I really doubt there’s an easy way to do this, especially since the odds are stacked against you.
The real enemy are things that were designed to be fun and engaging: video games, fiction… There’s very little chance that I’ll be as engaged reading non-fiction (even fun non-fiction) as I am reading Worm or Snow Crash. Good non-fiction’s first priority is to be informative. Engaging and fun are secondary.
Similarly, learning math is fun, but it doesn’t have fun as its first priority. Being able to comprehend mathematics is the first priority, with fun being second. A lot of “have fun while learning math” video games parents force on their kids have this problem as well.
One thing that might work is going cold turkey on video games. Give them up now and vow to never play them again. (This is what I ended up doing with World of Warcraft.) I can’t advice this route (unless a video game is taking over your life), because you’ll just end up doing something else that’s more fun than studying. It’s hard (and probably impossible for most people) to avoid all things that were created to be fun and engaging.
One way to salvage your time playing video games is to fulfill goals you want by playing the game. When I play Guild Wars 2, for example, I only do it when I can lead a PvP team. This way I can improve my leadership abilities and learn how to better make good decisions with bad information. (Incidentally, if any LW members want to start an EU PvP team for the weekends, that would be pretty cool.)
I’ll note that I stopped playing video games in 9th grade and never looked back. I don’t know if you need to do this or even if it would be optimal for our overall enjoyment, but I prefer building my awesomeness in real life than building it in a game.
I’ve always found that an unfair comparison. Unlike real life, games are designed for you to become awesome. In games, you have nearly infinite agency for reaching your goals and the only thing hold you back is either time or willpower, but games are created in such a way that you want to spend time in them and to minimize the willpower needed to complete tasks.
Getting new armor that looks cooler in Guild Wars (for example) can be easily broken down into simple, manageable tasks that have very little chance of failing. A similar task in real life (say, buying an expensive suit) has a lot more complications. If you want I could break that distinction down step by step.
Apologies. I had the debate about “you should be awesome in real life instead of being awesome in video games” before and I pattern-matched it to your comment. Probably shouldn’t have done that.
Good non-fiction’s first priority is to be informative. Engaging and fun are secondary.
Really? If non-fiction doesn’t hook the reader and make them want to read more, and it isn’t System 1-persuasive to get people to actually act on the information, then how “good” can it really be?
I mean, if you’re writing a reference book, sure. But there is no reason educational non-fiction has to be dull.
But there is no reason educational non-fiction has to be dull.
It certainly doesn’t and it becomes better if it is engaging. Influence: Science and Practice is well-written, interesting and flows well. It’s one of the most engaging non-fiction books I’ve ever read, and yet I’d still rather read A Song of Ice and Fire (to stay in the realm of social manipulation).
Currently I’m reading A Republic of Pirates. The author does a great job at crafting a story around the facts. Pirate history lends itself to Great Man History so it’s easy to focus on a couple of people and weave the narrative around them. But because the book is intended to inform the reader on historical events (as opposed to simply be entertaining), it can’t cheat to make things flow better than they do. A story can bend the rules a little, have Blackbeard be somewhere he really wasn’t. Non-fiction doesn’t have this flexibility.
Fiction and non-fiction play by different rules, and fiction’s rules make it easier to be fun and engaging.
I really doubt there’s an easy way to do this, especially since the odds are stacked against you.
The real enemy are things that were designed to be fun and engaging: video games, fiction… There’s very little chance that I’ll be as engaged reading non-fiction (even fun non-fiction) as I am reading Worm or Snow Crash. Good non-fiction’s first priority is to be informative. Engaging and fun are secondary.
Similarly, learning math is fun, but it doesn’t have fun as its first priority. Being able to comprehend mathematics is the first priority, with fun being second. A lot of “have fun while learning math” video games parents force on their kids have this problem as well.
One thing that might work is going cold turkey on video games. Give them up now and vow to never play them again. (This is what I ended up doing with World of Warcraft.) I can’t advice this route (unless a video game is taking over your life), because you’ll just end up doing something else that’s more fun than studying. It’s hard (and probably impossible for most people) to avoid all things that were created to be fun and engaging.
One way to salvage your time playing video games is to fulfill goals you want by playing the game. When I play Guild Wars 2, for example, I only do it when I can lead a PvP team. This way I can improve my leadership abilities and learn how to better make good decisions with bad information. (Incidentally, if any LW members want to start an EU PvP team for the weekends, that would be pretty cool.)
I’ll note that I stopped playing video games in 9th grade and never looked back. I don’t know if you need to do this or even if it would be optimal for our overall enjoyment, but I prefer building my awesomeness in real life than building it in a game.
I’ve always found that an unfair comparison. Unlike real life, games are designed for you to become awesome. In games, you have nearly infinite agency for reaching your goals and the only thing hold you back is either time or willpower, but games are created in such a way that you want to spend time in them and to minimize the willpower needed to complete tasks.
Getting new armor that looks cooler in Guild Wars (for example) can be easily broken down into simple, manageable tasks that have very little chance of failing. A similar task in real life (say, buying an expensive suit) has a lot more complications. If you want I could break that distinction down step by step.
I’m not making any claims about it being “a fair comparison.”
This is a statement about me and my preferences. The tradeoff may be different for others.
Apologies. I had the debate about “you should be awesome in real life instead of being awesome in video games” before and I pattern-matched it to your comment. Probably shouldn’t have done that.
Apologies are unnecessary, but I heartily accept them.
Really? If non-fiction doesn’t hook the reader and make them want to read more, and it isn’t System 1-persuasive to get people to actually act on the information, then how “good” can it really be?
I mean, if you’re writing a reference book, sure. But there is no reason educational non-fiction has to be dull.
It certainly doesn’t and it becomes better if it is engaging. Influence: Science and Practice is well-written, interesting and flows well. It’s one of the most engaging non-fiction books I’ve ever read, and yet I’d still rather read A Song of Ice and Fire (to stay in the realm of social manipulation).
Currently I’m reading A Republic of Pirates. The author does a great job at crafting a story around the facts. Pirate history lends itself to Great Man History so it’s easy to focus on a couple of people and weave the narrative around them. But because the book is intended to inform the reader on historical events (as opposed to simply be entertaining), it can’t cheat to make things flow better than they do. A story can bend the rules a little, have Blackbeard be somewhere he really wasn’t. Non-fiction doesn’t have this flexibility.
Fiction and non-fiction play by different rules, and fiction’s rules make it easier to be fun and engaging.