Lessons for a father - In the Flow of things (Part 5 - Gamification)

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When do you work at your best? I know I provide my best performance when I can focus on what I am doing. 

Some of us know that focus as "being in the zone". No matter what our vocation is and no matter what we do to get there, once we are in the zone, we usually create awesomeness.

A renowned scientist by the name of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls this the state of "Flow". It is his theory that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow. It is a state of concentration with the activity at hand and the situation. It is a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.

I truly hope that we all witness that state at least once in our life. It is a case of true intrinsic motivation; a time when things like ego, money, time or even food stop existing and making sense. In the zone, the work we are doing engulfs us and gives us nutrition in the form of bliss.

The key, according to Csikszentmihaly's research is for the task to neither be simple nor too hard. In other words, it should be one that can hold our interest (we all suffer from boredom) and challenge us.

Clear goals, immediate feedback and a good balance between the challenge and the person's skill set (their ability to perform the task) are the three important factors that help people get in the flow. 

A lot of research has been published that helps both an individual or a group utilize this theory. At the core of it though is the creation of an environment that allows us to focus and connect with what we are doing. The theory, in various avatars, is utilized in education, religion and spirituality, gamification, music and sports.

As leaders, it falls onto us to provide our teams with an environment that allows them to get into the flow. Only in the zone will greatness happen!

Lessons for a father - The Cost Of Context

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Lessons for a father - Forming or leaving a habit (Part 4 - Gamification)

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To be great or a disaster is based on the same rule. Our effort to gain knowledge or continue in ignorance has the same basis. To carry forward an addiction or to leave one behind can be attributed to the same starting point.

Know what that is?

Our desire to do so.

Motivation from our leaders (familial or professional) and reward are external factors. The first step towards achievement can only come from ourselves. We should want to gain knowledge, for example. We should want to be good or to add value to whatever entity we belong to. Only then, like picking up a habit or leaving one behind, would all the external factors make any difference.

Our son's attempt to write the perfect "A" is no different from someone going to college. They want to do something. The teachers in the case of the student, or his parents in our son's case, provide assistance and help only after they take the first step.

That is no different, once again, from an alcoholic trying to acquire their drink of choice. No different than someone trying to gain fitness in a gym. They do and get what they want simply because they want to. Help from groups, friends, family, doctors or trainers all come later.

Desire to be good then, to lead, to motivate and to achieve. Become a better version of yourself.  Add value in whatever it is that you do. Whatever you want to do, do take the first step.

Lessons for a father - Changing Behavior (Part 3 - Gamification)

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How do I get fitter? How do I learn a new language? How do I save more money to secure my family's future? How do I contribute more to my team? How do I become a better leader? 

We all have things we want to do and goals we want to accomplish. These can range from personal to professional in nature. Why is it, then, that we lose out on accomplishing all the goals that we set for ourselves? What if we changed our behavior to accomplish those goals?

According to Dr. B. J. Fogg of the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, three elements have to come together at the same time for a behavior to occur:

• Motivation: The person is HIGHLY motivated to accomplish the goal or exude a behavior.
• Ability: The person can very EASILY carry out the behavior or accomplish the goal.
• Trigger: The person is triggered/ cued/ asked to accomplish the goal

As leaders and parents, we have input in all three elements. 

Motivation to accomplish a goal can be internal but, as leaders, it is imperative that we provide the motivation wherever necessary. That external motivation can be anything from a monetary reward to giving a platform or an opportunity where the very human need for social cohesiveness, self confidence, self esteem or achievement can be met. 

The factor of ability can be influenced by providing training with the intent to help a person get better continuously. Ability, however, once again, can be increased without any external agent by following a path of learning. It can also be influenced by doing and accomplishing easy things. Running a marathon on the first day of getting fit might very well lead to failure, but what if the goal was to walk for a minute? That would be easy.

A trigger, unlike the other two, might mostly be an external entity. Friends and family members that I rely on for good advice, for example, might have to tell me that I need to get fit. My relocation, in another example, to a foreign country might trigger the need to learn a new language. Something, or someone, must remind me at the right time of my ability to accomplish a goal and where motivation already existed.

An entire industry of games and gaming exists around this behavior model. It is no different, however, than leading change in our team or our family. The same model of keeping the motivation up, doing simple things but learning continuously and responding to a trigger (a call to change or to accomplish) can be followed in any setting.

Happy accomplishing!

Lessons for a father - Shot of Dopamine (Part 2 - Gamification)

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What is your "Dopamine"? Almost everyone has their own version of the "happiness drug". Technically, it is a hormone and neurotransmitter of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families that plays a number of important roles in the human brain and body.

In a gamification setting,  the "dopamine effect" is associated with a sense of achievement and the happiness that someone feels when goals are met.

In a sense, it plays the part of a motivating agent that is responsible for us taking action towards our goals, desires and needs and "rewards" us with happiness thereafter. On the other hand, procrastination, self-doubt, and lack of enthusiasm are linked with low levels of dopamine.

To keep up our need of this happy state, one way is to break our bigger goals into smaller chunks. By doing this, we can control our brain to celebrate when we hit the finish line. This way we can create a series of little finish lines which releases dopamine. It is important, however, to celebrate. 

Project management methodologies and frameworks like Agile are all built around the idea of small and more "get-able" goals. There is power in achievement, no matter how small. There are numerous other examples of this in the real world. Whenever a bigger goal is broken down and made more achievable, the idea is to keep the people involved more motivated throughout. Think about the following:

• School systems
• Weight loss/ diet programs
• Gaming systems (Duh!)
• Learning a new language (bad words first?)

The list, above, is a small sub-set of ways and places where a "dopamine" system has already been implemented. It works. Brilliantly.

As leaders and parents, we can help by recognizing accomplishments of the people that might look up to us. The celebration does not need to be big either. Acknowledgement of the achievement via words, written or spoken, can be enough. The idea is not to wait for major accomplishments but to continue motivating by celebrating and honoring those small wins too!

It does not matter what role we play at any given time. It would appear that we must all invest in having and maintaining our Dopmaine Effect.