Welcome to the Mind Fuzz newsletter, a recap of three things that are on my mind this week.
1. Gamifying Your Life
I’ve seen a lot of self-help gurus encouraging people to ‘gamify their life’ recently… and I’ve got a problem with it.
Essentially, gamifying your life means applying game design elements, such as points, badges, and leaderboards, to everyday activities to make them more engaging and motivating.
On the surface, it seems great.
At least, that’s what I thought when I tried this years ago.
But if you’re anything like me (competitive as hell) then gamifying your life will completely undermine the intrinsic value of the good habits you’re trying to build.
For example, I would meditate just so I could tick off the habit for the day.
I would blitz through 10 pages of my book just so I could keep my reading streak going, without actually taking in anything I was reading.
There are elements of this concept that can work, but I urge you to take caution.
I might turn this one into a blog post soon, let me know if you’d be keen.
2. Killing Complexity
And that leads me onto this next point.
If you’re trying to improve your life, stop looking for things to add to it.
Instead, see what you can subtract – simplicity leads complexity for dead.
Whenever I wanted to improve myself, I always used to try and add things to my routine.
Because something had to be missing, right?
I’d create a 10-step morning routine, expecting it to turn me into the disciplined person that I so desperately wanted to be.
It wasn’t until I started stripping things away and focusing on what genuinely mattered where I finally started to see the best results.
Have a look at your daily routine…
Is there something in there that you’d benefit from if you were to remove it?
Maybe the problem isn’t that you’re not doing enough.
Maybe you’re trying to do too much.
3. Cool Nerds
“Nerds are nothing to fear, Dad.”
Lisa Simpson
The older I get, the more I realise this:
Nerds were the cool ones all along.
Intelligence is such a flex, and when I meet a truly intelligent person these days I can’t help but admire them.
Look, I’m a massive Simpsons fan – seasons 1-12 mainly.
I never used to like Lisa’s character, but when I re-watch the episodes, she’s the one who stands out the most.
And though she may say that nerds are nothing to fear, I think they have much more power than we realise.
I mean… how much power do you think Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates have?
Knowledge is power – it’s never been more true.
