Modding the Game of Life
Becoming a main character through discipline
As everyone and their mother makes an AI NPC company, I refuse to live my life like one.
For the non-gamers, NPC stands for “non-player character” — think of them like Westworld hosts. They’re bots that interact with players.
It’s so easy to be an in-real-life NPC that there’s even a subreddit to make fun of them. Makes sense, since society’s rails are built for comfort. One can graduate from college, get a 9-5, marry a nice but not all that exciting person, have happy but not all that spectacular kids, and die feeling like they lived life to the fullest. We’re conditioned to never think about what could have been. That would mean modding the game — changing the rules we’re told — and that is very much not okay.
Or is it? Every time I’ve taken a major risk in my life, I’ve been told that isn’t acceptable. People and policies stood in my way, trying to posture that my goals were impossible. But every time I declined to listen to their rules, I was able to get pass their insurmountable levels.
So how do you mod the game of life to become the protagonist of your own life? My thesis: consistent discipline and rigorous systems. By tracking my successes and slip-ups towards goals, I’m able to measure progress over time and reorient when I get off track. I’m admittedly a bit loose in my austerity, but currently engage in the following methods:
Task Levels and Rewards
My little lizard brain loves rewards. And is also somewhat addicted to dumb things (especially sugar). I leverage what I know about my own psychology to make myself more productive each day.
Every day I stack rank my priority list into three levels, with four tasks per level. In my list — blue = work, yellow = personal, orange = finances. Personal is broad, ranging from fitness to planning to chores. The levels are dependent on my addiction to the vice, and should be personalized to whatever triggers you. For me, social media isn’t all that alluring. Eating is more so (I try to stick to a 6 hour fasting window), so the thought of getting to eat sooner drives me to check off boxes. And don’t get me started on dessert. Lizard brain would do anything for some chocolate chip cookies.
Calendar Time Blocking
Whenever I show people my calendar, they inevitably say: “You even time block procrastination? You’re crazy.” I track everything I do, every day. In my list — green = energy inducing, yellow = neutral, red = energy draining. At the end of the week, I do a calendar audit so that in the next week I can do more energy inducing activities and fewer draining ones. Couple of examples — I’ve identified that I should go on no-phone walks when I’m emotional, read every morning and night, and check messages less frequently. See sample calendar (with block names removed) below.
As I think about modding my life, I realize I’m not as intense about my systems as I could be. People like Bryan Johnson track everything and have an end goal in mind for their main character energy. His is to “be the next evolution of human” by slowing his pace of aging. Studying his intense site led me to the following questions:
What is my current goal with life modding, like Johnson’s age reversal target?
What additional habits or tracking should I adopt to optimize for said goal?
In this phase of my life, I’m no Johnson. I don’t have a networth of $400M. So while chasing the fountain of youth sounds alluring, that’s not my goal and I don’t have a cushion to fall back on. I also find that scrupulous obsession decreases my personal happiness. While it works for Johnson, compulsive improvement is its own illness.
My current objective function — don’t be a NPC. Justify all decisions I’m making and don’t let them be made for me. Adjust my habits and the game I’m playing if I’m out of control. Seek to learn more about the rails in the games I chose to play and my own internal rails. Eliminate societally-normed and self-destructive behaviors.
After studying the greats of systemized and public improvement like Johnson, Ferriss, and Huberman, here are some of the life mods I’m considering to become more of a main character:
Daily supplement routine. I currently take Vitamin D (because I’m genetically deficient), but believe this could be more robust.
Outsourcing personal tasks by betting that my time is worth more than my current bankroll. Meaning I’d bet that focusing my attention on meaningful tasks would both level up my skill and lead me to make more money faster than if I’d done all the menial tasks myself. Maybe not dating like Ferriss, but I could still push the extremes of what people typically outsource.
Public nutrition tracking. I’ve promised many people I’d send them food logs, and then failed to send when I was embarrassed to have eaten badly. Didn’t eat the cookie if no one knows, thinks the lizard brain. I wonder whether I’d better comply with diets if I honestly shared my nutrition online.
While Dolores is a badass in Westworld, I feel for her as a NPC. To feel like you’re in control and then discover you’re living on someone else’s rails must shatter your sense of reality. Don’t be Season 1 Dolores. Mod your own game of life.
Katie Mishra is a former mobile gaming founder who grew up writing books. Follow for musings and experiments while living in the arena.