How I use Habitica
Feb. 27th, 2019 06:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrThis is adapted from a comment I gave someone asking for advice, since I thought other folk might find it useful.
Habitica is a website that turns ticking off items on your to-do list into a simple role playing game where you are rewarded with clothes items and pets for your little avatar. I find it quite useful.
You can join a party with a small number of other folk, where your success helps everyone else complete quests to get rare animals. I find this very motivating! There's also Guilds, which are larger and looser, but I haven't used them myself.
The three lists are "habits" (tasks you try to do frequently but have no set schedule for), "dailies" (repeating tasks with a set schedule), and "to do" (one off tasks)
What's worked best for me is to not bother with the "habit" or "to do" lists and just use the "dailies" list. You can tweak "dailies" to not actually be daily: repeat weekly/monthly etc, only happen on certain days of the week etc.
If you miss a daily, you get a chance to check it off before the next day begins. For me, there are some tasks where I can go "oops better go do that right now" and others where it's better to go "Oh well, I missed it". Specifically, don't go "I won't tick off today's tasks until I've done all of yesterday's", then end up not doing either set. Sometimes you have to just sigh and accept that a thing is not getting done.
If you end up having to sigh and accept that a particular thing is not getting done a *lot*, it is time to rethink including that thing in your dailies, or it's frequency.
Start SLOW. It's way too easy to give yourself the goals you'd LIKE and then get overwhelmed and fail all of them and it's all too hard, which just turns Habitica into a guilt list. This is especially true with things you currently almost NEVER get around to doing. Shifting yourself from "almost never" to, say, once a month, is a major achievement, so aim for that, instead of trying to force yourself to do it daily or weekly.
The "habit" list can be useful if you're finding yourself overwhelmed by dailies, since there's no punishment for failure. These days I just use the "dailies" list, but when I was still experimenting with the site I had a lot of things on the "habit" list. Some of them I found I could get myself to do semi-regularly, and they got moved to the "daily" list. The rest I get myself to do in other ways.
The Inn turns off dailies temporarily and is useful when I'm sick and not getting anything done.
Give yourself a few really easy tasks you almost always do already. It's still good to have the extra reminder, and you'll get a sense of achievement even on bad days. Maybe just start with ONLY tasks like that and maybe one trickier one. Getting into the habit of checking Habitica is a new habit for you, and you want it to be an appealing one.
And now, here's my full list of "dailies". I have the non-daily tasks staggered so not too many happen at once. Note that there's a lot of stuff I do (semi-)regularly that's not included.
For example, I find the dirty dishes building up when I put off cleaning them is a more effective reminder to wash them than any website would ever be. If I'm avoiding them regardless, the extra guilt would just make me feel worse and not help. Meanwhile I haven't added "take breakfast pills" because I tend to check habitica too late in the day to take those pills if I've forgotten them.
PLEASE do not let this list make you feel bad if there's stuff you can't do this frequently. This is what works for me. What works for you will be something quite different. (If it's way less than you do then I hope you feel powerful and accomplished ;))
Daily:
Shower
brush teeth
check phone for messages and make sure it's recharged
take dinner pills
got sunlight today or yesterday(*)
check wheelchair recharge
hug Cam(**)
Weekends:
Feed the cat breakfast (Cam does it on weekdays)
A few days a week:
Do something creative
Actively seek contact with someone I like or family
clean kitty litter
Once a week:
Run sprinklers
order fruit and veg
Refill pill boxes
wash water bottle(***)
Monthly:
pay bills
check the little pill box in my bag is filled
check/run backups
(*)A hack to make sure I do this around every two days without being stuck on a strict schedule.
(**)it seems odd to need the reminder but sometimes we'd both get really into what we were doing and forget for a few days and then feel confusedly lonely. We always talk but the lizard brain needs hugs too.
(***)I try to do this every time I wash the dishes, but this reminder is to make sure I do it at least once a week. It used to be a more frequent reminder but it turned out weekly is all I can manage consistently.
