Hi, guys, and welcome back to Change Wired Podcast, where we decode the human side of transformation, of growth personal and professional and of change. We are here to learn how to change better, grow faster and bring that future self that we want to become closer to our present self More, I don't know, effectively, efficiently, just better, instead of running in circles and being stuck. And today, guys, we are not talking about strategy and hacks and routines. We are talking games, but not the kind you play on your phone, but the kind that gets you stick to your goals. You know, believe it or not, guys, the difference between hard stuff and games isn't hard work. It's what you tell yourself about the work that you got to do. Think about all of these fitness and sport competitions, ironman, the toughest mudder, all of this. Maybe you signed up for a marathon, half a marathon, whatever that was, and it felt like fun while preparing, while doing it, but also that might have been the hardest thing you've ever done. Have you ever thought about that? Why do hundreds, thousands of people willingly sign up for this torture and then they feel amazing doing that, even when sometimes you lose your toenails while doing that Really happened. So what's the difference here. What makes it different? Hard work and fun. If you think about that, this story and a few gamification techniques. Gamification, guys, it really works for real life techniques. Gamification guys, it really works for real life. That's why companies like Facebook, all these social media companies they use gamification without telling you, without maybe you thinking about that, but they use gamification techniques. That's what keeps you coming back, keeps you hooked, keeps you doing it, even when you feel like it's not really working for me, but I keep doing it. Why is that? Well, it is that way because gamification, used by those companies designed to use the psychology of human motivation how your brain gets hooked, but, in basic terms, how your brain gets motivated to get stuff done, to take action. So these companies use it to keep you hooked, to keep you staying playing using their solutions, even though, again, sometimes it doesn't really feel like play anymore or something that you want to do and you want to stop and you want to do less of it, and you still keep doing that and you want to do less of it and you still keep doing that.
Speaker 1In the show notes, look up a few case studies business case studies, from nonprofits to banks to online events that use gamification to grow business. One of the case studies is by this company, which is called Funnyfire. They provide gamification technology to big and small and medium organizations, and they had this case study with a bank that had, I think, the biggest bank in Brazil maybe not anymore, but 83,000 of employees. They needed to get them motivated to do their best work to surpass their revenue goal of 9 billion Brazilian reals and they did it. They actually did it ahead of time for several months and they needed to figure out where to now distribute all this excess profits, so they started to give people cars and gamify it even more. But the whole idea is gamification works, and if you want to read more about that specific case studies and more how companies use gamification, then check out the link in the show notes which leads to Funnyfire website case studies.
Speaker 1I'm not affiliated by actually thinking about partnering with them to use technology to improve human motivation that I'm so passionate about. And there is this thing called motivation doesn't last. Discipline does Believe it or not, but people with the strongest discipline don't rely on discipline. They actually use motivation. They create this mission statement, this personal quest, and that's why they keep showing up. So how can you use the same techniques gamification techniques that play with a human psychology of motivation, so you get that strong discipline, feeling like I'm on a mission, I'm on a quest and, yes, it's hard work, but I'm also having fun doing that. How do you use it, for example, for building your health and fitness habits, which I now do more and more with my clients?
Speaker 1I have a client, a real client, and when we started working together we did really good thing. We created this quest, this mission of building an identity of vital strong dad. He's becoming a dad soon and he wants to be a strong support and a great example for his newborn. So we started working on this quest of vital, strong dad and we define the quest, the energy, the looks, the habits, like what it's going to look like the win state when we arrive there, and that is very important, guys. So we are now getting into gamification techniques. So take your notepad out and make notes.
How do you make an experience, a goal of getting fit or of getting healthier, fun, like a quest, like a mission. So you do deploy your strong discipline, but it feels like fun, not like something you have to struggle with, like hard work, so it feels more like running a marathon or an Ironman and becoming that superstar you that you've always wanted to become. So step number one define your quest. Give your mission a name Vital, strong, dad or whatever that might be like becoming a superhero, me, becoming a business mogul, building empire, whatever that is. Define that quest and define the wins that how will you know that you arrived there? Then define your daily quest, the stuff that actually needs to get done, the actual work.
