How to Actually Start Doing Something? Pt. 1
In this week's newsletter, we will discuss the Hook framework from the book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal. He introduces notions about designing and optimizing the user's journey when using a digital product.
In the book, Nir introduces the Hook canvas:
However, this model can not only be applied to product design, but also to your life, which is everyone's ultimate "product."
The Hook canvas provides a framework through which we can design our lives as an engaging product or even a game.
Dmitry Vasin from Linkedin has a very meticulous explanation and interpretation of the Hook Canvas. In this newsletter, we will focus more on how it can help "gamify" our life when we are struggling to take action.
- We first receive triggers around us. A common example of trigger is motivation. However, this is temporary, and we need to turn this into a habit, an internal trigger.
- Motivation is accompanied by action. When you have the incentive to start an action, you will do it.
- However, variable rewards are the key to getting you to invest more in that action.
- When you invest enough in the action, it will eventually become a habit.
In video games, doing an action is often accompanied by rewards such as exp points, titles, and coins, which boost your dopamine level, encouraging you to do more.
However, life lacks these kinds of intermediate variable rewards after certain actions.
There is no "quest completed" banner popping up after you finish something. This is why our temporary trigger cannot incentivise us enough to invest in the action and turn it into a habit.
The inactive reward system makes us feel bored about our lives, stopping us from further investing in that action.
Then, how can we create an action-reward system for ourselves?
- Become the quest-givers and assign rewards to ourselves.
This can be achieved by setting some rules for yourself. For example, only allow yourself to play some games after reaching a goal.
- Use software to gamify your life.
Habitica is a website that serves as a to-do list and a role-playing game at the same time, maintaining productivity and engagement in your work.
However, this mindset requires you to play both judge and player at the same time.
- How can you maintain discipline all the time?
- How can you set achievable goals to keep yourself invested?
We will discuss these questions in part 2. Stay Tuned!
Credits:
Member discussion