The idea of rewarding yourself to build better behaviors isn't new, even if the phrase "gamification" is. There are more tools out there to turn everything into a game than are worth trying, but the best can really get you motivated. Let's take a look at the good ones, and when they can be most effective in your life.


We've explained when gamification works and when it doesn't. We've also discussed the science of gaming in general. It makes sense that you can apply all of those principles to improving your life, being more productive, and doing the things you've always wanted to do. There are times when gamification isn't the best way to get you to your goals, but in many cases, it can help you build behaviors to the point where you don't need the game anymore to keep them up.


Here's a rundown of some tools that can help you apply that philosophy to different parts of your life—whether you just like to feel rewarded, or you need help turning good behaviors into habits.

General Productivity: HabitRPG

We've mentioned HabitRPG before, but if you're looking for an all-around productivity tool that speaks the language of games, quests, and quest rewards, this is the app for you. HabitRPG is a to-do app; it doesn't hide the fact that it's designed to help you keep track of everything on your agenda. When you check off a task or complete a project, you're rewarded with experience points and gold, the same way you would be if you were playing a game.


As you get things done, you'll gain levels, which unlock more features. When you miss your to-dos, your health takes a hit, and if you miss too many things on your to-do list, your stats begin to take a hit and you lose momentum towards the next level or set of bonuses you were aiming for. The service even has a "multiplayer" element where other HabitRPG users can help you out, offer advice, or just help you stay motivated to get things done. If you really wish your productivity system were less boring, HabitRPG is a good way to make it a bit more fun. It's free, available on the web as well as for iOS and Android, and ironically enough, it fits in nicely with other productivity systems like GTD.

Tracking a Single, Difficult Goal: SuperBetter


If you're struggling with something particularly hairy, like quitting smoking, starting an exercise routine, or anything else that's takes willpower, SuperBetter is perfect for you. Author and game developer Jane McGonigal, PhD built the service with the science of gamification front and center, and it shows. Rather than just awarding points in the hopes that will keep you motivated, SuperBetter breaks down your goal into a journey to be a better you—with all the trials, challenges, and setbacks that come with trying to make a major change.

The service does give you quests to complete and rewards to achieve, but it also lets you put "bad guys" in your way, like bad habits, your own weaknesses, or anything that might hold you back. Need help? Invite "allies," and then brainstorm or track your progress in your "secret lab." In addition to giving you the right tools, SuperBetter helps you track your physical, mental, and emotional progress, offering encouragement and unlocking new challenges and rewards the whole way. As you progress, you boost your stats in various areas, level up, get high scores, and, slowly but surely, work towards those goals.


Tracking Your Mood and Mental Health: Mindbloom


Don't underestimate the power of tracking your mood. It can go a long way towards identifying the pain points and stress areas in your life. It's useful for dealing with stress, and coping with anxiety. It also offers you an easy way to connect the dots between the things that make you feel good and the behaviors that inspire you.


MindBloom has a suite of apps that makes this kind of personal tracking really easy. The Life Game gives you a tree, with branches that represent different areas of your life that are important to you. The game rewards you for doing things that nurture each of these branches, like taking care of yourself, your health, your family, your finances—whatever you put on the tree. Juice on the other hand is more of a mood and energy tracker. The app connects the dots between the things you do and the level of energy you have so you can see what you may have done, eaten, or experienced in the morning that set you off for the rest of the day, or what you may have done that left you feeling good all afternoon. You can also use it to rate and track your sleeping habits. Life Game is a webapp, and Juice is available for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

If you're not into mobile games, give our one-minute mood tracking "personal inventory" form a try. As you fill out your "inventory," you'll get a score to help you figure out where you stand. After doing it for a few days, you'll see trends emerge, hopefully trends that you can easily identify and make changes to and improve your overall score (and, by proxy, your life.)


Working Towards Your Fitness and Nutrition Goals: Fitocracy


Fitness and nutrition are probably the biggest areas where gamification apps have flourished. That doesn't make all of them good, though. We've been huge fans of Fitocracy, partially because it turns getting fit, exercising, and sticking to your exercise goals into a really fun game—one that awards points, badges, levels, and status in a massive and inspiring community of like-minded people.

We like it even more because it uses gamification in a really clever way—as a guise to really get you both active and involved with a community of people who won't let you give up. That, as co-founder Dick Talens has said a few times, is Fitocracy's "secret weapon." It lures you in with badges and levels and PVP battles with other members, and then gets you hooked when you realize it's full of people just like you. People of all shapes and sizes, doing all sorts of exercises, and struggling with all kinds of health challenges. That's not to understate how much fun it is to log your workouts, use the iOS or Android apps, or celebrate when you level or complete challenges. It's all fun, but more importantly, it's effective.


