Our household has become a wee bit obsessive about an iPhone app called Streaks which is simply a place to put an “x” on a calendar when you accomplish something. For example, we have streaks for things such as making the bed, making a proper breakfast, taking out the compost, and exercising. The goal is to see how long you can keep a streak going without breaking it. My longest is Making the Bed which is currently at an amazing 27 days in a row. Have I made the bed even when I didn’t feel like it just because I don’t want to break my streak? You bet I have. That kind of tiny behavior modification adds up to significant changes over time. And then there’s the secondary goal of competing for who can keep a streak going the longest, or maybe that’s just in our household.

I highly recommend putting Streaks on your phone. It’s the best $1.99 you can spend.

The Gameification of Everything

In this presentation from last year, Carnegie Mellon Professor Jesse Schell lays out a case that the most mundane aspects of our lives, like brushing our teeth, will become more interesting through a context of gamesmanship. To me, it was one of the most insightful and thought-provoking outlooks of the past year. What I like about it is thinking of it in terms of how, by applying points-driven goals, even workplace behavior can be modified and improved. The presentation is about 30 minutes long and well worth watching until the end where he ties all of the thinking together.

It’s already begun.

In terms of the gameification of everything, 2011 has already started out with a bang. Daytum’s iPhone app launched, there’s the Habit Factor an iPhone app based on a popular book, as well as Commitie a site for goal and habit tracking. And then there’s Health Month which looks like a fun interface for tracking your nutrition and behavior activities. No doubt we’ll be seeing more and more of these popup in the coming months. I like that. I think it’s good to identify the things we’d like to do more consistently and track their progress. Afterall, if you want to make something better, measure it.