before you read any further.
Do not skip this first quest. I repeat: DO NOT SKIP THIS QUEST. If you skip it, you’ll be tempted to skip others—and then the game will be over before you’ve even started playing. So here we go. Your first quest—I know you can do it!
QUEST 1: Physical Resilience
Pick one:
Stand up and take three steps.
or
Make your hands into fists and hold them over your head as high as you can for five seconds.
Go!
Did you do it? Well done!
By completing this quest, you’ve just boosted your physical resilience.
Physical resilience is your body’s ability to withstand stress and heal itself. And research shows that the number-one thing people can do to boost their physical resilience is to not sit still. Whenever you sit still for more than a few minutes, your body starts to shut down at the metabolic level. This shutdown negatively impacts every aspect of your health, from your immune system to your ability to handle stress.7
Every single second you’re not sitting still, however, you’re actively improving the health of your heart, your lungs, and your brain.8 You’ll have more energy and sleep better, too—which is crucial when you’re facing a hard challenge, even if it isn’t primarily physical in nature.
So stand up for just one second. Take three steps. Throw your arms in the air. That’s all it takes. You are now physically stronger than you were thirty seconds ago.
Ready for your next quest?
QUEST 2: Mental Resilience
Pick one:
Snap your fingers exactly fifty times
or
Count backward from 100 by 7, like this: 100, 93 . . . all the way to at least 0.
Go!
All done? Good work.
By completing this quest, you’ve just increased your mental resilience.
Mental resilience is motivation, focus, and willpower—strengths that are essential to achieving any goal.
Researchers have figured out that willpower is like a muscle. It gets stronger the more you exercise it—as long as you don’t exhaust it.9 Accomplishing tiny challenges—even ones as absurd as snapping your fingers exactly fifty times or counting backward by seven—helps you exercise this muscle without wearing it out. That means you’re more likely to have the motivation and determination you need when it’s time to tackle tougher obstacles. So congratulations: you are now mentally stronger than you were a minute ago.
Let’s keep playing!
QUEST 3: Emotional Resilience
Pick one:
If you’re inside, find a window and look outside for thirty seconds. If you’re outside, find a window and look in.
or
Do a Google Image or YouTube video search for “baby [your favorite animal].”
Go!
Mission accomplished? Great!
By completing this quest, you’ve just strengthened your emotional resilience.
Emotional resilience is the ability to access positive emotions at will. It doesn’t matter if you’re stressed, or bored, or angry, or in pain—when you have emotional resilience, you can choose to feel something good instead.
Emotional resilience is a particularly important strength. Research has shown that if, on average, people experience more positive emotions than negative ones, they gain a huge range of benefits. They’re more creative at solving problems. They’re more ambitious and successful at school and at work. They’re less likely to give up when things are hard. People around them are more likely to offer help and support them in their goals.10
To achieve emotional resilience, you don’t need to eliminate negative emotions—that’s obviously impossible. You just need enough positive emotions, over the course of a day, to beat out the negative ones.
Both options in this quest are scientifically validated methods for provoking a specific positive emotion. Looking through a window provokes curiosity—the positive emotion that psychologists define as “a desire to gratify the mind with new information or objects of interest.”11 (Hopefully you saw something interesting through the window!) Meanwhile, researchers have demonstrated that looking at photos or videos of baby animals is all it takes to make virtually anyone feel the emotion of love. (Baby animal cuteness brings out our nurturing instinct!) Better yet, this quick burst of love from looking at baby animals doesn’t just feel good, it also improves attention and productivity.12
Even if you felt the curiosity or the love for only a few seconds, you just got emotionally stronger. Enjoy it.
Let’s try one more quest.
QUEST 4: Social Resilience
Pick one:
Shake or hold someone’s hand for at least six seconds.
or
Send someone you know a quick thank-you by text, email, or Facebook message.
Go!
All done? Awesome.
By completing this quest, you’ve boosted your social resilience.
Social resilience is the ability to get support from friends, family members, neighbors, and co-workers. You’re able to ask for the help you need—and you’re more likely to receive it. Social support is crucial to tackling challenges successfully. You can try to go it alone, but your odds of success are vastly improved when someone else has your back.
There are lots of ways to increase your social resilience. Touch and gratitude are two of the most effective.
Studies show that shaking or holding someone’s hand for at least six seconds increases the level of the “trust hormone,” oxytocin, in both of your bloodstreams.13 Boosted oxytocin levels make you want to help and protect each other. The more oxytocin you release together, the deeper your bond.14
