The to-do list. The bane of my existence. Seriously I would use whiteboards and markers for those long term goals, which I thought worked pretty well. However, it was the day-to-day items that would pile up; little things on social media, around the house, and writing tasks.
The feeling of being snowed under and losing control was something I really wanted to get under control in 2016. (Not resolutions, goals!)
I have at various times tried paper, and I know a lot of people swear by pretty, fancy day planners. However I have tried those myself, and while I always start off with a bang, soon I forget where I left it, or I forget to write in it. Then next thing you know it is tucked in the bookshelf, mocking me with my failure. The one thing I use all the time, and always have on hand is my laptop. I write on it, bank on it, chat with friends on it, and yes…check Facebook on it. Sorry paper, I am an electronic girl at heart.
So the our good friends Piper J Drake and Matthew Drake introduced us to Habitica. Now if you are or were a roleplaying geek, this will hit you right in the sweet spot, and maybe help you get a little more organized.
Habitica is both available online and as an app for Android and iPhone. You create an avatar of yourself, and then add Habits, Dailies and To-Dos. Each one that you tick off you earn gold and experience points for. Soon you are upgrading your armor, finding pets, and eventually getting yourself a mount.
This has replaced my electronic sticky notes. I took what I do on certain days, and turned those into dailies. For example writing a blogpost for this site is something I do on a Thursday. You pick a difficulty level, can add notes, and mark which days you want this daily to show up. Watch out though, if you don’t do a daily it will take away health points…and your avatar can die in Habitica!
Habits are the things you want to do or not do. Maybe you want to drink more water, every time you to as a plus habit you get experience. Then again, maybe you want to train yourself out of eating junk food, then you make that a minus. If you do that you lose health. I’ve gradually added to habits to tweak myself into walking between writing to get myself out of the chair now and then.
Then there are the to-dos. You can add dates to get things done, assign difficultly levels, and break down large projects into smaller check lists. Overtime you knock one off, you get gold and experience. Unlike Dailies, you won’t lose health on to-dos.
Habits, Dailies and To-Dos can have tags added, so you can break things down into projects. I have created tags like ‘housework’ ‘social media’ ‘Kickstarter’. Very helpful for keeping track of where you are in different parts of your life.
Not only that but you can also find a social aspect. You can chat in the Tavern, join a guild, create challenges others can join you on, or my particular favorite, join a party. When you are in a party you fight monsters together (each tick off you make counts as an attack on the beast), and when they are defeated share loot. However, beware if someone doesn’t complete their dailies everyone takes a hit on their health. So far our party has destroyed the Basi-List and the Laundromancer.
I am up to week three with this system, and I am already Level 8…soon I will be able to chose a career path like mage or rogue…that is enough to keep my on track.
Also you can ride a blue cotton candy tiger. Who wouldn’t want to do that?