Gamifying My Life Made Me More Honest

In this week’s reflection, I explore how treating my life like a game helped me become more honest about where I place my attention, energy, and effort.

This isn’t about creating the perfect productivity system. It’s about noticing the difference between staying busy and taking actions that genuinely move your life forward. I also reflect on outside opinions, recognizing unexpected opportunities, and learning to return after an off day without guilt or punishment.

You’ll be invited to consider what game you may already be playing—and what one small action could bring you closer to the life that genuinely matters to you.

Transcript

Welcome to this week's reflection. This is where I take something I've been noticing in my own life and reflect it on what it's been showing me. Not because I have everything figured out, But because sometimes hearing someone else reflect on their own experience can help you notice something in yours. So this week, I've been thinking about how gamifying my life has actually made me more honest with myself. So recently I started turning different parts of my life into a game. And I mean that pretty literally. I created something called The Game of Josh where I took the things I'm working toward and turned them into quests. Things like becoming an insight timer teacher, Putting more of my ideas out there, Creating these reflections and building more community in my life. At first, I really thought it would just be a fun way to organize everything. Because I have a lot of ideas. There are a lot of things I want to do and create and a lot of directions I could see my life going. But I've also realized that having so many ideas can make it easy for me to spend a lot more of my thinking about what I wanted to do without actually moving any of it forward. Once I turned it into a game, Things started feeling simpler. Instead of looking at this huge picture of everything I want my life to become, I could focus on what was right in front of me. What is the main quest right now and what is one thing I can do to move it forward? What I didn't expect was how honest that would make me with myself. Because once I decided what my quests were, It became easier to see whether what I was doing every day was connected to them. You see, The game didn't just make me more productive. It made me more accountable to my own life. One of my main quests was becoming an Insight Timer teacher. And that was already something I wanted to do. I wanted a place where I could share some of my ideas, Create meditations, Talk about the things I've learned, And become more comfortable expressing this part of myself. It felt like a safe way to start putting myself out there. Before it turned into a quest, It was still mostly an idea. I could think about it, I could research it, I could plan what I wanted to create. I could think about how I wanted it to even sound. And I could keep telling myself I needed to be a little bit more ready before I started. All of that could make me feel like I was working toward it. But when I was really honest with myself, Nothing had been put out yet. Nothing existed outside of my own head. Once it became a quest, I had to ask myself a much simpler question. What would actually move this forward? Applying to become a teacher moved it forward. Making meditations moved it forward. Recording it moved it forward. Uploading it moved it forward. Those were the things creating actual movement. And that made something very clear to me. Thinking about doing something is not the same as doing something that moves it forward. And I'm not saying thinking or preparing is bad. Reflection is important to me. And preparation is important. Learning what you're doing does matter. But there's also a point where preparation can become a way of delaying the action. And trust me, I know I've done that. I can keep searching for more information, Keep adjusting the idea. I can keep telling myself I need to understand it a little bit better before I begin. But eventually. . . Continuing to think about it isn't teaching me anything new. At some point, I had to actually do it. And that's what the game made easier for me to see. Am I doing something that creates real movement? Or am I doing something that makes me feel productive without requiring me to put myself out there? Because you can do a lot in a day. And still avoid the one thing that would actually move your life forward. Once I became aware of this, A lot of the fluff started to disappear. And when I say fluff, I don't mean that everything in life has to be productive. Rest isn't fluff. Spending time with people isn't fluff. Doing something simple because you enjoy it isn't a waste of time. Because those things do matter too. What I mean is the stuff that takes up my attention, But doesn't really support what I say is important to me. And the game made that easier for me to notice. Because before I could decide what my quests were, I had to ask myself what actually mattered. What are my values? What do I believe? What kind of life do I want? And why is it important to me? And what are the things I think I'm supposed to care about. Compared to the things I genuinely care about. Because without knowing that, I can still move forward, I can still accomplish things, And I can still stay busy. But I could be moving toward a life that doesn't actually feel like mine. So before I could decide what moving forward looked like. I had to decide what I was actually moving toward. Once I had a better idea of what mattered, I also had to look at what was getting in the way. Was it fear? Was I worried about what other people would think? Was it perfectionism? Was I waiting until I felt completely ready? Or was I putting energy into things that looked important but weren't really connected to the life I wanted? That's where honesty with yourself becomes so important. Because I've definitely had times where I told myself that I didn't have enough time, I didn't have enough energy, I'm not ready yet, Or that I need to learn more first. And sometimes those reasons were true. But other times, When I looked at how I was actually spending my days, I could see that my attention and energy were simply going somewhere else. It wasn't always that I couldn't do something. Sometimes I just wasn't giving it enough attention for anything to change. Maybe it wasn't that I couldn't move forward. Maybe my attention was just going somewhere else. And realizing that gave me a greater sense of control over my life. Not because I can control everything, Because I can't. I can't control other people, I can't control whether someone likes what I create, And I can't guarantee that every action I take will give me the result I want. But I do have control over the actions I choose. I can choose whether I take the step or keep putting it off. And I can choose where I continue placing my attention. I don't control every outcome. I do have control over how I choose to participate in my life. Another example came up with the community building part of my game. One of the next actions was to reach out to someone and ask them to grab lunch or dinner. But then someone from work asked me to lunch. Technically, I wasn't the one who initiated it. I wasn't the one who sent the invitation. And at first, I could have looked at that and said I hadn't completed the task, But that felt like I was missing the point. Because for me, Accepting that invitation was just as meaningful as being the one to ask. The purpose of the quest was to create more connection and community in my life. And that was happening. It just wasn't happening the exact way I imagined it would. Opportunities still counted even though I wasn't the one who created it. And that made me realize that gamifying my life isn't supposed to make me feel more rigid. It isn't about turning every little thing into a task. And it wasn't about deciding there's only one exact way something can count as progress. It's more about changing how I look at what's happening in front of me. Instead of overthinking every decision, I ask myself, What is happening right now? What opportunity is here? What choice can I make? What would move this part of my life forward? Sometimes the move isn't initiating something. Sometimes it's just saying yes. Sometimes it's just resting because I genuinely need to rest. And sometimes it's admitting that I've been avoiding something. The important part is being honest about which one it is. So I also didn't want the game to become another system that punished me. I didn't want to lose progress because I had an off day and I didn't want the outcome to decide whether an action counted. If I put something out and nobody responded, I still put it out. If I invite someone somewhere and they say no. I still took the action. Their response isn't something I control, But whether I participated is. The point isn't to guarantee an outcome. The point is that I made the move. And I think that's the biggest thing gamifying my life has shown me. It isn't really about pretending life is a video game. It's about getting points for every little thing I do. And it isn't really about the rules I created. It's about the perspective. Life can feel complicated when I'm trying to figure out my entire future at once. Such as where am I going? What should I be doing? What's the right path? Am I making the right decision? That can become overwhelming very quickly. But asking myself what's the next move feels different. I don't have to know exactly where everything is going. I don't need to have everything figured out. I just need to look at what's in front of me and decide whether I'm going to participate in it. So the question I want to leave you with is. If you were completely honest about the life you say you want. Where is your attention going right now? And is it actually moving you toward that life? And if it isn't, What is one small thing you can do right now to move a little closer? You don't have to redesign your entire life today. Just notice what the question brings up for you. Thank you for listening, My name is Josh and stay tuned for next week's reflection.