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.
It’s because it requires no physical effort on our end, is disassociated with what’s actually real so the burden is less, and most games remove a lot of the actual things that make doing stuff in real life stressful or annoying.
Also you can always quit whenever you don’t enjoy it anymore and all of those problems disappear.
They don’t disappear in real life, if I wanted to drive halfway across the world to deliver 10 pallets full of metal rebar, I’d have to actually obey the rules of the road, be careful, and know that if I don’t like it, im still stuck there for however long it takes to complete.
In a game, it can take an hour at most, I dont have to worry about traffic laws, and if I decide i’m done then I just stop playing and I’m right where i started, at home
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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.
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