Blackjack, Baby!

Atlanta has come and gone, and I can finally say that I've hit my blackjack.  It's been a while since Danny and Brian accomplished the goal at the Tri-State TM last year, and I've been itching to get one under my belt.  Mainly, I wanted to push myself, but I also wanted to make sure that this was one less thing that Danny and Brian could hold over me.  A special thanks go to Brian, who graciously allowed me to run the second lap alone on Saturday so that we would all end up with one blackjack - it was very giving of him.

The other big thing that came from Atlanta was a Headband Bonanza. I walked away from Saturday and Sunday in Atlanta with a total of 9 headbands (3 orange for finishing 3 laps, 2 black and orange 10X, 1 pink 7-9X, 1 yellow 4-6X, 1 blue 3X, and 1 green 2X), and was promptly asked "Where are you planning on putting all of THOSE?" by my wife. I've got them all in a bag, along with my race numbers and shirts, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with them.  I may have to shove them in the back of a drawer, if I don't come up with something soon.

I've heard the new colored Mudder Legion headbands called "Skittles," and it's become a bit of a "thing" to take a picture with all of the various headbands on at once (which I felt obligated to do). I wasn't quite sure how I would feel about the whole Legionnaire thing.  It seemed a little silly and childish, but I think I'm a convert.  It's pretty clear to me that the Tough Mudder HQ is trying to find a way to encourage people to do multiple TM events.  After all, at some point the pool of people who haven't done an event but are willing will shallow and growth will have to come from somewhere else.  So, it's pretty clear that the idea of recognizing the folks who have run multiple events is a marketing ploy, but that doesn't mean that it is without merit.  In my mind, the concept has two big benefits to the individual runner.  First, there is a certain sense of accomplishment when a person is recognized for doing something difficult (especially if it is

something that relatively few other people have done).  I'm not motivated to run Tough Mudders for recognition (my Mudder Bruddas provide me enough of that, thank you), but public recognition for accomplishments can push people forward.  Having Start Line Sean ask you to stand up and have everyone recognize you can make you feel special.  Hearing people recognize the 10X headband while you're running and whisper "Do you see that?  You know what that headband means, right?" to their fellow runners makes you feel as if you're doing something impressive.  Stepping up to the Mudder Legionnaire sign-in table and have the volunteer see a double digit number next to your name, have to go searching for a headband, and ask to shake your hand, are all pretty surreal events.  Everything in the experience (at least at the higher levels of headband) seems intended to make you stand out as special.  If you are motivated by that recognition, it will definitely feed your ego (and I'll admit that it was cool to have people ask if I'd really run more than 10).

Second, it makes it much more obvious that you have a responsibility to others on the course.  The fact that you've been "marked" as special means that you may start to feel like you have to earn that recognition.  I found myself talking about the intricacies of the course with my fellow mudders and giving them pointers about how they could succeed.  I found myself standing waist-deep in the mud at mud mile and offering to lift person after person over the walls - all the while waving off any suggestion that it was "my turn next."  I stood at the top of Everest (which, by the way, seemed to be the easiest Everest I've ever confronted at at TM event) and help as many people succeed as I could.  Granted, whatever made Everest seem "easy" meant that there weren't all that many people who were failing on their attempts, but there were a few - and I felt like helping as many as I could.  I would consider myself a pretty normal guy.  A guy who is willing to help others when they need it.  A guy who has empathy and will stop to ask if you're okay when I see you have a leg cramp.  A guy who will give pointers if asked.  But this was different...I felt the responsibility of the badge, and I think that is what TMHQ was hoping for.

The lesson for education that I take from this experience is that badges can work to both motivate and alter behavior.  The key is that the badges need to be worth the effort and should properly convey they message that they intend.  To illustrate this, I'll use conference badges as an example.  It's become stylish for conference organizers to build a series of virtual badges that attendees can earn.  I've been at conferences and received an email as soon as I picked up my registration packet saying I had just earned "The Conference Registration" badge.  If I tweeted something with the conference hashtag, I would receive the "Conference Tweeting" badge.  If I attended a given session, or visited a vendor, or filled out a review form, I would receive a corresponding badge.  In all of these cases, I would laugh and wonder what foolish person was actually motivated by those "silly little things."  The tasks that earned those badges weren't difficult, almost anyone who attended would receive them, and they held no intrinsic value to me.  I wasn't motivated to do anything or be anything different than who I would be otherwise.  In these cases, the badge system failed in its intended goal: to make me feel special and recognized.  In fact, the badge system may have had the opposite effect.  The Mudder Legion is just a different type of badging system, but it has value (at least to me) because I value the effort that I put in to earning those badges.  I know how hard I've worked before, during and after each TM event, and I value that experience.  As such, I value the recognition that comes with that effort.

If we want educational badge systems to work that way, we have to make it difficult to earn the badges, but worth the effort.  Also, we need to make it public that the effort is being recognized.  We can't simply give everyone a badge for attendance, and expect that badge to motivate anyone. We all want to feel special, and as much as we may say otherwise, feeling special makes us want to continue doing whatever it was that made us feel that way.  We can leverage that in education, but only if we do it the smart way.