Speaker 1So, with this client, right now we are working on this daily quest of eating just one piece of bread with his daily meals, and nutrition is an important factor in building fitness, in building health, in building stress, in building this vitality and energy. And in his particular case, bread was our challenger, our bad guy. Not in any, you know, like bread is bad, not in any of this way. It just was in excess, and so we needed to make it more into balanced eating routine, and so the quest that we are working on right now is one piece of bread a day, and also we have a weekly quest of four workouts a week. So define your daily quest. What is it? Let's see One piece of bread with a meal and four workouts this week. So that's our daily quest for now. Now start tracking your daily progress.
Speaker 1I usually like something more visual, something you can hold, something you can see in your environment, like a printout of your daily quest with a daily streak. Like, let's say, you have 100-day streak daily quest with a daily streak. Like, let's say, you have 100 day streak or you have a monthly streak and for that month you are doing this daily quest and on that piece of paper, and I actually, for myself, do it with piece of paper and a pen, and I have my 100 day challenge, which is business growth, building empire, and every day, 100 days. I just drew a square and I sort of created this map and at the end of this map, the results that I want, the win state, but also each 10 days have their own theme. So make it visible. Make it visual when you track progress. You can also use apps like Habit Share app, for example, one of my favorites that I use with clients. The problem is that it's not really visible. You still have to open up the app to see it. So that's why printouts and something on your wall in different locations where you spend your time is actually a lot, a lot better, maybe on your mirror, where you welcome yourself to the day, to your daily quest.
Speaker 1Each day, at the end of the day or at some point in your day when it can work, do a daily review. I suggest at the end, just dedicate five minutes and get some journal. I again recommend something that you can hold in your hands, Just because on your phone it's one phone for all these tasks, it doesn't represent the specific quest that you are on. Have a small notebook for your diary and do daily review, like you would do when you play Super Mario, whatever your favorite game. At the end of each level or at the end of each play, you're like next time I'm going to try this or next time I'm going to try that, when things don't work out, and the next time I'm going to do this or I'm going to focus on that. So the same, do the daily review, like what worked, what didn't work.
So the same, do the daily review Like what worked, what didn't work and what's the next step, to level up, to progress, to move further. Like if it worked, like why did it work? How can I multiply it? How can I create more success? If it's daily bread, you know you did one day okay success. How can I make more of these days happen? Or you do your daily workout. How can I make more of this happen? What contributed to the success compared to the days when I don't do that?
Speaker 1Maybe it's my schedule wasn't that well thought through and I didn't even think about putting 10 minutes for my daily exercise. Maybe I didn't think about my meals and I got so hungry that I ate a lot of bread because I just was hungry and I didn't have anything else that I could eat instead. And this was the first thing on my mind and the closest thing I could grab right. So analyze, like you would do playing a game, what worked, what didn't work, why it worked, why it didn't work, how can I create more of good stuff and less and minimize the stuff that doesn't work? So do a daily review, do your daily quest review, and then don't forget to celebrate milestones. Don't forget to break your goal down into levels. There is a reason why in games they have levels. They don't put you up against the biggest bad guy hoping. Putting you out there and leaving you was like well, deal with it, figure it out, or you're not going to play right. They didn't do that for a reason because we need the progression. We need to tackle one step at a time. We need to tackle one manageable challenge at a time, not the biggest challenge when we just feel stuck and we can't move. And so what's the game in that, what's the fun in that? So break your goal into levels, into milestones, so, a, you have something to celebrate more often, but B also, so it feels manageable and you don't feel defeated right at the beginning.
Speaker 1There is a research, really good research, that we have the strongest motivation at the beginning of our quest or our goal pursuit and at the end we have the biggest. And it's even true for animals, like they tested somehow in mice and horses, and it works. It's just how the mammalian brain seems to be wired for achieving, for getting what we want. Like we are very strong at the beginning, we are very strong at the end, but then in the middle it's like abyss and you want to minimize those middles, you want to make them shorter, and that's what also, breaking your goal into a shorter milestone help you and into daily quests. That's why it's important, like, not just have your win state or bigger goal, but also having your daily quest, that you get to celebrate your mini goal and then your weekly goal and then your monthly goal, and then also in terms of progress, like when I reached my first one kilogram loss. Like With this specific client, I awarded last month four badges.
