1: Today, most games keep score automatically.
“At the bowling alley, computers tally points. Online Scrabble calculates your word scores for you. Video games track your experience points and level you up without any effort on your part,” Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.
But when you’re working toward big goals, keeping score yourself can really help you succeed.
For the past two weeks, RiseWithDrew has been looking at Jane’s SuperBetter framework. This framework helps you approach life’s challenges and opportunities like a game, so you can build resilience, stay motivated, and reach your goals.
“Keeping your own score is the best way to really internalize the rules of a game,” Jane explains, “and to get a deeper understanding of your own play.”
One of her favorite examples of keeping score comes from over 100 years ago, in a 1914 issue of Baseball Magazine. The article, called “The Pleasure and Profit of Keeping Score,” suggested that baseball fans fill out their own scorecards during games.
By keeping track of every hit, run, out, and error, fans understood the game better, remembered more, and enjoyed the experience even more.
“Most spectators watch a great play with an interest, which, however intense, is forgotten in the thriller of the next inning. They leave the grounds with a hazy idea of a rather enjoyable afternoon, whose main features are scarce refreshed by reading press accounts of them some hours later,” sportswriter C. P. Stack wrote.
“Keeping score remedies all this. It burns the play into memory. It greatly increases the spectator’s knowledge of the game. . . . And, best of all, it is a pleasure in itself.”
2: The same principle applies to your own goals. Keeping score isn’t just for baseball—it can dramatically improve your chances of success.
“By keeping a close record of your own gameful efforts, especially during the first days and weeks of play,” Jane writes, “you’ll develop a much deeper understanding of the seven gameful rules.
“And by keeping score during the most important periods of challenge and growth in your life,” she notes, “you’ll better remember exactly what you did to get stronger–making it more likely you’ll do it again in the future.”
Here are a few ways you can keep score with SuperBetter.
- Track power-ups activated and bad guys battled.
- You can count quests completed and epic wins achieved.
- Use these numbers to motivate yourself. Can you set a new record? (Ten power-ups in a single day!) What’s your longest streak? (Thirty days in a row of completing at least one quest!)
- Keeping a notebook, journal, spreadsheet, or blog is an easy way to track your successes.
The simplest way to track your SuperBetter progress is a daily score.
As one SuperBetter player said, “An epic win may be far away, but you can always win the day.”
Jane recommends the following daily goal: “Every day try to activate at least three power-ups (small actions that strengthen you). Do battle with at least one bad guy (overcome one obstacle). And complete at least one quest (complete one meaningful step).
“This is just enough gameful activity to help you develop significant resilience,” she says, “while still fitting easily into your daily routine.”
This SuperBetter “dose” was tested by both the University of Pennsylvania and Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. It’s what Jane recommends to all SuperBetter players.
You can keep score with simple checkmarks or by writing in a SuperBetter journal.
“Every day,” Jane suggests, “write down which three power-ups you activated, which bad guy you battled (and which strategy you used), and which quest you completed. The daily dose format makes it quick and easy to keep a compelling record of your gameful journey.”
3: Once you’ve started keeping score, another way to build momentum is by setting personal records (PRs).
“Athletes and game players of all kinds track their PRs,” Jane notes, “whether it’s the farthest they’ve ever run, the most assists they’ve made in a single game, the fewest moves it’s taken them to win a chess match, or the fastest time they’ve been able to play through an entire video game from start to finish (also called a “speed run”).”
Keeping track of your PRs can inspire you to push yourself, set higher goals, and get creative.
“After you’ve gotten the hang of a daily score,” she observes, “I encourage you to try to set a SuperBetter PR or two of your own. It’s an excellent way to playfully explore the limits of your own potential.”
Here are a few ideas to help you begin.
- Your most powerful hour: How many different power-ups can you activate in a single hour?
- Your most powerful day: How many different power-ups can you activate in a single day?
- Your most epic battle day: What’s the highest number of bad guys you’ve faced in one day? Even if it was a tough day, it shows how strong you are for making it through.
- Your longest daily win streak: How many days in a row can you get your daily SuperBetter dose without missing a day? Remember, the daily dose is at least three power-ups, one bad guy battle, and one quest.
More tomorrow!
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Reflection: How are you currently measuring progress toward your most important goal?
Action: Create a simple scorecard for the next seven days. Each evening, record three power-ups, one bad guy battle, and one completed quest.
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