Is the level too hard?

I have been interested in the use of gamification to achieve things for a while. Given my son’s love of the Xbox I have also wondered if it could be used in some way to help him study.

The David Perell podcast with Daniel Gross discussed gamification and made an interesting observation about viewing life as a series of games. When you set out to achieve a goal for example there is the opportunity to gamify it. However the observation that stuck out for me was that if something makes you feel like you want to quit it is like the level is too hard.

So, if you are trying to learn something and you hit a point where you want to quit it could be that you are trying something too difficult at this point - the level is too hard - and you should try something, anything, that is simpler and gives you a sense of achievement. The tricky part is finding that level where you are challenging yourself but not to the point where it is too difficult and making you want to stop.

Links

Daniel Gross: Dreams and Determination

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