What if the very system that’s meant to motivate you is actually manipulating you?
The Rise (and Creep) of Gamification
Gamification seems to be everywhere right now. And while I am behind the concept to help get people over the hump of building a new habit, there are times where it feels not only unnecessary, but manipulative. In Nudge, Thaler and Sunstein describe it as “Gamification is just behaviorism with better design.”
Why I Rely on Grammarly (It’s Not for Perfect Grammar)
I have mentioned in previous Book Brew posts that I use an app called Grammarly to basically help proofread my writing before I ship it out into the world. I do this not out of a need to have perfect grammar (although, a not so distant past me completely would have), I use it instead because one of the symptoms I have with chronic migraine is transient aphasia in which I struggle to find or use the right word, as well as some dyslexia.
Sometimes what I type out is completely gibberish, and Grammarly helps me to fix it before the world sees it. A quote from Ryan Holiday fits nicely here: “The goal is not to be better than anyone else but to be better than you used to be.”
A Weekly Report I Don’t Really Need
Each week, I receive an email from Grammarly showing me my stats for the week:
- Suggestions made
- Total errors caught
- Focus area for improvement
- Current writing streak
- Productivity, mastery, and vocabulary levels compared to other users
- Tones most used
- Total words analyzed
- Top five mistakes
Most of the time, I just quickly scan the email and delete it because I’m not doing it for any kind of competition. As a side note, I do find it interesting that my productivity, mastery, and vocabulary are almost always in the 90th percentile - often causing me to reflect on how accurate some of the stats are or if they are just trying to inflate my self-esteem….
The Streak Breaker: What Really Matters
Anyway, the email I received this past week had the subject line of “A week without words?” I lost my writing streak - 156 weeks, gone.
If I had been using Grammarly in a gamified way, losing this incredibly long streak would have been a big deal. 156 weeks is a long time to do something consistently.
Yet, I’m 100% okay with losing this streak. Why? Because the reason I lost the streak is that I spent the week visiting family and did exactly 0% work, something I apparently have not done in at least 156 weeks.
When the Lesson You’re Writing Becomes Your Life
I have been experimenting with new writing styles for old blog posts on a platform called TypeShare (another system that heavily utilizes gamification).
Recently, I've posted some Atomic Essays about the importance of rest and genuine connection. So seeing it play out in real life, in the way in which I have been writing about it, was quite fulfilling.
Gamification Isn’t Always a Game Worth Playing
Don’t get caught too caught up in all of the gamification you now find yourself surrounded by. It can be helpful when building new habits, but keep in mind that the systems utilizing it don’t always have your best interest in mind - some just want to exploit the dopamine kick to the brain and keep you in their platform longer.
Rethink the Push
I’ll leave you with some words from Lewis Howes, “Rethink effort. When you hit a wall, don’t push harder - step back and ask, ‘Is there a completely different way to approach this?’”
Ponder This
- Have you ever kept a streak going just because it existed, not because it served you?
- If rest were ranked like productivity, would you have a high score?
Books
- Nudge - Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
- Ego is the Enemy - Ryan Holiday
- Lewis Howes newsletter
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