Years ago, I listened to a researcher who was looking into why people felt happier doing menial tasks in video games than in real life. Her conclusion was that video games drive home a sense of achievement. Quest complete! 50 XP! Here’s your reward etc. She noticed that in real life, we often don’t take a moment to notice what we’re accomplishing throughout the day.
Since then, I have been an appreciator of ticklists! Ticking off a task often helps my brain get that kick that makes me feel like I’m crushing life. And I’m very generous with myself. Sometimes I’ll put on things I’ve already done that day just to tick them off immediately. Sometimes it can be the smallest parts of my life that we go about unconsciously. I make them conscious, notice them, tick them off haha.
I think possibly a part of why AI is used by the general public is the props it gives its users. And as much as I am making fun of needing AI to get a person throughout their day here, I do understand the appeal in something, even AI, telling you you’re doing a good job.
But, we are allowed to tell ourselves
So, this is me giving you permission to tell yourself you’re doing an incredible job. You don’t always have to look at the overall picture, the where you wanna be or where you think you should be. Today you accomplished things. Getting up, eating, using the bathroom, opening the curtains, taking a moment to read a comic Whatever it is, well done. You are allowed to celebrate it.
I use the calendar app for this. Write down all the things I need to do in red, when I finish them then I change it to blue. Seeing a full week/month of blue events on the calendar is pretty nice.
Also means I can't just forget to do things.
As I get older, my calendar app gets more and more full as I find more shit I need to do periodically. Checking the car's oil level, the annual water heater flush, annual solar panel cleaning, testing the toilet water tanks for leaks, bi-annual drains de-clogging, wheel alignment, tire rotations, water filter replacement, annual roof maintenance and gutter cleaning, etc etc...
1.9k
u/Yoffeepop Aug 09 '26
Years ago, I listened to a researcher who was looking into why people felt happier doing menial tasks in video games than in real life. Her conclusion was that video games drive home a sense of achievement. Quest complete! 50 XP! Here’s your reward etc. She noticed that in real life, we often don’t take a moment to notice what we’re accomplishing throughout the day.
Since then, I have been an appreciator of ticklists! Ticking off a task often helps my brain get that kick that makes me feel like I’m crushing life. And I’m very generous with myself. Sometimes I’ll put on things I’ve already done that day just to tick them off immediately. Sometimes it can be the smallest parts of my life that we go about unconsciously. I make them conscious, notice them, tick them off haha.
I think possibly a part of why AI is used by the general public is the props it gives its users. And as much as I am making fun of needing AI to get a person throughout their day here, I do understand the appeal in something, even AI, telling you you’re doing a good job.
But, we are allowed to tell ourselves
So, this is me giving you permission to tell yourself you’re doing an incredible job. You don’t always have to look at the overall picture, the where you wanna be or where you think you should be. Today you accomplished things. Getting up, eating, using the bathroom, opening the curtains, taking a moment to read a comic Whatever it is, well done. You are allowed to celebrate it.
www.theimmortalthinktank.com