Daily tasks got you down? Try gamifying your to-do list
If you can relate to the contradiction of being very good at complex tasks but finding it hard to get your day-to-day drudgery “life admin” done, join the club!
Autistic folks may find that this relates to sensory difficulties, ADHD folks may find that task initiation paralysis or the mundane nature of some daily tasks, or you may just HATE the fact that these tasks rarely feel done - you’ll just wake up the next day and do them all over again.
There are tons of strategies to try to get better at tackling these - and the truth is that you really have to figure out what works for you. Is it having an artificial deadline? External motivation? Body doubling?
For me, I found that I was skipping some of my daily self-care tasks because I find them difficult in a sensory way so I needed some kind of accountability to push my motivation high enough to get myself to do it. I am pretty tech savvy but don’t love being attached to my phone, so I have surprised myself at how well using the app Habitica has worked for me.
What I like about it:
I can customize my tasks - I have stuff I do daily, every other day, every week. I have repeating tasks and one-off tasks and it’s all easily organized for me.
The interface is cute and simple.
For some reason, the satisfaction of ticking things off has really helped get my routine back in order.
Notifications are optional.
It is free.
I don’t use all of the features of it, but there are also options for positive/negative behaviors, joining a ‘party’ with friends, and collecting kit for your avatar.
What I think works about it overall is that basically it gives you that to-do list without you having to create it yourself - and that reduces that step of having to think about what I need to be doing daily.
