PORTLAND, Maine — It's easy to get distracted by our phones and see our productivity plummet, but there are some apps we can download that can help us get more done.
Rich Brooks from Flyte New Media joined us to look at some of those apps, and how they use rewards to boost results.
207: "These apps you are sharing with us today all use gamification to help users stay productive...what exactly is gamification and how can it help us get things done?"
Rich: "Gamification is what it sounds like, it turns what might normally be a boring or difficult task into a game of sorts. Gamification triggers a dopamine release, which creates a rush of good feelings, giving us a reason to continue with our task."
"These apps often provide some form of reward and mark our accomplishments. Certain apps may also create a shared experience, which can either be beneficial as you feel you're not alone, or you are working with a team, alternatively, public leaderboards may spur your competitive nature to get you to accomplish more or improve the quality of your output."
207: "So, what are the productivity apps you have to share?"
Rich: "The first one is Habit Hunter, a goal-setting app that plays like an RPG, or a role-playing game."
"You can set up one-off tasks, repeating habits, or long-term goals to accomplish. As you check off these activities when you accomplish them in real life, you unlock more of the world map, allowing you to go on adventures and battle monsters."
"If you like games where you can power up and customize your character, then this is a fun way of rewarding yourself for doing your laundry, finishing your homework, or getting a proposal out the door."
"The game is free to download and use, although there is an ad-free version for $7."
207: "So a good app for building habits. What other apps did you find?"
Rich: "The next one is great for students and it's called Study Bunny. It's unofficially based on the Pomodoro Technique which is timed periods of focus — usually 25 minutes —followed by a break."
"You can use Study Bunny to schedule focused study times of five minutes and up, and you're rewarded with coins when you complete these tasks, which then you can use to customize your bunny and its surroundings. The more you study, the more you get rewarded with bunny swag."
"While the app is free, you can get rid of the forced ads for $15. Personally, I found the ads on the free version very distracting and invasive, especially since the app is likely to be used by kids and teens with concentration problems."
207: "OK, we've tackled habit-building and studying. What else can gamification apps help us with?"
Rich: "Well, the Fitness RPG app can incentivize you to get up off the couch and get your steps in. This is another turn-based RPG, where you can choose different characters, fight monsters, and progress through a world map. To fight monsters and make progress, your character needs energy...energy that is supplied by you walking, in real life."
"You can connect the app to your phone or to a fitness tracker, and as you get your steps in, you power up your character."
"Beyond steps, you can power your character with other healthy activities like flossing and drinking enough water."
"The app is free, the in-app ads are skippable, but there is the ability to buy energy and power glyphs if you want."
207: "Any final gamification apps that can help us improve our lives?"
Rich: "There's so much research out right now about the benefits of getting a good night's sleep, so when I saw a gamification approach to a better night's sleep, I had to check it out."
"With Sleep Town, you can hold yourself accountable for getting a good night's sleep; for getting to bed by a set time and waking up by a set time. Research has shown that going to sleep and waking up at a consistent time is critically important, so you set your bedtime goal and your wake-up time goal which applies to at least 5 days of the week."
"When you accomplish your goals, Sleep Town builds you a new house in a growing town. The more nights you meet your sleep goals, the bigger your town grows. And when you hit certain milestones you can unlock more complex building structures."
"The only tricky part is that you have to set down your phone and keep the app open while you sleep. Otherwise, your house doesn't get built. The app costs $2."
207: "Any last thoughts on gamification productivity apps?"
Rich: "I feel that gamification is a really interesting approach to building good habits."
"I believe that we're often motivated by small wins, or by competition...either against others or against how we did the day before. So I think that these are great ways to start building good habits, be it for work, school, or health."
"Ultimately, these are not the most engaging games of all time — they're not going to replace anyone's PlayStation. But hopefully, by the time you tire of building a virtual town or dressing up your Study Bunny, you will have seen the value of the real-world skills you've gained, and that will be enough to keep moving forward."