Now it is not It’s time to talk about the quest to improve productivity — but here we are.Hear your inner monologue amid high stress, deteriorating work-life boundaries, and a bad news cycle Can or should Doing anything at all times is bad for a person’s mental health.However, I still want to talk about it because I am bad relaxing. And there might be a way to ease the productivity pull: Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
I firmly believe that I cannot control how I feel about things. (I’m embarrassed by my addiction Merge Buildingeven if i know i should not have this feeling. ) my obsession with productivity, life hacks, doing more than my body can do at all times, is a byproduct of how my brain works, how I grew up, and many social factors that require a completely different story to unravel. It’s a poisonous cocktail, but I’ve embraced one that I have no control over. My brain wants to be productive all the time. The trick is to not give in. I benefit from downtime and I need to stick with it even if it doesn’t feel good – the long-term benefits are all too necessary.
That’s a sure place type Video games come in. Games are ideal for decompression because they keep my hands busy while forcing my brain to check out of the digital, always-on, always-connected world. Collection-style titles, in particular, grab the itch to get things done, tricking my productivity-focused mind into thinking I’m getting something done, even if it’s just for fun.
Pokémon Legends: Arceus Perfect for this. I’ve been drawn to many Pokémon games before, but this is the first game I’ve actually bought and played. A lot of people I trust tell me it’s ideal for someone new to the franchise, and they’re right. I like structured or quest-based open world games because they give the player the freedom to do what they want without being overwhelmed (too many options are also not a good thing for my brain). Arceus Not really open world, but it’s close.
The story is as follows: As the protagonist, you enter a mysterious world through a portal that does not remember who you are. What you have, however, is an affinity for capturing Pokémon, the mysterious creatures that inhabit this world. You’ve been recruited to be a surveyor, tasked with classifying the creatures in your illustrated book. There are quests, there are stories, and there are mysteries of your own origins, but you largely control the progress you explore and make. You don’t really have to focus on the story unless you feel like you’ve exhausted one area and want to unlock the next.
That’s where productivity hacks come in: I spend a lot of time just filling out the book rather than actually making progress in the game. For each type of Pokémon, you need to do something different: collect a certain number of Pokémon by stealth, for example, or defeat them with some kind of element-based move. When you browse Pokedex, it feels like checking off a to-do list. If you’re someone who writes things down after they’re done, just to be able to examine them (I see you!), then you understand the satisfaction.
When I had a high anxiety day and realized I needed to seriously relax, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is where I turn. It makes relaxation look productive, and it calms me down even when I’m stressed. It seems odd to trick your brain into thinking that relaxation is work. But when you’re good at working hard and not good at venting, you’re going to do what you have to do when and where you need it.
Now I can finally check “unpack” from that never-ending to-do list.
