I’ve found a game that makes me a better version of myself. It transforms my habits without effort, gets me doing the things I know are good for me without force or negative self-talk, and quiets the nagging voice of self-doubt that tells me I’m never doing enough.
At its core, this game simplifies reality by categorizing your actions into easily understandable groups. You determine what the game looks like for you, tailoring it to your personal goals and values.
The beauty of this game lies in its simplicity: it removes willpower from the equation of productivity. You don’t have to ask yourself if you should do this or that, and how good or bad that thing is for you. You already know.
Gone is the small, disquieting feeling that eternally whispers, “You’re not doing what you should be doing.” In its place, the game of Energy Economy provides a system of incentives and rewards that eliminates the constant guesswork of daily decision-making:
– When is it time to rest?
– When have I done enough?
– Am I worthy of a reward?
Without a metric, it’s all too easy to fall into one of two traps:
1. Feeling like you’ve never done enough, leaving you eternally unworthy.
2. Believing any small effort deserves unlimited rewards, leaving you eternally unfulfilled.
Neither path leads to true satisfaction. The solution lies in finding balance, and that’s exactly what Energy Economy offers.
How to Play Energy Economy
The game revolves around two key elements:
1. Assign positive point values to actions that move you forward in life.
2. Assign negative point values to rewards or indulgences.
This creates a simple yet powerful balance: you must earn points through positive actions to “spend” on rewards you enjoy.
Let’s dive into a practical example:
This is an example spreadsheet I use to keep track of my point count. As you can see, there’s all kinds of items on here that give and take points. Figuring out the point costs of each item is an ongoing journey. Think of it more like musical notes when you are bringing together a song. The purpose of the points is to communicate with your inner animal. The engine of your desires. You are holding the rewards out in front of this inner animal, like a carrot, and telling it that in order to get the things it wants, it must perform some tricks. We just build it up from there.
Playing this game is all about choosing the set of actions on each side of the action/reward dichotomy, and then paying attention to yourself to see how your behavior changes. This comes at the issue of getting yourself to do the things you need to do in a way that is more game-like and less filled with negative self-talk.
The Transformation
Every time I play this game, I become a different person.
My actions are more restricted, certainly, but not because I’ve told myself I can or cannot do certain things. Rather, I hesitate to spend my points on things which do not give me the value I am looking for. I quickly abandon shitty rewards because they feel like a waste of time. Conversely, I am far more engaged in performing actions which generate points because I can feel how they move me toward outcomes I desire. I’m no longer forcing myself to do things that are good for me, I love doing them because they get me points. I love getting points because I can use them to fulfill my desires.
This brings out a different side of me. One that is happier by nature, I think in part because this model acts a bit like a crude world model. When you assign points in this way, you are communicating to yourself that certain things bring you closer to your desires, while other things take you away from them. This is true, and while no model is capable of accurately representing this in totality, it can be extremely helpful to have a simple model of a small slice of reality if it helps you do the things you want and be happy while you’re doing them.