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Smile! East Valley Living

Now that we brushed away the holiday cobwebs, it's time to Level Up!

Posted On: January 5th, 2017 4:58PM

Every year, it's the same thing. The holidays come in with a WHOOSH! If we have been dedicated to our Level Up Your Lifesuccess (diet, gym, business goals), then we tend to allow some wiggle room around the 

holidays. Our family joke around Thanksgiving is "Get your fat pants on!". We allow small, or large, indiscretions. We can miss one day at the gym because we burned so many calories running around and shopping. We allow a cookie or three. We overindulge at the holiday party, then sleep in the next day when we were supposed to work on our budget. In the midst of the hustle and bustle, we look back on the year and wonder where the time went and why we didn’t reach those goals we set for ourselves last January.

January is here again! What are your goals or resolutions for this year? Do you actually have a system in place to achieve them? If not, can I make a suggestion?

Turn your life into a game.

Seriously.

In Steve Kamb’s book, Level Up Your Life, Kamb outlines how to create your “Alter Ego” superhero who tackles your goals fearlessly, goes on Epic Quests, and builds you a body for adventuring. While you are doing this, you are “leveling up” and building strong, long-term habits that help create the perfect You. The You that you have always dreamed of being.

Anyone who is a fan of video games, board games, or choose your own adventure books will grasp the concept immediately. You create a character, gain loot, recruit allies, level up and get stronger so you can tackle more difficult challenges. This concept can be applied whether you are young, or more mature, whether you are single or running a busy family. The key is to set very specific goals (one of mine is to attend a noodle festival in Japan

My Character

 I saw on the Travel Channel), then break that large goal down into smaller “quests” and assign point values to them (like find the date/place of the noodle festival, get passport, figure out costs). As you complete smaller

 quests and gain points, you level up!

The more quests you tackle, the closer you are to being more physically fit, traveling more, spending more time with your kids, doing the work you love, and building better habits. The main thing is to DO something. Learn from DOING, not just dreaming.

You don’t have to be an expert at Dungeon and Dragons or World of Warcraft to understand and use the concepts. Everyone should have goals. Goals get us to bigger and better things in our lives. If you have tried vision boards and checklists and The Secret and you keep coming back to January with very little accomplished, maybe you need a different vehicle.

Turn your life into a game.

Ready to play?

 

Steve Kamb is the founder of Nerd Fitness. His book Level Up Your Life is available through Rodale Books

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