I’m a gamer, so like to have goals. I like special missions and secret objectives. So here’s my mission for this talk: I’m going to try to increase the life of every single person in this room by seven and half minutes. Literally, you will live seven and a half minutes longer than you would have otherwise, just you watched this talk.
Some of you are looking little bit skeptical. That’s okay, because check it out — I have to prove that it is possible. It won’t make sense now. I’ll explain it all later, just pay attention to number at the bottom: +7.68245837 minutes. That will be my to you if I’m successful in my mission.
Now, you have a secret mission too. Your is to figure out how you want to spend extra seven and a half minutes. And I think you should something unusual with them, because these are bonus minutes. You weren’t to have them anyway.
Now, because I’m a game designer, you might thinking to yourself, I know what she wants us to do those minutes, she wants us to spend them playing games. Now this a totally reasonable assumption, given that I have made quite habit of encouraging people to spend more time playing games. For example, in first TED Talk, I did propose that we should spend 21 hours a week, as a planet, playing video games.
Now, 21 billion hours, it’s lot of time. It’s so much time, in fact, that number one unsolicited comment that I have heard from people over the world since I gave that talk, is this: Jane, are great and all, but on your deathbed, are you really going to wish you spent more playing Angry Birds?
(Laughter)
This idea is so pervasive — that games are a waste of time we will come to regret — that I hear it literally I go. For example, true story: Just a few ago, this cab driver, upon finding out that a friend and I in town for a game developers’ conference, turned around and said — I quote — “I hate games. Waste of life. getting to the end of your life and regretting all that time.”
Now, I want take this problem seriously. I want games to be force for good in the world. I don’t want gamers to the time they spent playing, time that I encouraged them to spend. So have been thinking about this question a lot lately. When we’re our deathbeds, will we regret the time we spent games?
Now, this may surprise you, but it turns out there is some scientific research on this question. It’s true. Hospice workers, the people who take of us at the end of our lives, recently a report on the most frequently expressed regrets that people when they are literally on their deathbeds. And that’s I want to share with you today — the top five regrets of the dying.
Number one: I I hadn’t worked so hard. Number two: I wish had stayed in touch with my friends. Number three: wish I had let myself be happier. Number four: I I’d had the courage to express my true self. number five: I wish I’d lived a life true to my dreams, of what others expected of me.
Now, as far as know, no one ever told one of the hospice workers, “I wish I’d spent more playing video games,” but when I hear these top five of the dying, I can’t help but hear five deep cravings that games actually help us fulfill.
For example, wish I hadn’t worked so hard. For many people, means, I wish I’d spent more time with my family, my kids when they were growing up. Well, we that playing games together has tremendous family benefits. A study from Brigham Young University School of Family Life reported that parents who more time playing video games with their kids have much stronger real-life with them.
“I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends.” Hundreds of of people use social games like FarmVille or Words Friends to stay in daily contact with real-life friends and family. recent study from the University of Michigan showed that these games are powerful relationship-management tools. They help us stay connected with people in our social network we would otherwise grow distant from, if we weren’t playing games together.
“I I’d let myself be happier.” Well, here I can’t help but think of the groundbreaking trials recently conducted at East Carolina University that showed that online games can outperform pharmaceuticals treating clinical anxiety and depression. Just 30 minutes of game play a day was enough to create dramatic in mood and long-term increases in happiness.
“I wish I’d had the courage to express true self.” Well, avatars are a way to express our true selves, our most heroic, idealized version who we might become. You can see that in this alter ego by Robbie Cooper of a gamer with his avatar. Stanford University has been doing research for five years to document how playing a game with an idealized avatar how we think and act in real life, making us courageous, more ambitious, more committed to our goals.
“I wish I’d a life true to my dreams, and not what others of me.” Are games doing this yet? I’m not sure, so I’ve a Super Mario question mark. We’re going to come back to this one.
But the meantime, perhaps you’re wondering, who is this game to be talking to us about deathbed regrets? And it’s true, I’ve never worked a hospice, I’ve never been on my deathbed. But I did spend three months in bed, wanting to die. wanting to die.
Now let me tell you that story. It two years ago, when I hit my head and a concussion. The concussion didn’t heal properly, and after 30 days, I was left with symptoms nonstop headaches, nausea, vertigo, memory loss, mental fog. My told me that in order to heal my brain, had to rest it. So I had to avoid that triggered my symptoms. For me that meant no reading, no writing, no video games, work or email, no running, no alcohol, no caffeine. other words — and I think you see where is going — no reason to live.
