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If you struggle to stay productive and have ideas of a disciplined life being “boring”, consider quashing those beliefs with a gamified app. From language-learning to building consistent habits, you can gamify your life in numerous ways.
As someone who played well over 10,000 hours of video games when I was younger, applying concepts like “leveling up” has helped me achieve numerous goals outside the virtual world. Habitica is, in my opinion, the best game you’re able to use for applying this theory to your own life.
Whether you want to drink more water, go to the gym, or be more consistent with your studying, Habitica is a fantastic way toturn procrastination into productivity. I use a mixture of custom tasks and presets.
Every time you stick to a habit, you earn coins in the app. you’re able to then use these to make your in-game character more impressive. Most of the features you need are free. These features work because they gamify your daily tasks, making you more likely to stick
Download:Habitica foriOS|Android(Free, in-app purchases available)
Though I don’t think that Duolingo is great for becoming conversational in a language, it is an excellent introduction. You’ll learn the vocabulary and grammatical rules that will later help you form sentences, and it’s particularly effective when used alongside immersion and traditional textbooks.
Duolingo gives you XP each time you complete a lesson. You compete in weekly leagues with others, where you can fight for promotion or to stay in your division based on how many points you have. It’s also possible to use coins to buy streak freezes in the store.
You can also compete in quests against friends and compare your weekly XP to theirs. Moreover, the app has monthly challenges and badges you can unlock. Duolingo has helped me learn multiple foreign languages by making it easy to commit daily.
The free version of Duolingo is fine if you’re able to’t afford to upgrade, butI upgraded to Super Duolingoto remove ads and get unlimited hearts. Both of these result in a better gaming experience, if you ask me.
Download:Duolingo foriOS|Android(Free, in-app purchases available)
Forest was one of the first apps I used when trying to get more productive. In essence, it’s what Minecraft would be if it was a productivity app. The app has a timer; you can choose how long you want each work or study session to be.
You’ll grow a tree if you’re productive for longer. However, the tree will die if you leave the app. I could also limit apps I access withDeep focusmode. To get more accountability, I’d also plant trees with friends; all trees would die if one person got distracted. I thrive when others are watching, so this feature was particularly useful.
Besides planting trees in-app, Forest is a great cause because it plants trees in real-life. Being productive while also helping the environment? Sounds like a win-win, to me.
Download:Forest foriOS($3.99) |Android(Free, in-app purchases available)
2MagicTask
MagicTask has helped me stay productive in the past by rewarding points each time I complete a task. The main reason I stopped it is because I’m an obsessive person and overfilled my to-do list just to get more points. Nonetheless, I think the tool is great if your personality is different.
By upgrading to the Pro version, you’re able to compete in leaderboards. Doing so could help you make more progress in your studies, work, and anything else you want to track.
The number of points you receive depends on how big you make the task. Small tasks are 50 points, whereas XL ones are 500 points.
Opal is the only screen time-limiting app I’ve used that actually works(apart from Cold Turkey). It’s just as easy to set up as other tools of its kind, but the additional resistance is what really sets it apart. I’ve set up the app to increase how long I need to wait before I’m allowed to take breaks and tweak settings.
I also can only access distracting apps for 15 minutes per day, which has significantly lowered my Instagram usage. Since I can see how many times I’ve picked up my phone, I’m more mindful as well. The app gives me gems to stay motivated.
Download:Opal foriOS(Free, in-app purchases available)
Productivity is more fun than you think, and using apps that gamify the experience is very much worth considering. you’re able to reduce your screen time, stay focused for longer, and learn new skills by incorporating these in your life.
