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