How to Use Music to Gamify Productivity

This is a sample from a daily blog I write for premium Octalysis Prime members, sharing practical and immediately applicable information related to gamification and behavior design. In other words, a daily blog for OP inspired by James Altucher and Seth Godin and others with a daily writing practice. 

You’ve probably noticed background music and music to learn, like this Akira the Don album (YouTube) on Joseph Campbell‘s Hero of a Thousand Faces, which uses spaced repetition combined with original music production.

From Akira the Don

(I wager that Akira the Don’s retention is off the charts given he creatively composed this album, requiring him to select the most important aspects of Campbell’s work.)

I’ve read various authors and then followed up with musical compositions like this, which to my mind serve a similar purpose to a bookshelf, where, after reading a book, I can simply notice it on the shelf and remember its contents. It’s almost like magic!

Maybe it has to do with flow (Fadi and Yu-kai recently discussed on Linkedin).

Speaking of music, one of our very own Octalysis Prime members, Frank Parker, is familiar with gamified learning and community building through music. I happen to know his son Ashlin Parker has used the Octalysis framework to ideate and improve the Trumpet Mafia experience. (If you haven’t read about it, head over to the OP Store and purchase the Getting Started Guide, only 500 Chou Coins!)

I will keep an eye (and ear) out for member projects I like to expand on in this blog… For example, I’m curious to know more about Bo joining the Yang Gang (former US presidential candidate) even though he cannot vote in the election–Bo lives and teaches in Denmark.

In other news, I recently transcribed Yu-kai’s video on Endgame Loot Design (which is a downloadable resource received after completing the video).

One idea in the video is that in WoW and Diablo, Blizzard game designers implemented mystery box designs… but Yu-kai noticed a problem.

As a reminder, this is only the 2nd day of my new Daily OP quest, where I share a few notes every day with each of you here in the community. Since a lot of you are annual members, I thought ‘What better way than to have a daily conversation?’

For completing this blog reading, here’s your loot! (a random video from OP) … only for Primers.

Erik van Mechelen
Your Octalysis Prime Community Manager

PS Send any requests for downloadable resources, like ‘How to Get Started on My Octalysis Level I Certificate’ or ‘The Octalysis Guide to Parenting’

Linked content from this email:
Akira the Don – Joseph Campbell, full album – “what is this mystery…?” (CD1/7)
Joseph Campbell (wikipedia)
Endgame Loot Design video on OP Island

Prime On! (parting thoughts)

Congrats to member Sergio Ligato for his recent guest post on a top Italian gamification site!

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