“This would involve the concept of numerical stimulation in game design, and this concept is very important in any game development.”

 Zhao Xiaolu smiled proudly and said, “Whenever you level up in a game or receive rewards from completing quests, these numerical increases would give you a rewarding feeling. There are no material differences between human and animal instincts, as feelings of interest and love stem from gaining benefits and satisfaction.”

 Lin Yu became more interested as she went on. He seemed to understand what she was saying, but before long, he frowned and asked, “You said numerical stimulation makes someone feel rewarded and satisfied, but how do these numbers make players ‘want’ them? Why are they perceived as ‘benefits’ in the players’ minds?”

 “Uh…”

 Zhao Xiaolu seemed to be caught off-guard by Lin Yu’s question, and the smile on her face froze for a moment. Soon after that, she went on and said, “This is a simple concept. All players compete with each other. In order to be better than the other person, a player would want to improve his attributes, equipment, and others. Those numbers then become important in the players’ minds and will be linked to something everyone is passionate about—money. This is also known as paid items in games.”

 “So that’s the case.”

 Lin Yu had a realization and truly experienced the differences between a slacker and an academic genius for the first time.

 He could not refuse to concede defeat after seeing how a gamer like Zhao Xiaolu could gain such insights from playing games.

 “Look, it’s easy to improve your interest in learning. Let me keep all your money and for every few hours you study, I’ll return a little of it back. You’ll have an interest in learning then.”

 Zhao Xiaolu laughed and shrugged at Lin Yu.

 Lin Yu was left speechless.

 Lin Yu was now sure that the inkling he had about Zhao Xiaolu was not an illusion.

 This scene was a live version of ‘Selling Crutches¹‘ by Zhao Benshan. Are you trying to fool me into a disadvantage?

 Thankfully, Zhao Xiaolu was joking and prior to that, she did make sense. Lin Yu rolled his eyes, swatted her hand, and asked, “What about laziness, procrastination, and lack of focus? How could I fix those?”

 “These problems are caused by your resistance, fear, worries, and running away from them.”

 Zhao Xiaolu paused for a while before saying, “You’re unconfident in studying and tend to look down on yourself. That is why you resist, fear, and are anxious about studying. On top of that, your ability to deal with stress is bad, which is why you choose to run away from it. Your methods of running away from studying include procrastination, gaming, swiping Weibo, and maybe a few perfectionist tendencies. The more you feel like you’ll fail in studying, the more you don’t want to do it, and therefore you’re more likely to want to play games instead.”

 4Lin Yu was left speechless.

 Zhao Xiaolu’s accurate insight sent chills down Lin Yu’s back.

 Lack of confidence, poor ability to deal with stress, running away from problems; did these traits not describe him or the slackers in his entire dorm room?

 Thankfully, he was not interested in her. This girl was a monster!

 How bad was his image for her to be able to analyze this much in such a short time? This was no fun for him.

 “So…how can I solve this? Master, please advise me.”

 Lin Yu’s smile became a little stiff. He felt like he had no tears left to cry.

 “This is easy.”

 Zhao Xiaolu snapped her fingers.

 Huh? How are these serious problems easy?

 Maybe they are easy to a godlike academic genius.

 Lin Yu silently gestured to her to begin her ‘show’.

 “Your main problem is stress, so try not to stress yourself out so much. When it comes to studying, you subconsciously think that ‘I have to do it, I have to do it later’. This is how you start procrastinating and running away from studying.”

 Zhao Xiaolu seemed pleased with Lin Yu’s humility. Smiling, she continued to say, “First of all, ‘I have to’ is a strong phrase to use on yourself. It will cause you to resist it. You have to change the phrase to ‘I want to’, and stop telling yourself you’ll do it ‘later’. Give yourself a specific timing such as ‘I’ll do it right now’ or ‘I’ll do it in five minutes’.”

 “Okay, keep talking.”

 Lin Yu modestly made mental notes.

 Since his image was already destroyed in her eyes, he did not bother about it anymore.

 As for feeling embarrassed, there was nothing to be embarrassed about in learning from others. As Confucius once said, even when walking in a party of no more than three, one can always be certain of learning from those he is with.

 Zhao Xiaolu paused herself before she continued, “The most important point of all is that you should stop using the phrase ‘I will finish’ something. ‘Finishing’ something is a final goal and it might be a far goal for you. You should split the task up into smaller goals.”

 “Like how I should make my first hundred million?”

 Lin Yu was hit with a realization.

 “Let’s work on you making your first hundred before anything else.”

 Zhao Xiaolu rolled her eyes and said, “Stop thinking about how you should finish a whole book or how much your results should improve. You should focus on reading for five minutes instead. If an hour or two is too long for you, five minutes would be doable, right? Focus on learning within the five minutes, and after that, you could reward yourself with a little gaming and it could be for ten minutes or half an hour long. Take it one step at a time, and you’ll definitely finish the book one day.”

 “It still doesn’t treat the root of the cause, does it? If I study for five minutes and game for half an hour, wouldn’t I end up spending nearly the whole day on gaming even if I did focus in those five minutes?” Lin Yu asked with a frown.

 Studying for five minutes was an easy target and did not stress him out. This ‘focused’ technique should work, but in reality, the method’s efficiency was not that high.

 “Of course, you can’t keep studying for five minutes and playing games for half an hour after that. Have you heard of the Pomodoro Technique?”

 Zhao Xiaolu said in slight frustration.

 “No, I haven’t heard of it.”

 Lin Yu shook his head decisively.

 “This is a time management method. Basically, it’s similar to what I have just described. Time yourself in 25-minute intervals; keep your focus for 25 minutes and eliminate all distractions. After that, take a five-minute break and reward yourself.”

 1Zhao Xiaolu continued, “Every time you complete a few Pomodoro intervals, give yourself a bigger reward. Extend your break time or create a desirable goal as your motivation.

 “There are also plenty of Pomodoro software that can help you time how many Pomodoro intervals you’ve completed. This could be a form of numerical stimulation for you. You can see how much you’ve worked and sacrificed, and you’ll feel accomplished and satisfied. Some software even have a Pomodoro Leaderboard to create a competitive feel for you.

 “At the same time, after you make this a habit, you could extend your Pomodoro intervals accordingly. It could be half an hour, 45 minutes, or an hour and so on.”