Everything is more fun when it is raised as a game, especially when the goal of that game is to improve your motivation to achieve your goals. Plan tasks as if they were Small tests of a game That you must be overcome throughout the day will complete all your goals and, what is more important, you will do it without decaying your motivation.
Gamification is a concept that is already used to maintain your motivation in sports applications; Its use in learning systems has been investigated with dynamics such as the one Duolingo uses in its app; and use it to your supermarket to encourage your faithfulness. The common denominator for all of them: a psychological conditioner called “GRADIENT OF OBJECTIVE EFFECT“.
The idea is simple but effective: by structuring tasks in short -term goals, each step about tangibly at the end, that generates in the brain a feeling of triumph and reward. This expectation of reward generates a natural impulse to continue advancing until the next test to complete it, and so on avoiding procrastination. Thanks to this technique, worldly priori tasks or demotivating priori, they can become more fun and attainable.
Origin of the gradient effect of objective
The gradient objective effect has its roots in a study conducted in 1934 by psychologist Clark L. Hull, who sought to better understand human behavior patterns. In his investigation, Hull observed the behavior of rats in a maze while looking for food. Interestingly, it was discovered that the closer they were to achieve their goal (food), faster and with greater determination advanced.
This increase in effort when approaching the ultimate goal is a condition that also occurs in the human brain and, in fact, has a very widespread use in loyalty marketing (with rewards when accumulating points or stamps with your purchases to obtain gifts), in education, or to maintain motivation in health and sport apps (granting medals and overcoming challenges)
The perception of closeness to the goal that our brain perceives can influence behavior and effort level, so the motivation to obtain a reward in dopamine is increased.
Ran Kivetz, Oleg Urmininsky and Yuhuang Zheng studied this behavior and discovered that customers with a loyalty card that required 10 stamps to receive a free drink, were more likely to complete it if they already had some pre-marked stamps. Interestingly, people who started with two “gift” stamps completed 82% faster than those who began with a completely empty card. This same principle can be applied to your productivity.
With one Proper task planningso that a large and challenging task can be divided into simpler and easiest tasks, a workflow aimed at constantly achieving small achievements throughout the day can be encouraged.
That will contribute, for example, to mitigate that feeling of having been working throughout the day without having completed any concrete task. In addition, the progressive conclusion of tasks reduces the feeling of fear of failure, redaging the possibility of abandoning a half -do task. Something that your brain hates deeply by another psychological condition called Zeigarnik effect.
How to apply the gradient effect of objective to our tasks
Understanding this theory allows you to apply it practically to your daily life, especially using gamification tactics for do all kinds of more attractive tasks. Gamification consists of incorporating elements of video games, such as points, levels or rewards, to everyday situations to make them more motivating.
For example, the gradient target effect can be integrated into your day by dividing a large task into smaller and visually traceable steps, so you feel that you are continuously progressing in its conclusion.
Another trick to take advantage of the gradient target effect is to incorporate small rewards along the way. Instead of waiting until the end of a project to celebrate it, you can Establish intermediate milestones. Imagine you are working in a long report. You can divide it into sections and, when completing each of them, reward with something you enjoy, such as a little break, a few minutes of relaxing music, etc.
An essential element in this process is the visualization of the progress, so it is important to use productivity apps that measure that progress or keep the list of tasks, and cross in it all those small completed tasks thus marking the progress of your work or your personal tasks.
Use in moderation
Despite being an excellent way to maintain motivation naturally taking advantage of an innate condition of the brain, it is convenient to use this technique selectively as support for those projects that are meat of procrastination.
The abuse of the objective gradient effect conditions the brain to stay in a constant state of expectation that can take its toll consuming all your energy and deriving in states of exhaustion, both physical and mental.
Excessive motivation for completing objectives also causes a “tunnel vision” in the task, in which other alternatives that could be more effective, but are not studied because the goal has been put into finishing them at all costs, not in the best possible way. Therefore, you have to be careful when applying this technique in tasks that require creative or problem solving solutions.
Beyond those “contraindications”, take advantage of this condition of your brain will help maintain motivation In those tasks that you hate or that you do not feel like doing.
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