(Laughter)
Of it’s meant to be funny, but in all seriousness, suicidal is quite common with traumatic brain injuries. It happens to one three, and it happened to me. My brain started me, “Jane, you want to die.” It said, “You’re going to get better.” It said, “The pain will never end.”
And these voices so persistent and so persuasive that I started to fear for my life, which is the time that I to myself after 34 days — and I will never this moment — I said, “I am either going to kill myself or I’m going to turn this a game.”
Now, why a game? I knew from researching the psychology of games for more than a that when we play a game — and this is the scientific literature — we tackle tough challenges with more creativity, more determination, optimism, and we’re more likely to reach out to others help. I wanted to bring these gamer traits to my real-life challenge, so I created a role-playing game called Jane the Concussion Slayer.
Now this became my new identity, and the first thing I did as a was call my twin sister — I have an twin sister named Kelly — and tell her, “I’m a game to heal my brain, and I want you to play with me.” This an easier way to ask for help.
She became my first ally in the game, my Kiyash joined next, and together we identified and battled the guys. Now this was anything that could trigger my symptoms therefore slow down the healing process, things like bright lights and spaces. We also collected and activated power-ups. This was I could do on even my worst day to just a little bit good, just a little bit productive. Things like cuddling dog for 10 minutes, or getting out of bed walking around the block just once.
Now the game was simple: Adopt a secret identity, recruit your allies, battle the guys, activate the power-ups. But even with a game so simple, within just a days of starting to play, that fog of depression and went away. It just vanished. It felt like a miracle. Now wasn’t a miracle cure for the headaches or the cognitive symptoms. lasted for more than a year, and it was the hardest year of my life by far. even when I still had the symptoms, even while I was still pain, I stopped suffering.
Now what happened next with game surprised me. I put up some blog posts videos online, explaining how to play. But not everybody has concussion, obviously, not everyone wants to be “the slayer,” so I renamed the game SuperBetter.
And soon, started hearing from people all over the world who were adopting their own identity, recruiting their own allies, and they were getting “super better,” facing challenges cancer and chronic pain, depression and Crohn’s disease. Even people were it for terminal diagnoses like ALS. And I could from their messages and their videos that the game was helping them in same ways that it helped me. They talked about feeling stronger and braver. They talked feeling better understood by their friends and family. And they even talked about feeling happier, though they were in pain, even though they were tackling the toughest challenge of their lives.
Now the time, I’m thinking to myself, what is going here? I mean, how could a game so trivial intervene so powerfully in serious, and in some cases life-and-death, circumstances? I mean, if hadn’t worked for me, there’s no way I would have believed it possible. Well, it turns out there’s some science here, too. people get stronger and happier after a traumatic event. And that’s what happening to us.
The game was helping us experience what scientists call post-traumatic growth, which is not something usually hear about. We usually hear about post-traumatic stress disorder. But scientists now know a traumatic event doesn’t doom us to suffer indefinitely. Instead, we can it as a springboard to unleash our best qualities and lead happier lives.
Here the top five things that people with post-traumatic growth say: “My priorities have changed.” “I’m not afraid do what makes me happy.” “I feel closer to my friends and family.” “I understand myself better. know who I really am now.” “I have a sense of meaning and purpose in my life.” “I’m better able to focus on my goals dreams.”
Now, does this sound familiar? It should, because the top five traits of post-traumatic growth are the direct opposite of the top five regrets of the dying. Now this is interesting, right? seems that somehow, a traumatic event can unlock our ability to lead life with fewer regrets.
But how does it work? How do you from trauma to growth? Or better yet, is there way to get all the benefits of post-traumatic growth without the trauma, without having to hit your head the first place? That would be good, right?
I wanted understand the phenomenon better, so I devoured the scientific literature, and here’s what I learned. There four kinds of strength, or resilience, that contribute to post-traumatic growth, and there are validated activities that you can do every day to build up four kinds of resilience, and you don’t need a trauma to do it.
I could tell you these four types of strength are, but I’d rather you experience them firsthand. I’d we all start building them up together right now. Here’s we’re going to do. We’ll play a quick game together. This is where earn the seven and a half minutes of bonus life I promised you earlier. All you have to do is complete the first four SuperBetter quests. And I feel like you can it. I have confidence in you.
So, everybody ready? This is your first quest. Here go. Pick one: Stand up and take three steps, make your hands into fists, raise them over your head as high as you can five seconds, go! All right, I like the people doing both. are overachievers. Very good.
