How video games made me a more productive teacher

Posted on by J.J. Hamilton

I am a 29-year-old teacher who loves to play video games. Have done ever since I was a kid, devoting hours to trying desperately to capture Mewtwo on my copy of Pokémon FireRed for the GameBoy Advance.

There were days after school when I would sink hours into single player campaigns or multiplayer experiences with my friends, both online and through couch co-op. But as my responsibilities increased, my gaming time decreased. I was spending more time studying, or working to earn a little petty cash here and there, or acting in our school musicals and helping with parent’s evenings.

Then, when I finally got to go to University, my gaming time fell off a cliff. I left my PlayStation 3 at home and moved to Birmingham with a 3DS XL in hand. Even then, in between studying, attending lectures and seminars and going out and meeting new people, where was the time?

I think it took me about a year to beat the latest Ace Attorney game, a visual novel about a lawyer defending his clients. Once I’d graduated, you’d think that I would finally be able to make time for one of my oldest hobbies, but sharing a living space with friends meant that I couldn’t monopolise the TV, even if I now had access to my pal’s PlayStation 4.

My time spent gaming was at an all-time low.

Fast forward to the present and I’ve finally invested in the latest in gaming hardware: a PlayStation 5 Pro. That, coupled with a nearly ten-year-old Nintendo Switch, has meant that I’m gaming more than ever before.

And you know what? I’ve never been more productive. Here’s my five-step guide to using video games help me to achieve my goals – in teaching and beyond.

Delayed gratification

The secret behind using video games to increase your productivity is, quite simply, by refusing to play them.

Let me explain.

If you wake up on a Saturday morning and jump straight onto your gaming machine, you might have a wonderful time. But before you know it, the sun will be setting and you’ll have not stirred in six hours. Your to-do list will continue to overwhelm, and that’s the last thing that we want.

Instead, we’re going to start the day differently.

Step 1

Start the day with your usual morning routine. Whether that’s similar to mine, or totally different, you’re going to stick to what your body is used to. This’ll encourage you to maintain healthy habits, such as skincare and drinking water as soon as you wake up, which you should be doing during the week anyway.

Step 2

Write out your to-do list. Figure out everything that needs doing in the day and write it down, including a list of priorities. What must be done today? What could you delay until tomorrow, or next week, if needed?

I’d always recommend using a Bullet Journal for this, but any Second Brain will do (here’s how I use OneNote as mine).

Step 3

Program exercise into your day. You might enjoy the gym, or bouldering, or martial arts, or even a walk. Get your body moving.

Step 4

Work your way through each of these tasks. Don’t forget about your favourite habits and hobbies, such as learning a language or drawing. Try to find time for offline hobbies if you can, to get away from that screen.

Step 5

Once you’ve done everything else that you need or want to do in a day, sit down, relax, and make more progress on your favourite game. That might be 30 minutes or it could be 6 hours – it doesn’t matter, since you’ve earned it.

You could even frame this as a hard cut-off for your work. There’s no denying that teachers are busy people and, in many ways, our to-do list never really ends. So why not use playing video games as a reward for coming to the end of your working time, signifying a hard cut-off? Once you’ve worked for however long, or got however many things done, and you’ve started playing, you can’t do anymore work.

This is what is called delayed gratification. You’re doing all of the harder things first, especially the tasks that will take just two minutes (since they’re the easiest to cross off your to-do list), and then you’re sitting down to relax. Following this method might not be for everyone, but for me, it’s been a great way to ensure that I can get everything done as a busy Head of History, while ensuring that I have enough time to spend on the things that I enjoy the most.

How do you usually get things done? Do you prefer one-hundred-percenting your to-do list first, or would you rather a lazy morning with your favourite hobbies first? Let me know in the comments below, and don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list for more productivity insights.

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