Lessons from a $5,580 Duo Lingo Challenge

Do you love to learn languages? I know I do! It's fun, challenging and since my family travels so much it also makes visiting other countries even more fun. I use Duo Lingo... it's hands down the best app out there (currently studying Spanish). 

It was actually my youngest daughter Ariyah that turned me on to the app. Many of her friends at her school were using it and they were bragging about how many days their streak was, what their ranking was, and all sorts of other really healthy and positive sentiments.

Gamification really works! 

When I saw how into Duo Lingo these kids were I thought to myself... hmmm I think there might be an opportunity here to take advantage of this fun trend and use it to sneakily teach my daughter some additional life lessons, build some really good habits and have some fun at the same time. 

How the duo lingo challenge works: 

The rules are pretty simple... You have to complete at least 1 lesson on Duo Lingo every day. For each day that is completed within a 30-day period, you get the dollar value of that day. Day 1 is worth $1, day 14 is worth $14 dollars all the way up to day 30 is worth $30. 

At the end of a month if she can stay consistent and never miss a day she ends up earning $465! 

If you miss a day, that is where the "streak" ends, and you get paid whatever amount you made it to. For example, if you only made 5 days and you broke the streak you would get paid: 1+2+3+4+5 = $15. 

If she is successful and makes all 30 days the counter starts back at 1 (day 31 = $1 and it starts all over again). 

I helped her create a spreadsheet and over the course of the year (the BIG goal) is she could earn $5,580 if she never misses a day. 

What I'm really trying to teach my daughter using Duo Lingo

She's learning languages... which is AWESOME! And she's having a lot of fun doing it. Comparing with her friends, sharing her results, giving out little rewards via the app. It's already pretty great.

But there are some additional lessons that I've built into this challenge (lessons about entrepreneurship) that are the real end game for me. 

Valuable business and life lessons like: 

• Time blocking / Time management 
• Consistency drives results
• The value of compounding
• Being accountable
• How to forecast