If you're looking for other options, consider SlimKicker, which is more calorie counter and strict fitness tracker and less social network, but still comes with badges and levels. Pact, a service we've mentioned before, makes you put your money—real money—where your mouth is, and rewards you with cash for exercising and eating well. If you just like the act of playing a game, consider Zombies, Run!, the app that puts you in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, running to survive or delivering messages between safe zones. If you have multiple health goals to track at once, Health Month applies the science of games to help you build better habits. On the one hand, it may inadvertently encourage you to tackle too many things, but on the other, it's really good about helping you follow through. Finally, if you have a fitness tracker, there's probably some service built-in to it, which is great, but you can definitely do better—or better yet, tie it in with one of these services for the best possible benefit.


Household Activities: ChoreWars

Whether you live alone, with a spouse, with kids, or with roommates, there are basic chores that need to get done and (usually) no one likes to do them. Chore Wars turns doing the dishes, vacuuming the floor, taking out the trash, and doing the laundry into an RPG in similar fashion to HabitRPG, but specifically geared towards making sure the household chores get taken care of. You can play single-player or multiplayer with other people in your household. Roll a character for each person in your home, list the chores you need to have done, and assign experience points to each chore. As everyone in the house completes their quests, they earn XP, which in turn helps them level.


As you progress, you'll randomly encounter monsters, pick up dropped loot and gold, unlock treasure, and improve your character. The "dungeon master," or the person who has admin access to the household account, can assign new quests and challenge the party with something new. When you encounter monsters, your HP and character progression comes into play—you'll actually fight the monster, and how well you've built-up your character up to this point will make a difference, so there's incentive to actually do the chores beyond digital loot and stats. If you have roomies who would resonate with the idea of gaming their way to a clean house (especially so you don't have to do everything yourself), or kids who could get into making their chores a game, it's a great idea. It's web-based, and completely free.

Getting Out and Around Town: FourSquare


Foursquare was probably one of the original "gamification" services, long before we used that word to describe an app or website that gave you points and badges for doing specific things. Back in the day, Foursquare was just about checking into places, fighting for mayorships, and earning badges. You still do that (I just wrestled the mayorship of the park next to my house from a particularly clingy neighbor), and those mayorships and check-ins can still get you perks at different businesses. Those perks usually come in the form of discounts, free food or drink, and coupons for future use.

Foursquare has changed a lot recently, and almost all for the better. It's helpful for a lot of things, like finding free Wi-Fi, free food, and learning more about a place before you visit or walk in. Foursquare has added tips, menus, hours, more detailed user reviews and ratings, even live location-based notifications to help you find well-liked places in the areas you're passing through, along with what you should do or try while you're there.


It's much more valuable than it even was back in the old days—but it hasn't lost any of the fun and thrill of checking in to a new place, earning points, comparing your score on a leaderboard with your friends, and seeing where your friends around the world are going, taking pictures of, and reviewing. If you're looking to do some exploring in your backyard, fire up Foursquare and see what's trending, what's popular in a given neighborhood, or what's popular at a certain time of day—then rack up the points for visiting and leaving your feedback.


Managing Your Finances: SaveUp and SmartyPig

Saving money is hard. SaveUp wants to make it a little easier, a little more fun, and it wants to reward you for doing it. The service turns saving money into a game, where you earn credits for making good financial moves, like putting away some money into an emergency fund, paying down debt, and sticking to your budget. The service connects to your banks and monitors your accounts—much like Mint or any other all-encompassing financial service—to issue you credits as soon as you move your money.


As you earn credits, you can use them to enter contests to earn real prizes, or you can have SaveUp put its money where its mouth is. Trade in your credits for a donation to your new car fund, for example, or for a gift card to use so you don't have to spend money yourself, or just for straight up cash. You can see some of the winners and what they've won here. While you're on the site, you can check out how it works and its security here.

If you'd like an alternative, consider SmartyPig. While they don't really make saving a game exactly, it is easy, fun, and it builds on the principle of paying yourself first—you create digital piggy banks for your specific savings goals, whatever they may be, and SmartyPig automatically moves money into those piggy banks on a schedule you set. It's a great way to make saving for something more fun, watch as you work your way to your goals, and earn interest on it at the same time. When you do reach your savings goals, SmartyPig rewards you with a "cash boost" in the form of a cash rewards card or a retail gift card that's a percentage of the goal you just met. It's another great way to get money for saving money.


As you can see, there's no shortage of services willing to turn every aspect of your life into a game that either rewards internet points and experience, real-world rewards and perks, or just serve as a gateway to a happier, healthier you. These are just the tip of the iceberg, but some of the ones we've found to be the most useful. You don't have to gamify everything, but if its a technique that resonates with you, turning your challenges or the habits you want to build into a game can yield greater rewards than points on a screen.