Embrace the Gameful Mindset for Life's Challenges

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.”

Turns out this reality applies to all games, including professional sports and poker, where income and reputation depend on the outcome.

Why is this? Because “the psychology of games naturally makes it easier for us to manage anxiety more effectively,” she explains, “to focus on opportunity rather than threats, and to fear failure less.”

When we play a game, we are focused on goals and growth. We volunteer for challenges and welcome the difficulty. “We play not to avoid losing but to find out what we are capable of. And we believe that victories even against great odds are possible.”

2: The question then becomes how can we bring this “gameful” mindset into our real lives?

“Is it possible, or even wise,” Jane asks, “to feel the same optimism, courage, and curiosity in everyday life, where the stakes are higher and failure has significantly more consequences?

Jane’s answer? Yes!

“It absolutely is possible and wise to bring a gameful mindset to real-life obstacles. It’s called adopting a challenge versus threat mindset.”

The good news? The research shows it works.

“A challenge is anything that provokes our desire to test our strengths and abilities and that gives us the opportunity to improve them,” she observes.

One crucial element? “A challenge must be accepted,” Jane notes. “No one can force you to tackle it. You have to choose to rise to the occasion.”

Over one million people have done exactly that. They have used the SuperBetter game framework to tackle a wide range of challenges.

“Some of these challenges are entirely self-chosen, a positive life change that the player wants to make,” Jane writes.

“Many of them, however, are challenges no one would ever choose for themselves—an injury, an illness, a trauma, a loss,” she notes.

“You might think that these kinds of challenges would be resistant to a gameful approach,” Jane writes. “They’re too serious, too painful, too life-or-death to ‘play around’ with.”

More good news: “Fortunately, this is not the case,” she explains. “In fact, a gameful approach to problems works even better for the uninvited challenges that life throws at you than for the positive changes you decide to make.”

Jane’s recommendation? Tackle “something that is truly an urgent goal for you—whether it’s living free of anxiety, finding a new job, changing your diet, flourishing despite chronic pain, or jump-starting your love life.

“Tackle an important problem in your life, even if it seems overwhelming right now or out of your control,” she suggests. “In fact, tackle it especially if it overwhelms you or feels out of your control.”

The data from over a million SuperBetter players is clear: “The more overwhelming the problem or daunting the challenge seems to you, the more effective the gameful method seems to be. . .

“That’s because everything about it helps you develop more control and exercise more power in situations where you feel powerless or have self-doubt. So don’t hold back,” Jane says. “Pick a tough challenge for yourself that you feel will truly change your life.”

3: Here are the ten most common “post traumatic growth” SuperBetter players have battled (ranked in order, with number one being the most common):

1. Beating depression

2. Overcoming anxiety

3. Coping with chronic illness or chronic pain

4. Finding a new job or overcoming unemployment

5. Surviving a divorce or family separation

6. Healing from a physical injury, including traumatic brain injury

7. Bouncing back from a school or career setback

8. Recovering from PTSD

9. Thriving with a learning disability or neurological disorder

10: Grieving the loss of a loved one

Here is a list of self-chosen, positive life change challenges that SuperBetter players have sought out. “Because everyone has different dreams and talents,” Jane notes, these “goals tend to be more varied:”