How to make learning an addictive video game

Let’s face it

Studying is boring and tedious:

Endless pile of notes

Cramming flashcards

Sleepless nights and assignments

After 15 minutes, your brain is fried.

So you open Fortnite to chill. 🛀

Wait wait wait stop right there.

Why Fortnite and not taking a walk?

The answer:

1. Desirable difficulty

2. A dopamine system

Great, so why are you telling me this?

Because today, I want to show you how these 2 ideas can help you make learning

• Engaging

• meaningful

• Remember more

Desirable difficulty

This afternoon, while waiting for the plane, I opened my fav video game:

Arena of Valor

With the character I am training, I was excited for the match.

After 2 minutes, I already had 6 kills.

Which is insane since most of the time I only get 6 if I am lucky.

When the match ended,

Boom

30 kills - 0 deaths - 4 assists

My new all-time high — Yay

I told my cousins about it and they asked me to check the opponents and oh mine

I played with bots🤖.

That’s why it was so easy.

My achievement lost all purpose. I was just playing with bots…

Right, to prove that I am good to my cousins I played again and once again, I played with bots 😭

The 1st was fun, but when the game became too easy it became boring.

Vice versa, if too difficult, most will throw in the towel and quit.

This is

The difficulty is just uncomfortable enough to make you engaged.

If you have been in the self help world, what I described could be summarized in 2 words:

Flow state.

Difficulty gives us meaning and forces ourselves to engage

The same goes for learning.

There is a phenomenon called cognitive load theory.

Overwhelm, Tiredness, and confusion directly correlate with retention and engagement

Visualize it this way:

Now for the important part:

Here are two ways to use this when learning:

1. Quality

2. Quantity

I’ll keep this short (promise)

Quality

If you are doing any or all of the 3 things I mentioned in the beginning, then you are not learning — you are studying.

While they can be the same, it is not.

Learning is intrinsic while studying is artificial.

So to engage the CLT, use the Bloom Taxonomy and higher-order thinking.

When you evaluate and analyze, you naturally remember and understand.

Spend time in this zone for the most efficient and engaging learning.

That’s not enough.

HOTS without feedback is like a ship without a compass.

• What was your step-by-step process?

• What problem did you face?

• Were their any external factors that effected you?

Questions like these give you insights for improvement.

If possible, ask for feedback from them too. Embrace it. They aren’t attacking your ego, they are helping you.

Quantity

• If you normally learn for 1 hour try 2.

• If you normally learn 1 unit try 2.

• If you normally learn 1st grade math try 2.

Will it be harder.

Of course.

Cognitive Load Theory is a muscle that can be trained.

Not by doing 100 reps of easy weight, but by progressively pushing boundaries.

The struggle and overwhelmed feeling are signs of growth.

In the book Peak by Anderson:

A world in which deliberate practice is a normal part of life would be one in which people had more volition and satisfaction.

Dopamine System

You remember how games hook you for hours?

Multiple short cycles of dopamine

Let’s take sports as an example.

Football ⚽️

You dribble the ball and pass it to a teammate, they score, and your team wins.

Wrong pass? Your team suffers.

Every action you take is tied to immediate feedback and a dopamine spike.

Once we get some dopamine, we want MORE.

Applying to learning:

Set milestones.

Every small action reminds you of the progress you have made. And progress creates growth.

Through growth, we activate the winning cycle of compounding victories.

I can give you more tips.

But take action first.

Embrace the discomfort, be open to feedback, and create tiny milestones for motivation

Takeaway:

1. Embrace the discomfort (cognitive load theory) with higher-order thinking and pushing the boundaries.

2. Use the feedback as a springboard for intentional improvement

3. Set milestones for motivation.

🧠 Brain Puzzler

(A question, riddle, or conundrum to mull over.)

Last week, Clara and Mr Hoorn were both very closed to the answer.

“What makes this number unique: 8,549,176,320?”

The answer is: Each number is ordered in alphabetic order 😉 

Shoutout to Clara and Mr Hoorn for your participation

P.S. The only way I know if this is helpful is to get a reply from you.

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🫣 Life Update

The most interesting things about this week

I'm still on family vacation, and it's been really nice for me to just have some quiet time to get the work done.

I know that I am obsessive, but I just feel happy when I get things done.

Other than that, I'm still doing my other stuff, so I'm creating content and finishing up the last few courses for university.

If you have any questions or anything you want to ask me, then just reply to this email and I will get back to you asap.

Since my CTR is super low — 3%

so here’s a new section where I curate my favorite tweets and threads from last week

(P.S. Finally a chance to use my bookmarked content 😆):

Here’s a Twitter Space where Sarah interviewed me about my public speaking experience as a debater at Yale almost 5 years ago.

The only way I know if this is helpful is to get a reply from you.

Please reply to me with your thoughts on this newsletter:

Like, dislike, or meh?

Do you want more posts like this?