(Laughter)
Well done, everyone. That is worth +1 physical resilience, which that your body can withstand more stress and heal itself faster. We know from research that the number one thing you can do to boost physical resilience is to not sit still. That’s all it takes. single second that you are not sitting still, you are actively improving the health your heart, and your lungs and brains.
Everybody ready for your next quest? I want to snap your fingers exactly 50 times, or count backwards from 100 seven, like this: 100, 93… Go!
(Snapping)
Don’t give up.
(Snapping)
Don’t let the people counting down 100 interfere with your counting to 50.
(Snapping)
(Laughter)
Nice. Wow. That’s the time I’ve ever seen that. Bonus physical resilience. Well done, everyone. Now that’s +1 mental resilience, which means you have more mental focus, discipline, determination and willpower. We know from the scientific research willpower actually works like a muscle. It gets stronger more you exercise it. So tackling a tiny challenge without up, even one as absurd as snapping your fingers exactly 50 times counting backwards from 100 by seven is actually a scientifically validated to boost your willpower.
So good job. Quest number three. one: Because of the room, fate’s really determined this for you, here are the two options. If you’re inside, find a window look out of it. If you’re outside, find a window look in. Or do a quick YouTube or Google image search “baby [your favorite animal.]”
Do it on your phones, or just shout some baby animals, and I’ll put them on the screen. So, what do we want see? Sloth, giraffe, elephant, snake. Okay, let’s see what we got. Baby dolphin and llamas. Everybody look. Got that? Okay, one more. Baby elephant.
(Audience) Oh!
We’re for that? That’s amazing.
(Laughter)
All right, what we’re feeling there is plus-one emotional resilience, which means you have the to provoke powerful, positive emotions like curiosity or love, which we feel looking at baby animals, when need them most.
Here’s a secret from the scientific literature for you. you can manage to experience three positive emotions for every negative emotion over the course of an hour, a day, a week, you improve your health and your ability to successfully tackle problem you’re facing. And this is called the three-to-one positive ratio. It’s my favorite SuperBetter trick, so keep it up.
All right, pick one, last quest: someone’s hand for six seconds, or send someone a quick thank you text, email, Facebook or Twitter. Go!
(Chatting)
Looking good, good. Nice, nice. Keep it up. I love it! All right, everybody, that is +1 social resilience, means you actually get more strength from your friends, your neighbors, your family, your community. Now, great way to boost social resilience is gratitude. Touch is even better.
Here’s more secret for you: Shaking someone’s hand for six seconds dramatically the level of oxytocin in your bloodstream, now that’s the trust hormone. means that all of you who just shook hands biochemically primed to like and want to help each other. will linger during the break, so take advantage of networking opportunities.
(Laughter)
Well, you have successfully completed your quests, let’s see if I’ve successfully completed my mission to give seven and a half minutes of bonus life. Now I get to one more little bit of science with you. It turns out that people who regularly these four types of resilience — physical, mental, emotional and social — live 10 years than everyone else. So this is true. If you are achieving the three-to-one positive emotion ratio, if you are never sitting still for more than hour at a time, if you are reaching out one person you care about every single day, if you are tackling tiny goals to boost willpower, you will live 10 years longer than everyone else, and here’s where that math showed you earlier comes in.
So, the average life expectancy in the U.S. and the U.K. 78.1 years, but we know from more than 1,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies that you can 10 years of life by boosting your four types of resilience. So every single that you are boosting your four types of resilience, you’re earning .128 more years of life or 46 more days of life, or 67,298 more minutes of life, means every single day, you are earning 184 minutes of life, every single hour that you are boosting your four types of resilience, like we just did together, are earning 7.68245837 more minutes of life.
Congratulations, those seven and a half minutes all yours. You totally earned them.
Yeah!
(Applause)
Awesome. Wait, wait, wait. You still have your special mission, secret mission. How are you going to spend these minutes bonus life?
Well, here’s my suggestion. These seven and half bonus minutes are kind of like genie’s wishes. You can use your first wish wish for a million more wishes. Pretty clever, right? So, if you spend these seven and a half today doing something that makes you happy, or that you physically active, or puts you in touch with someone you about, or even just tackling a tiny challenge, you’re going to your resilience, so you’re going to earn more minutes.
And the good news is, you keep going like that. Every hour of the day, day of your life, all the way to your deathbed, which will now be 10 later than it would have otherwise. And when you get there, more than likely, you not have any of those top five regrets, because you will have up the strength and resilience to lead a life truer your dreams. And with 10 extra years, you might even have enough time to play a more games.
Thank you.
(Applause)