The Routines Challenge

 

Challenge 5: The Routines Challenge

27 June 2021 , Sunday - 26 August 2021, Thursday

Half a year has gone by in 2021. I looked back at how I spent my time, and I did not like what I found. I caught myself engaging in many unhealthy habits. I cut down on my sleep in order to continue any unfinished task I had on my hands. I was stuck in the pleasure trap for a long time, where I could not free myself out of the cycle of getting pleasure from doing something, craving for more of that pleasure, and continuing whatever I did to satisfy my cravings. 

I was sure that these actions were undesirable for my health. I felt that I squandered much of the precious time I have to prepare for higher education, careers and all the things adults do, spending the time instead on fruitless endeavours that only made me feel good for a moment. To get out of this predicament, I needed some form of push to get myself on what I believed to be the right track. As for what the right track means, I define it as a state of life where there is moderation, balance and happiness in everything that I do. And that push is a Life Challenge.

Here I am, declaring the steps that I will take to remedy the ills I had been doing to myself. I hope that anyone who is reading this will be able to support the change I am trying to make, and not denounce my efforts too early on because of the widely held belief that changing one’s behaviour is hard. Changing a person’s behaviour is not entirely impossible. Our brains have a certain level of plasticity which enables it to have the potential to change itself.

I intend to maximise the chances of succeeding in this challenge by gamifying the tasks involved in this challenge. This will entail the setting of clear goals, the tracking of progress, and providing myself with rewards and penalties to help me stay committed to the challenge. I look forward to inspiring people who intend to change their life by sharing my gamification approach and the systems I used to help me with forming new habits and changing old behaviours.

If you are still doubtful, continue to watch this space for the subsequent posts documenting my progress I make with this challenge. Some goals may even overlap with what you are trying to work on, making the systems and games I make adaptable for your personal use. 

The game is on. Challengers, ready your move!

Here comes the all-important rulebook, which also contains links to the supporting documents: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQidqH1KYebjyJcRFHsRaL2tYXjtjG0c3m7YRml1UThOnTt9GMq83EZFZVf6gKJEjSstARdtCjZcctK/pub