Do you want to talk about something everyone has experienced? Studying! It’s boring. For example, compare playing video games to studying. Video games are a lot more fun. But what if we could make studying as fun as video games? Let’s see how we can make studying more like a video game.
Well-Defined Goals:
Have you ever played your favourite video game? I’ve played a few in my time. You always have a quest — to rescue the princess, to kill the final boss, whatever. When you’re a student, everything starts to feel rather vaguer. No one tells you exactly what to do anymore. That’s why I always try to give my students a quest. Instead of me telling you what you have to do, decide for yourself what you have to achieve, at what point, and make it feel like an achievement when you get there. Knowing exactly what you have to achieve makes studying feel more like an adventure.
Low Risk, High Reward:
One of the greatest things about gaming is that you can suck and still keep dying. And when you die, it’s not like, okay, you failed Halo again. So this is what we do. You suck at studying, so what? The good news is, it’s not really about sucking. It’s about breaking large tasks into smaller tasks. Every day, create manageable sub-tasks. You might have a high-level goal to cover Homer and Shakespeare in your literature course but, like every gamer, divide that massive objective into discrete mini-games. Each study session will be a kind of mini-game. In each of these mini-games, you can suck and still have a chance to get back in the game again. The only bad moment is the one when you give up.
Instilling FOMO (Fear of Missing Out):
You know what it’s like. You’re not really enjoying the game itself, but you’ve got that little tug in your belly, the itch in the back of your brain: ‘Hey, you should log in. You might just get those daily rewards. Or you might want to join the others for an online multiplayer match.’ Video games are good at keeping us coming back with hooks like daily bonuses and social participation. Let’s bring that to studying. We can create study groups, create mini-rewards for hitting certain milestones, and follow through on each other’s progress. Let’s turn studying into a social adventure.
To sum up, adopting these gamer tactics will enable you to experience studying not as drudgery but as a thrill-filled expedition fuelled by reaching benchmarks, gaining rewards and team spirit. You ready, tiger? Let’s get cracking on cracking some books. Study mates? Bookmarks? Level up!
Remember, studying isn’t simply about finishing a race; it’s about having fun on the journey. Let’s make learning every study session an epic quest.