1: Ready for an interesting fact about games?

When we play them, we almost never feel hopeless.

“It’s true,” Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

“Psychologists have studied the top emotions during game play, and genuine anxiety and pessimism are extremely rare,” Jane notes. “Even when we’re losing or struggling, we’re vastly more likely to feel determined and optimistic than panicked or powerless.”… continue reading

“Games are not just a source of entertainment. They are a model of how to become the best version of ourselves,” game designer and researcher  Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

Last week, we explored how Jane created a game (later called SuperBetter) to help her recovery from a concussion. Following her injury, she was plagued by suicidal thoughts. As a PhD … continue reading

1: “Why is it so hard to let go?” Marilyn said.

Marilyn was ninety-six years old. A naturally curious person, she had engaged Diane Button, an end-of-life doula, because she wanted to die well.

“She was willing and even excited to do the work to make that happen,” Diane writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

Initially, Marilyn told Diane … continue reading

1: “Who wouldn’t want to lead a life truer to their dreams and free of regret?” Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

Yesterday, we explored how people can become stronger and happier after trauma, a process scientists call “post-traumatic growth.”

And yet, Jane notes, “I’m pretty sure no one would ever choose to suffer a terrible loss, an injury, an … continue reading

How does creating a game help someone recover from a brain injury?

1: “How could a game so seemingly trivial, so admittedly simple, intervene so powerfully in such serious, in some cases life-and-death, circumstances?” Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

Following her 2009 concussion, Jane was at her lowest point, plagued by suicidal thoughts.

Then, suddenly, she had a thought: What if … continue reading

1: Are you facing a challenge that feels overwhelming?  Are you walking through something really hard right now?

There is good news, Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

Let’s start here. “You are stronger than you know. You are surrounded by potential allies. You are the hero of your own story,” Jane notes.

How do you access these powers that are already inside … continue reading

1: In the summer of 2009, researcher and game designer Jane McGonigal hit her head and got a concussion.

“It didn’t heal properly,” Jane writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully, “and after thirty days I still had constant headaches, nausea, and vertigo.”

Reading or writing was only possible for a few minutes at a time. “I had trouble remembering things,” Jane notes. “Most days I … continue reading

1: “Our conversations started out funny and just got funnier,” Diane Button writes in her wonderful book What Matters Most: Lessons the Dying Teach Us About Living.

Diane and Franck Battelli, both end-of-life doulas, were meeting with Greg, 53, who was dying from ALS.

Before proceeding, Greg wanted to make sure it would be a good fit.

“He let us know in a very serious tone of voice that … continue reading

1: “There’s wind and then there’s a typhoon, there are waves and then there’s a tsunami,” Andy Grove writes in Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

The same is true in business.

“There are competitive forces and then there are supercompetitive forces,” he notes.

Andy calls it a “10X” change.

2: Harvard Professor Michael Porter identified the various forces that determine … continue reading

1: “We managers like to talk about change, so much that embracing change has become a cliché of management,” Andy Grove writes in Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

But not all changes are the same.

What Andy calls “a strategic inflection point is not just any change,” he notes. “It compares to change the way Class VI rapids on a … continue reading