read More ...