If you’re anything like me, you start every new year full of good intentions and fresh energy. This year, you’ll finally learn a new language/go to the gym twice a week (three times? four?!)/journal daily and build a whole ton of other useful habits. But before January is over, you’ve shoved all those intentions in the very back of your mental drawer. Why does this keep happening to so many of us over and over and over? In this blog, we’ll not only talk about that, but also about ways to use gamification and actually making habits stick.
Why are New Year’s Resolutions so hard to maintain?
When it comes to changing your life, there’s two type of goals you could have. One is one-time goals. They are all about working towards something to the point where you’re done. It’s like running a marathon (or a sprint, for that matter) – you start, you run, you finish – done. Realistic goals are easier because you know you only have to keep up your motivation for a limited amount of time. You don’t have to do it forever.
But most of the time, our New Year’s Resolutions aren’t one-time goals. They are habits. Or, they are goals that require us to build habits. And that’s a lot harder, because habits mean we have to stay motivated… forever. Or, at least for how long we want the habits to last.
All of that said… in 2024, I managed to do DuoLingo every single day (without using any streak freezes)! I’m currently learning Arabic and maintaining my Portuguese (both just for the fun of it) and my current streak (this one *is* with a couple of streak freezes, less than 3 a year on average) is 1748 days (as of January 5th 2025). How is it possible that with all habits that failed, I’ve managed to stick with this one for so long? At least half the reason is DuoLingo’s great approach to gamification. So let’s look at how you could use gamification to stick with all of your other resolutions!
Motivate yourself with visual habit streaks
You may have heard this one before, but one great way to motivate yourself is to visualize your habit streak. Putting a checkmark next to every time you’ve finished a habit triggers your dopamine production. Dopamine is also known as the reward hormone, it plays a huge part in our motivation (and is often dysregulated in those of us who are neurodivergent, especially those with ADHD). Finding it super easy to get some thing done? That’s dopamine. Struggling to get off the couch for others? That’s also dopamine (well, a lack of it). So visualize those habits to motivate yourself. It may not make much sense, but it still works.
Making habits stick is not all or nothing
When you put a new year’s resolutions like ‘I won’t smoke anymore’ and on January 17th you suddenly find yourself smoking – you may be tempted to conclude: “Oh well, I tried, I failed, might as well take up smoking again”. That’s because we often treat habits as all-or-nothing. Guess what, if I’d done this with DuoLingo, I would have gone on to get a 180-day streak (back in 2020) and then go back to square 1 because of one missed lesson. And honestly, I’d probably feel so demotivated I’d just think ‘never mind’. Luckily, DuoLingo has ‘streak freezes’ – I can miss learning every now and then, and still keep my streak. Try and cut yourself some slack, too. Instead of beating yourself up over a few times when you don’t succeed with your habits, set a goal of making say 27 out of 30 days. You’ll find it way easier to actually get the results you want.
Another great way of going about this is by treating habits as mini-goals you get a new shot at every single day. Missed your shot today? No worries! Come back tomorrow for a new chance!
Challenge yourself with habit quests
DuoLingo uses daily ‘quests’ to challenge you to get things done. A challenge on DuoLingo may be something like ‘Complete 3 lessons’, ‘Complete 2 lessons with 90% or more’ or ‘Do 7 listening exercises’. See if you can come up with some challenges for your habits. For instance, if your habit is to drink more liquids, you could come up with 30 different liquids for 1 month. If you’re the kind of person who treats challenges as a way to prove yourself, varying your habits with quests will save you from boring routine and help with making habits stick.
Team up with a habit buddy
There is a whole bunch of ways to making habits stick together with your friends. For instance, engage in a friendly competition – who does a better job staying on top of their laundry or limiting their screen time? If you don’t like competition, make it a collaboration! Set a shared goal: combined, you have to exercises at least 15 times this month. Even having someone to hold you accountable may already help you build habits more effectively.
Weekly prompt: Your #1 Habit
This year, we’re introducing a new element to our blogs: weekly prompts. The weekly prompt is a bit like drawing one of our cards – you’ll get a question to reflect on. This week’s prompt is:
What’s one habit you’d build or quit this year if you knew you couldn’t fail, and how could you gamify it?
Drop your answer in the comments! And while you’re here, sign up for our newsletter to get weekly prompts, tips, and resources to help you level up your habits and create a life you love. Let’s make this year the one where it all clicks!
