The Video Game Apple Note
Redesign any task like a video game: start at level one, never level fifty-six.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 80%
Mack observed that people who look chronically lazy can be world-class at a video game, which suggests reality is often just a poorly designed game rather than an agency defect. His fix is to rebuild any task in a note the way game designers build levels. Level one is always the same and always achievable no matter the goal, from opening the mail to flying a plane: 'dump down thoughts on the topic.' You tick it off, get the small hit of momentum, and level two is 'create the next five levels based on level one.' Each subsequent step is sized to be a genuine challenge without overwhelm. A step that's too big, like 'build website', is the design flaw that makes people quit; breaking it into micro-steps is what sustains agency.
Origin
George Mack built the method after realising a friend who couldn't open his mail was one of the best players in the world at a specific video game, prompting the question of whether reality is just a badly designed game.
Core principles
- 01A task you can't start is a badly designed video game, not a character flaw.
- 02Good game design meets you where you are and steps you up just enough to challenge without overwhelm.
- 03Level one must be small enough to start but not so small it's meaningless.
- 04Half the battle is simply taking the first step.
How to run it
- 1
Name the task at the top of a note
Write the real objective, however daunting, in a plain note. This is the game you're designing levels for.
Watch out Don't leave it as the big scary version, e.g. 'build website'; that's starting on level fifty-six.
- 2
Set level one as 'dump down thoughts'
Make the first level nothing more than dumping your thoughts on the topic. It works for any goal from opening mail to curing cancer because you can always dump thoughts.
Pro tip Keep level one small enough to start but not so trivial it feels pointless.
- 3
Tick level one off
Complete and check off level one to get the small video-game hit of dopamine and momentum.
- 4
Generate the next five levels
Level two is to create the next five levels based on what came out of level one, turning a blank problem into a laddered path.
- 5
Size every step for challenge without overwhelm
Each level should feel like enough of a step to be a challenge but never so big it triggers frustration and quitting.
Pro tip This nests cleanly with seasons, years, 90-day chunks and daily actions; the smallest possible first step is the load-bearing part.
In the wild
A friend describes his workaholism as a problem but says he doesn't know where to start. Mack asks 'where are you out of ten?' (you can never say seven), gets 'a three', asks why not a two, then 'what would take it to a four?'. The friend answers 'if I left the office before 8pm'. Mack tells him to do the four immediately, then ladder up to five, six, seven.
→ A boundless problem collapses into a concrete first move and momentum, the same laddering logic as the video-game note.
Common mistakes
Starting on level fifty-six
Writing 'build website' as the task is too big a first step, so you sit in constant frustration and quit the game entirely.
Blaming yourself instead of the design
Chronic stalling usually signals a badly designed task, not a lazy person. The same person may be relentless inside a well-designed game.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone who stalls on big, vague tasks and needs a repeatable way to manufacture the first step.
Not ideal for
Well-defined, already-motivating tasks where the overhead of designing levels adds friction rather than removing it.
From the transcript
“Do they have an agency problem, or is their reality just a poorly designed video game?”
“Level 56, build website, that's too big of a step. You just quit the video game.”
From the episode
How To Take Control Of Your Own Destiny - George Mack - #919
George Mack