Gamifying Goals Inspired by Solo Leveling | Personal Development

Solo leveling is a web novel turned into anime that sets in a world where human and monster have to fight each other. In that world, there are so-called hunters who hunt down monsters that lives in the dungeon and tries to cross over into the modern world of Seoul, South Korea. The main character of this anime is Sung Jinwoo who is an E Rank hunter. During one mission, he encountered Statue of God where upon escaping the dungeon, he wakes up receiving new ability. He was chosen to be the “player” and received daily quests to help him become unbeatable.

When I first watched that anime I was intrigued with the system. It’s interesting when actually something so simple was put into such perspective. In the anime Jinwoo has the need to be consistent because the penalty isn’t something to joke around while at the same time, the reward that he’s receiving is also pretty lucrative.

While trying to spice up my current workout routine, I did the same. I copied Jinwoo daily’s quest with a little more modification. So, my workout daily quest is squats, overhead dumbbell press, glute bridge, heel touch and bicycle crunch all for 10 sets 10 times. There are obviously rest day because our body needs rest too but for someone who is now quite sedentary, these simple movements help.

I find it really fun that it doesn’t have to be something too big. This is actually aligns to the idea of breaking down goals into smaller steps that we often read/heard over self-improvement how tos. As many said too, there's something called "compound interest". While it might seem pretty insignificant, overtime added, we might get fitter or receive some type of benefit from it.

But, I can tell you as much the first day isn’t going to be easy.

While I usually do jog, doing my daily quest, left me sore all over. I also don’t do 100 at one time, I split it in a few times throughout the day to make it a lot more doable. It’s fun that way especially when you want to maintain your health or add more movement into your day.

I don’t even know where this workout quest will take me but I find it super fun. Obviously, just like jinwoo, there is penalty and reward that I set for myself. It really helps exercising my discipline too. But, it's okay that if you don't have those reward and/or penalty mechanism. I think doing what's fun and simplifying things are what matters in achieving goals.

If you’re needing inspiration to kick off your goal, try the jinwoo method and break your goal down to 4 simple bullet point, do them daily. Give yourself 30 days and see what happens. Who knows, you’re getting a lot closer to your dream. And it doesn’t have to be health/workout related. It can be anything from language learning, being a better writer, or even financial goals.