The hero usually defeats the Demon King.
Of course, you could say that is simply because it is a game. But when you think about it, it is quite interesting.
At the beginning of the story, the hero is usually weak.
The equipment is weak. There is no money. There are no companions.
And in that state,
“Please save the world and defeat the Demon King.”
That is what the hero is told.
If you think about it calmly, it is an outrageous goal.
It would be like someone suddenly telling you in real life,
“Your ultimate goal is to become the strongest person in the world.”
Even so, the hero sets out and eventually reaches the Demon King's castle.
Why?
Is the hero simply blessed with extraordinary willpower?
Probably not.
From the player's point of view, the reason is quite simple.
The hero does not try to defeat the Demon King from the very beginning.
The first thing you usually do is defeat a slime.
The game begins, and you do not immediately head for the final boss's castle.
First, you talk to people in town.
You defeat nearby enemies.
You save money.
You buy a slightly stronger weapon.
You go to the next town.
Another problem appears there.
You enter a cave, help someone, or meet a new companion.
You finish those things one by one.
Before you know it, you have levelled up and can beat enemies that were impossible at the start.
And the Demon King, who once seemed impossibly far away, gradually becomes an opponent you might actually face.
What is interesting is that the player does not have to ask every time,
“What should I do now in order to defeat the Demon King?”
There is a next town to reach.
There is an enemy to defeat.
There is an item to find.
The game has divided an overwhelmingly large purpose into smaller pieces.
That is why the player can move forward one thing at a time.
If only life were more like Dragon Quest
For a long time, I have thought life would be easier if it worked like this.
There are many things I want to do.
I also like setting big goals.
But after deciding on a big goal, I get stuck.
For example,
“Become a professional footballer.”
I decide on that.
If it were a game, the next mission would probably appear somewhere on the screen.
Current mission: build physical strength
And underneath it,
Today's task: run for 30 minutes
Something like that would appear.
When you finish it, a check mark appears.
Your experience points increase a little.
Tomorrow, another task appears.
As you repeat that, you eventually realize that you have achieved the goal one level above.
But in real life, nothing appears on the screen.
Even if you decide,
“Become a professional footballer,”
your phone does not tell you the next morning,
“Do this today.”
You have to work it out yourself.
Should you run?
Do strength training?
Kick a ball?
Watch a match?
Look for a team?
All of them seem necessary.
But you cannot do all of them today.
The big goal is clear, yet you do not know what to do today.
The “path” that exists so naturally in a game does not exist in real life.
Then perhaps I could make it myself
So I thought: perhaps I could make one.
Decide on the final goal.
Under it, decide on the goals needed to achieve that goal.
Under those, decide on the goals needed to achieve them.
Keep bringing it down until it becomes something you can actually do today.
For example,
Become a professional footballer
↓
Play at a higher level
↓
Build the physical strength to compete there
↓
Do strength training three times a week
Once it has been brought down this far,
“Become a professional”
changes from a distant idea into
“Train today.”
Of course, doing strength training today does not mean you will become a professional tomorrow.
Nor does “Experience +20” appear like it would in a game.
But at least you can see where what you are doing today is leading.
For me, that alone made quite a difference.
A ToDo List Alone Wasn't Quite It
I had used ToDo lists before.
Write down what to do today, then remove it when it is done.
They are useful.
But after using them for a while, another problem appeared.
“Run for 30 minutes.”
“Study Spanish.”
“Build an app.”
You know what to do.
But you lose sight of what it was for.
In a game, it would be like doing side quests forever.
You understand the task in front of you, but not what it is for.
Little by little, you stop knowing where you are headed.
On the other hand, writing down goals alone does not make you act.
“Become a professional.”
“Learn to speak Spanish.”
“Build a service.”
Those words alone do not become today's plan.
What I wanted was the space in between.
Something that connected the final goal with today's ToDo.
Look up, and you can see where you are going.
Look down, and you can see what to do today.
I wondered whether the structure that feels so normal in a game could also be used for real-life goals.
That is why I made Route to Me
I did not begin by thinking, “I am going to build a goal management app.”
I wanted it for myself.
I wished life would tell me, like a game,
“This is next.”
Of course, real life has no predetermined walkthrough.
You decide which goals to choose.
Your goals may change along the way.
There are days when you cannot do what you planned to do.
So life cannot become the game itself.
But,
breaking a distant purpose into smaller pieces and connecting it to what you do now—
that part, at least, was something I could build.
Decide on a final goal.
Create goals along the way.
Break them down further.
Finally, bring them down to actions.
Then look among those actions for what to do today.
Finish them one by one.
That is where Route to Me began.
Perhaps the hero is not special
The hero can defeat the Demon King not because the hero has stronger willpower than everyone else.
At least, that is how it looks to those of us playing the game.
Along the long road to defeating the Demon King,
there is a next town,
a next enemy,
and a next thing to do.
By moving through each one, you eventually find yourself somewhere completely different from where you started.
Life is not as kind as a game.
The next mission does not appear.
Experience points are invisible.
So we have to make the path ourselves.
When we fail to achieve a goal,
we sometimes think,
“My willpower is weak.”
But perhaps that is not the problem.
The distant goal and what you do today are not connected.
Perhaps that is all.
If so, start by making a path.
Before thinking about defeating the Demon King,
begin by defeating today's single slime.