Habitica is a website that turns ticking off items on your to-do list into a simple role playing game where you are rewarded with clothes items and pets for your little avatar. I find it quite useful.
You can join a party with a small number of other folk, where your success helps everyone else complete quests to get rare animals. I find this very motivating! There's also Guilds, which are larger and looser, but I haven't used them myself.
The three lists are "habits" (tasks you try to do frequently but have no set schedule for), "dailies" (repeating tasks with a set schedule), and "to do" (one off tasks)
What's worked best for me is to not bother with the "habit" or "to do" lists and just use the "dailies" list. You can tweak "dailies" to not actually be daily: repeat weekly/monthly etc, only happen on certain days of the week etc.
If you miss a daily, you get a chance to check it off before the next day begins. For me, there are some tasks where I can go "oops better go do that right now" and others where it's better to go "Oh well, I missed it". Specifically, don't go "I won't tick off today's tasks until I've done all of yesterday's", then end up not doing either set. Sometimes you have to just sigh and accept that a thing is not getting done.
If you end up having to sigh and accept that a particular thing is not getting done a *lot*, it is time to rethink including that thing in your dailies, or it's frequency.
Start SLOW. It's way too easy to give yourself the goals you'd LIKE and then get overwhelmed and fail all of them and it's all too hard, which just turns Habitica into a guilt list. This is especially true with things you currently almost NEVER get around to doing. Shifting yourself from "almost never" to, say, once a month, is a major achievement, so aim for that, instead of trying to force yourself to do it daily or weekly.
The "habit" list can be useful if you're finding yourself overwhelmed by dailies, since there's no punishment for failure. These days I just use the "dailies" list, but when I was still experimenting with the site I had a lot of things on the "habit" list. Some of them I found I could get myself to do semi-regularly, and they got moved to the "daily" list. The rest I get myself to do in other ways.
The Inn turns off dailies temporarily and is useful when I'm sick and not getting anything done.
Give yourself a few really easy tasks you almost always do already. It's still good to have the extra reminder, and you'll get a sense of achievement even on bad days. Maybe just start with ONLY tasks like that and maybe one trickier one. Getting into the habit of checking Habitica is a new habit for you, and you want it to be an appealing one.
And now, here's my full list of "dailies". I have the non-daily tasks staggered so not too many happen at once. Note that there's a lot of stuff I do (semi-)regularly that's not included.
For example, I find the dirty dishes building up when I put off cleaning them is a more effective reminder to wash them than any website would ever be. If I'm avoiding them regardless, the extra guilt would just make me feel worse and not help. Meanwhile I haven't added "take breakfast pills" because I tend to check habitica too late in the day to take those pills if I've forgotten them.
PLEASE do not let this list make you feel bad if there's stuff you can't do this frequently. This is what works for me. What works for you will be something quite different. (If it's way less than you do then I hope you feel powerful and accomplished ;))
Daily:
Shower
brush teeth
check phone for messages and make sure it's recharged
take dinner pills
got sunlight today or yesterday(*)
check wheelchair recharge
hug Cam(**)
Weekends:
Feed the cat breakfast (Cam does it on weekdays)
A few days a week:
Do something creative
Actively seek contact with someone I like or family
clean kitty litter
Once a week:
Run sprinklers
order fruit and veg
Refill pill boxes
wash water bottle(***)
Monthly:
pay bills
check the little pill box in my bag is filled
check/run backups
(*)A hack to make sure I do this around every two days without being stuck on a strict schedule.
(**)it seems odd to need the reminder but sometimes we'd both get really into what we were doing and forget for a few days and then feel confusedly lonely. We always talk but the lizard brain needs hugs too.
(***)I try to do this every time I wash the dishes, but this reminder is to make sure I do it at least once a week. It used to be a more frequent reminder but it turned out weekly is all I can manage consistently.
