So it's confession time. I am a gamer. Not a hardcore-gamer. But I am gamer. I grew up playing Nintendo during my youthful summer vacations, had a subscription to Nintendo Power Magazine, and I have watched the movie The Wizard more times than anyone should. These days I play Xbox 360 and with my time spent with this gaming system I have learned something about myself I couldn't pinpoint before. I love Achievements.
Achievements are these little awards that Xbox and game developers do for completing a specific task. For example one achievement in a game may be to shoot 100 guys in the head. After you do this over the course of your game a little message pops up with a sound effect that says you got the achievement and how many points it was worth. They are not needed to beat the game, just added to make games more fun and re-playable. Well, for me I can tell you that they drive me to play more. In some cases it begins to feel less like play and more like work to get them. I can't relax until I feel like I accomplished something.
Achievements are these little awards that Xbox and game developers do for completing a specific task. For example one achievement in a game may be to shoot 100 guys in the head. After you do this over the course of your game a little message pops up with a sound effect that says you got the achievement and how many points it was worth. They are not needed to beat the game, just added to make games more fun and re-playable. Well, for me I can tell you that they drive me to play more. In some cases it begins to feel less like play and more like work to get them. I can't relax until I feel like I accomplished something.
This idea carries over to me in the real world as there are many tasks I do simple to achieve something. I find myself adding movies to my netflix I really don't want to watch but I add them simply because I know I should see them because the critics say so. I struggle through books I find boring only because once I start them I feel like I want to be able to say I finished it. Like achievements I can't ignore my daily tasks either. They haunt me. I cant relax until I finish what I need to do. After finishing a meal I have to clean the dishes right away so they are out of my mind and then I can sit with my wife and relax. But to sit at the table those extra 5-10 minutes, when there are dishes to be done, unthinkable.
In a lot of ways it's a curse to feel obligated to do tasks before I can relax. I need to achieve something before I can do nothing. However, if it wasn't for this mentality, I may never have been able to do my exercises everyday and get my weight down. I usually go right after work. There are plenty of times that I want to put it off, but then the idea of working out later haunts me and it is all I can think about. So I I get to it. I need that daily achievement.
In a lot of ways it's a curse to feel obligated to do tasks before I can relax. I need to achieve something before I can do nothing. However, if it wasn't for this mentality, I may never have been able to do my exercises everyday and get my weight down. I usually go right after work. There are plenty of times that I want to put it off, but then the idea of working out later haunts me and it is all I can think about. So I I get to it. I need that daily achievement.
All that to say, Thanks xbox.
I'm not sure why I went on this rant, just something I was thinking about recently.
I'm not sure why I went on this rant, just something I was thinking about recently.
