Victory Donut: A To-do List Game
The victory donut is a recent example of how I have a habit of turning day to day things into games in my own mind.
A pastry, a promise, and accountability.
Why have I not discussed the fun gamified power of a simple promise combined with a pastry? I do talk about creative process and projects a lot. Why didn't the victory donut come up?
Maybe it's too simple to share? Lots of folks use checklists with a sense of accomplishment after. Getting a treat for finishing a project is super common too. You don't even need a reason to treat yourself.
Working a checklist and getting a treat at the end was a fun ritual. That's a complete enough story. There might be more to it though.
The Victory Donut
The victory donut comes to my desk when deadlines loom. I don't mind working toward a big project reward. The time between here and finished project can be a huge wait. It's not as easy to feel close to the reward like my every small step and choice matters and moves me closer or further from the reward. The big output and big timeline make the reward feel abstract.
Small treats can be rewarding too, so why not take the big goal and find smaller goals to reach as steps?
So on my way to work, I'll choose a fresh amazing looking donut. Donuts smell so good to me. A donut that's victory worthy could be one of any of these top 5 choices:
- chocolate frosted cake
- vanilla frosted cake with sprinkles
- raised vanilla frosted
- frosting or fruit filled long john
- apple fritter
If the pastry is not a donut, I still call it that day's victory donut.
When I get to my workspace, I place the donut in a prominent space. It is a visible reminder. Hopefully, I can smell it too.
Now it's time to make the commitment, what is the victory that makes the donut mine? Make a checklist of the things to get done, this becomes my criteria and promise. Only if these things are accomplished, that's when I get to eat the donut.
There's no guarantee that I'll be eating the victory donut. That's what makes the donut an interesting symbol.
What happens then when I don't earn the donut?
I give it to someone else on the team to celebrate them instead. It helps the donut not go to waste.
Me: "Hey, I have this frosted donut and I'm not going to eat it. Would you like to have it?"
Often it's welcome news.
Coworker: "Oh, are you sure? Well, OK, thanks!"
It got weird a few times when folks know it's a victory donut and what all that means. Like what does it mean for someone to take my symbol of accomplishment and consume it?
Coworker: "Hey is that your victory donut? Can't you just keep it till tomorrow?"
Me: "Nope. It's only a victory donut if I finish my list or give it away."
With a okay-fine squint of acceptance "OK, I'll have it."
Only a couple times has a victory donut not found a home.
I don't feel good about wasting that donut. I have both set a victory donut in a workspace kitchen and wrote "free donut" on the bag. I've also waste binned and composted a couple when there just wasn't another option. A few times I'd bring the donut home for Kate.
It's a symbol in a story. I choose to give it meaning.
The biggest thing that happens when I don't earn the donut is keeping a promise.
That's also what happens when I do eat the victory donut, it means I completed the list and kept that promise.
Since childhood I get the urge to bet with myself on small stuff. One kind of bet that really gets my brain hooked on an idea is to make and keep a promise I make to myself related to something I can control.
Growing up I'd do this small bet promise trick to run home fast, to finish homework, get a chore done instead of avoiding it.
Using a reasonable treat for a reasonable checklist seems very similar to turning a situation into a game.
This also reminds me of when I was using the app Superbetter to help work through just not feeling great. It's such a clever, nourishing, kind, easy to use tool. And it's free. Superbetter is a way to give yourself a meaningful list and experience nourishing stuff as reward. Far healthier than a victory donut, though not mutually exclusive.
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