Speaker 1Some of those badges were a strong starter when we nailed consuming protein for breakfast Specifically was protein shake with some berries, some greens. Skill mover when we nailed our first KG lost. That was through some awareness and tracking. And then self-awareness white belt when the client did really well on reflecting on how certain foods and certain eating patterns, certain habits give him more energy or give him less energy, and what he can do to create more good stuff and minimize the stuff that doesn't make him feel like a vital, strong dad. Right, I awarded these badges and we passed these levels and now we can move forward to our bread. I haven't thought about what badge I'm going to give to my client when we nailed the bread monster. We'll think about how we'll name it.
But let's recap. So what do you do to make your fitness health, because today is Wellness Wednesday? How can you gamify your pursuit of health and fitness? It doesn't feel like hard work, but hard work feels like gaming, like you would feel when signing up for Iron man, like the hardest thing ever, and yet thousands of people do it, feeling like it's been the best adventure of their lives. So, number one define your quest. Give your quest a fun name. What is it like I don't know some epic squad machine slayer? Or, like my client again, vital strong dad. What is it for you? Name your quest and define win state. How will you know when you arrive, what's your ultimate destination, what's the game you're planning, what's the reward there?
Speaker 1Number two define your daily quest. And you usually define your daily quest for a specific milestone, like when playing Super Mario. The daily quest is, let's say, past level one, past level two. When you're building for your fitness and health goals, your daily quest will change as your progress. So for my client right now it's eating one piece of bread with a meal and having this week for workouts.
Speaker 1So what is your daily quest? Step number two. Step number three track it, make it visual, make it something that you don't need to open up, app for. Put on your wall your days, your quest, map your daily, put a checkmark that you did it, that you passed another quest today. So track it, make it visual. Number four do a daily review. Like you would for games, like what worked, what didn't work, how you learned to jump better if you're playing a game of Super Mario. But for your daily fitness and health quest, how were you able to eat less bread, just one piece? And when you're not able, why did that happen? How did you manage to do a workout and what happened when you didn't right?
Speaker 1Do a daily review to keep solidifying things that work to make more good stuff happen. And number five celebrate milestones, create levels. The strong stutter or skill mover or self-awareness white belt. Create levels when you know oh, you know, I progressed. Now I mastered this. So what's my next level? Break down your big goal into smaller milestones, into levels. Again, research shows that even animals are more motivated at the beginning and at the end. So create more beginnings, create more ends towards your ultimate goal. So the middle is shorter and you don't fall into this abyss with your motivation and your consistency. And that is it. Name your quest, name your pursuit, name your mission, name your daily quest track. Do daily review, celebrate your milestones, make more levels and win. What's the win? State right. Win one level, win two level, win the game and then on to the next mission.
Again, just a reminder people with strongest discipline don't have anything special, but they make it a point to make that pursuit their personal quest. Whether that's quest on building a business, building an identity, building fitness and health, building relationships, some character trait they make it into a quest, end of point. And you know that if you signed up for any challenge, you do hard work and it feels like fun. How does that happen? Gamification, and you can do it for yourself. Not just Facebook, instagram and all the big guys can do that. You can also do it to yourself to grow in the way you want, not to be hooked on the stuff that other companies want you to do. That's it for today, guys. I hope you found this podcast insightful.
Speaker 1I'm definitely all in on gamification. While building my $1 million consultancy, kind of fell out of it myself. The stuff started to feel a lot, a lot more like work. But guess what? It doesn't actually matter whether you feel fun or it feels like you know this horrible thing that you got to do. If you get the stuff done, the stuff gets going and you're going to be moving your goal forward. But obviously, if it feels like fun, you're going to do more of it. You're going to have more energy, you're going to be more engaged. You're going to deliver more, showing up better work. You're going to be so enthusiastic that you're going to bring all your talents to the game and you're going to stick with it for longer, and that's what's going to define your winning state, your success. So gamify your discipline to make it last. Crush every goal on your bucket list and till next time, guys, keep growing. Talk to you soon, peace.