Heres a challenge for you to try right now.
Your day will instantly get betterwhether your prediction proves right or wrong.
It can be big or small, silly or serious.
Pick one small thing to make a prediction about, and then wait to see if youre right.
Your day will instantly get betterwhether your prediction proves right or wrong.
Dopamine, of course, is the reward neurochemical responsible for motivation, learning and desire.
And every time you make a prediction, two rewarding outcomes are now possible.
You might be rightwhich will feel good!
Surprisingly, the possibility of being wrong also feels goodbecause your brain loves learning.
This means thateach move you make in a game triggers a dopamine spike.
The more moves you make, the bigger the cascade of dopamine.
No wonder its so easy to work so hard and never give up when we play.
Were benefitting from a constant flow of the neurochemical that increases attention, optimism and determination.
Start each day by making a predictionany prediction!
Whether youre right or wrong, youll get a dopamine boost.
Its a win-win game.
(And if youre with someone who is bored, frustrated or stressed, askthemto make a prediction!
Theyll be a lot more fun to be around afterwards.)
Try Playing Worst Case Scenario Bingo
A few weeks ago I heard from my good friend Calvin.
Over the past decade, Calvin has worked both in the tech industry and in university research labs.
Recently, he decided to take a leap of faith and look for a full-time academic position.
Career adventures are coming fast and frequent at this point, he wrote me in an email.
Ive landed interviews at five universities.
Not the most encouraging story, considering that Calvin was slated to meet with the same professor!
Everyone had a war story about meeting with him.
Even the chair of the hiring committee said they had second thoughts about including him on my schedule.
Needless to say, the night before that day I was pretty nervous.
I had to get a grip.
I thought How can I make this meeting into a game, rather than into something Im dreading?
So I decided to create a bingo game.
I tried to predict the worst possible things he could say to me, whatever would upset me most.
I wrote them down, plus the free square in the middle.
I folded that bingo card and put it in my pocket when I went in for the interview.
Calvin sent me a photo of the card so I could see his gameful solution for myself.
Every time he tried to make me feel small, I got to mentally check off a bingo square.
It brought a lot of humor to a really stressful situation.
First, he scored a bingo.
The professor got the whole middle horizontal row, he told me.
He really was a bad as everyone said!
But later Calvin scored the real victory: he got a job offer from the university.
Calvins approach was a perfect way to apply the neurochemistry of games to everyday life.
Check out the new bookSuperBetterfor more practical ways to apply the life-changing science of games to your everyday life.
you’ve got the option to find Jane on Twitter@avantgame.
Image byart4all(Shutterstock).
