Hey, Reader!

Gamifying your productivity is one of my biggest secrets to getting more done without feeling miserable.

Here’s the simple premise:

You turn productivity into a game.

You compete against yourself.

Who doesn’t like playing games?

I’ve been doing this for years, and it’s helped me maintain my daily running streak since August 29, 2017, hit 15,000 steps for over 770 days, stay consistent with cold showers, weight lifting, meditation, outreach for speaking gigs, and more—even at 60.

How I Gamify It (Keep It Simple)

Pick a habit. Begin.

Every day you do it, the numbers go up.

At some point, the habit will be ingrained.

Do you really think I’ll skip a day running (over 3,140 days), taking a cold shower (over 840 days), grounding (829 days) or squatting (794 days)? No way.

That’s the power of gamifying. The streak becomes more important than the temporary discomfort of doing the task.

My Current Gamified Habits

Here are the things I’m actively tracking right now for inspiration:

• Cold shower
• Squatting for my hip flexors while grounding outside (coldest I’ve done this is 17 degrees — no excuses!)
• Writing my goals in my journal
• Writing things I’m grateful for in my journal
• Running at least one mile (my streak started August 29, 2017!)
• Taking my blood pressure
• Praying with my wife
• Hugging my wife
• Posting on LinkedIn
• Meditating for 15 minutes
• Walking 15,000 steps
• Doing outreach to grow my speaking business
• Weight lifting (every other day)
• Doing 10 air squats

I don’t need to track all of these anymore — many are solid habits — but I love watching the numbers go up every day.

James Clear says “never miss twice.” I live by “never miss once!”

You Don’t Need Fancy Apps

I use Streaks (iOS and Mac) daily because it’s simple and effective for tracking streaks.

There are many other great options depending on your device:

• Way of Life (iOS and Android)
• Habitica (iOS, Android, and web — turns habits into an RPG game)
• Loop Habit Tracker (Android)
• Streaks for Windows or web-based alternatives like Habitify or Coach.me

You can also use a plain notebook, whiteboard, or even a simple spreadsheet. The tool doesn’t matter. The game does.

Your Turn

Pick one thing you’ve been struggling with — showing up on time, exercising, outreach, journaling, whatever — and turn it into a simple game this week.

Build a streak. Track it daily. Add a small reward when you hit a milestone.

Watch how much more motivated you feel.

How do you currently gamify your productivity — or what’s one habit you want to turn into a game? Reply and tell me. I read every single one.

If you want help designing a simple gamification system that fits your life and goals (without making it complicated), reply with your biggest current struggle. I’ll personally book you a 5-minute Clarity Fit Chat to sort through it.

You’ve got this.

Let’s make productivity fun again.

Mark