Winning at Life: How Gamification Helps ADHD Brains Thrive

Learn how to use gamification strategies to boost focus and productivity with ADHD. Turn everyday tasks into fun challenges and watch your focus soar!

Have you ever found yourself totally addicted to a game? For me it’s usually one with lots of constant little tasks that can be achieved while following the storyline, all those small wins give me a huge dopamine boost and keep me playing for hours! So the question is, can we use that same strategy to help us with other tasks?

So what is Gamification?

Gamification is when we apply those elements of the games that we love so much to tasks and routines to make them more engaging and rewarding. As ADHDers we often struggle with tasks and routines that feel boring or repetitive. Tying little dopamine boosts to these tasks with rewards, challenges and achievements along the way helps to give us a sense of accomplishment and make the tasks feel more like a game.

Why does it work for ADHD?

Our ADHD brains thrive on stimulation, novelty, and rewards! Because people with ADHD experience fluctuations in dopamine levels, it can be challenging to maintain consistent motivation and focus, especially with routine or mundane tasks. Gamification helps bridge this gap by introducing more consistent rewards in a fun and novel way. These game-like features trigger dopamine release, which boosts both engagement and motivation. By turning tasks into enjoyable activities, gamification reduces feelings of boredom and frustration, making it easier for people with ADHD to stay focused, complete tasks, and even look forward to tackling their to-do list.

Breaking down tasks into levels

An essential part of the gamification technique is breaking down big tasks into smaller, manageable levels. This approach can be a game-changer (pun intended) when it comes to reducing the feelings of overwhelm that often prevent us from finishing or even starting a task. By turning a daunting project into a series of smaller steps, each with its own clear goal, the task becomes much more approachable and less intimidating. It also adds structure, giving us a roadmap to follow, which can be incredibly helpful for staying on track. Most importantly, it creates more opportunities for small wins, achievements, and rewards along the way, keeping us motivated and making the whole process more enjoyable. These mini-successes can build momentum, helping to maintain focus and energy as we progress through each level.

The best bit - Rewards!

Once you’ve broken down your task and created your levels it’s time to think about the rewards! This could be a treat or a break for each task completed, or if you want to take it to the next level you can create a scoring system. This could be that each task is allocated points based on how hard they are or how long they’ll take, then these points can be redeemed for a treat or time to do an activity you enjoy.

Time challenges and competitions

Racing against the clock can be another really effective gamification strategy for us ADHDers, whether it be on our own or with a friend. Have you ever tried setting a 10 minute timer to clean the kitchen? or to get ready for work or school? You might be amazed at how much you can get done when time is ticking! Sometimes the heightened sense of urgency can actually help us to focus even more and make us more productive. Don’t forget to have a reward at the end of the timer!

Progress tracking

Creating some way to visually track your progress is important for feedback. It also helps to create clear sense of accomplishment as you see tasks moving from “in progress” to “completed.” These visual aids help us to stay motivated and make progress more tangible. It could be a chart, checklist or a kanban board (where there’s a to-do, in progress and done section.) You could fill these out online or take the excuse to use up some of those stickers you’ve been hoarding and do a physical chart you can put in your space. There are also a multitude of to-do apps that have their own inbuilt reward systems.

Real life example

Recently I needed to get through a big list of tasks, every time I looked at it I couldn’t decide what to start on, and I knew that quite a few of them I just frankly didn't want to do. My method of gamification involved a little origami!

I took each task and wrote it on a post-in note, then folded it into a little envelope. I then had someone else pick out the envelope for me. This did two main things, first of all it took the decision fatigue out of choosing a task and made it kind of exciting to see which one I was going to get. It also created a bit of accountability for me because someone else knew I had to complete the task. Then every time I finished a task I rewarded myself with playing my favourite game (Stardew Valley of course!). Honestly though, some of the time I even found myself wanting to skip that and get to the next task because the dopamine of completing the task and picking the next envelope was enough of a reward on it’s own!

If you made it all the way to the end of this post well done!

Incorporating gamification into your everyday tasks can be a winning strategy for ADHD (last pun I promise!) By turning mundane chores into fun challenges with rewards, time limits, and visual progress, you can boost motivation and focus in ways that traditional methods just don’t tap into. The key is to break tasks down into smaller, manageable levels and reward yourself along the way—whether it’s through points, treats, or even a favourite activity. With a bit of creativity, you can make tasks and routines engaging and enjoyable. Remember, it's all about finding what works for you, so experiment with different gamification strategies until you find the perfect fit. Gamifying your tasks can transform how you approach your day, turning overwhelming to-dos into satisfying, achievable goals that keep you motivated and productive. Why not give it a try? You might find that tackling your next big project is just as fun as playing your favorite game!