## Highlights McGonigal summarizes 7 aspects of being gameful in the book: 1. **Adopt a Challenge Mindset**: Embrace real-life obstacles as voluntary challenges rather than threats, akin to accepting a game's challenge. 2. **Prioritize Strength and Happiness (Seek Powerups)**: Seek experiences and practices that enhance your well-being and strength, similar to finding "power-ups" in games that boost abilities. 3. **Embrace Psychological Flexibility (Fight Bad Guys)**: Identify characteristic feelings, thoughts, or obstacles you face in real life as "bad guys" and learn to come at them with a challenge mindset. 4. **Commit to Action (Create And Pursue Quests)**: Regularly make small steps toward your significant goals, even when challenging, reminiscent of pursuing quests in games. 5. **Cultivate Connectedness (Find Allies)**: Establish a support network of at least two people for assistance and open communication about stress and challenges, akin to forming alliances in multiplayer games. 6. **Find the Heroic Story (Create A Secret Identity)**: Identify and focus on the heroic aspects of your life, drawing strength from moments of resilience and meaning, similar to how heroic narratives in games inspire and motivate. 7. **Learn The Skill Of Benefit Finding (Create And Achieve Epic Wins).** Be aware of good outcomes that can come from stress or challenge. In games, we have the notion of "epic wins," or extremely positive outcomes that can arise when you least expect them, from the most unlikely or daunting circumstances. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3xvvd7se6kpcws4yq897y)) Seek Powerups According to Jane McGonigal, "A power-up is any positive action you can take, easily, that creates a quick moment of pleasure, strength, courage, or connection for you. Collecting a power-up simply means identifying it as something you want to try. Activating a power-up means doing it in your daily life." ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3b7v3j6j5pg7tc8q38fkt)) But when meditation becomes a _mental resilience power-up_, it feels cooler and more tangible, making it more appealing. In addition, research shows it's The frequency of positive emotion matters more than the quality.[^2] You don't have to make massive changes in your life to become significantly happier. **Increasing happiness is more a matter of increasing the frequency of positive emotion.** ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3bxy0aq29014ar7rysb2s)) The only times when games are negative for you are when you are addicted--usually defined as playing more than 20+ hours a week--or when you play predominantly competitive games with complete strangers. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3gv7wdf1hzd7wkgb9hgwt)) - . 🎭Create A Secret Identity According to Jane McGonigal you can think of your secret identity like "an avatar for the real world. In video games, avatars are the heroic characters we play as. We see the virtual world through their eyes, and we draw on their special strengths. Simply by adopting a heroic nickname or secret identity, you can bring out some of your most important challenge-facing attributes, like determination, courage, and compassion." ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3mf43wrjrbtfe1g0kse1k)) Self-efficacy is our belief in our capability of creating and pursuing goals. Motivation is our desire to act on our goals, whether as small as getting a glass of water or as big as writing a book. You need both self-efficacy AND motivation to pursue goals effectively. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3n0exeyta4516941gjdha)) **Firstly, I assembled my hero dream team. A hero dream team is three or more heroes working together to achieve a common goal.** They should all embody something your ideal self would show. They can come from real life, video games, books, movies, etc. My dream team is: ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3nwx2fwfvtjj680cf752m)) :  🏆 ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3r5gr4hp20mcp1g8y04nh)) Create And Achieve Epic Wins ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3r961djawcqf1s9p1f8y9)) A [epic win] is energizing if just thinking about it fires you up. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3rg2p1msmxerazchv9k3d)) Epic wins are a staple piece of why games are so engaging. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3rs9tt1srnxy8tbx857jp)) For example, to make $3000 per month from my business at the end of the second quarter of 2024, I can split it into these quests: - Measurable wins: make $1500 per month in revenue by the first month of 2024. - Breakthrough moments: Have taught the first cohort of my Art Of Linked Reading Coaching program (more to come out soon) - Sneaking Up Sideways: be able to afford buying a course on something new I want to learn from my business income. 🎮My Life As A Game ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hhh3tt43h12f7gg83krqn058))