Imagine you have a seemingly impossible project in front of you. What’s the best way to motivate yourself to complete it?
- Display a countdown in the corner of your computer screen that shows you only have 3 days, 13 hours, and 9 minutes to finish the project
- Have your boss yell at you every time you make an attempt and fail
- Break it down into 50 smaller tasks that are all impossibly difficult as well
- None of the above
These are some of the ways we try to motivate ourselves to do the impossible, but none of them brings breakthrough on their own. There is a better way to inspire yourself to finish the impossible project.
Make it a game.
When you think about something as a game, it takes the pressure off. You can make an endless amount of mistakes and not feel the weight of true failure. Instead, you’ll learn something significant from each mistake you make.
The Super Mario Effect
Mark Rober compares his process of inventing gadgets to his formative years of playing Super Mario. Those were the days when Mario was made up of gigantic pixels, not the way Nintendo animates him today.
Anyway, Mark remembers what it was like the first time he fell into a pit. Rather than giving up and walking away from the game because of his failure, he learned to avoid that pit the next time. Whenever he was hit by a green shell and died, he figured out how to dodge that shell in his next attempt.
Mark coined the Super Mario Effect to describe the idea of making learning into a game instead of thinking of it as a test. If you fail a test, you’ll probably feel ashamed and reluctant to try again. But if you fail a game, you’ll learn from your mistake and feel more motivated the next time you try.
Changing Your Mindset
All it takes is a mindset shift. Rather than getting caught up in the pressure of solving a difficult problem, consider it a fun challenge that might take you 1,000 attempts to figure out. Not to be cliche, but do you remember how many times Edison failed before he created the light bulb?
Joanne was rejected by 12 publishers before she published her first novel. Yes, I’m talking about Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Imagine what we would have missed if she had let the pressure overtake her and given up after the 10th rejection.
These stories should inspire us to face life’s problems with the mindset we have when playing a game. Are you trying to start a new business? Build a space rocket? Become a better parent? You have limitless attempts. Don’t let the first few failures stop you from continuing on the path to success.
Gamifying Learning for Kids
How do you translate this mindset shift of gamifying learning to your kids?
Kids are always ready for a game. If you give them a math learning app that consists of exciting games, they probably won’t even realize that they’re learning. If you give them a worksheet, on the other hand, they might feel too much pressure and give up after a few tough problems.
Brainstorm ways to turn learning into a game for your kids. Does your child have a speech impediment? Pretend you’re spies who have to speak to each other in code–and have the code be correlated to your child’s speech exercises. Does your child struggle to focus? Teach them how to play chess or Chinese checkers. They’ll learn the skills you’re targeting without even realizing how hard it should have been for them.
The best way to gamify learning for your kids is to help them start a business. With MyFirstSale, kids learn all of the skills associated with entrepreneurship in a way that feels like a game. How many sales can you get today? How can you make your promo video more appealing? How can you improve your products to increase customer satisfaction? These are all aspects of the “game” that is starting a business as a kid.
Are you ready to make a small but powerful investment in the future of your kids? Sign them up for MyFirstSale today. They’ll learn how to manage money, how to communicate effectively, and how to solve problems creatively…all while thinking of growing their business as if it’s a game. This is a great first step that will sow the seeds for the life-changing mindset of gamifying learning.