Or, if you'd like to personalize your list, here are some brainstorming questions to help you out: You can collect any of the power-ups already shared in this chapter. Remember, anything that makes you feel happier, stronger, healthier, or better connected counts as a power-up. What to do: Collect your first five power-ups. The world around you is full of power-ups. And if it becomes a playful tradition with some of your friends and family, all the better! QUEST: Collect Your First Five It's an easy and fun habit to develop and a great way to spark conversation. Whenever I find myself thinking about someone I haven't talked to in a while, I text them the '1 to 10' question. Tip: Don't do this quest just once-do it often. If they don't explain their number, you've still checked in-and every check-in helps increase the familiarity that leads to stronger relationships. And it increases common ground-if they explain their number to you, you'll know a little bit more about what's going on, which gives you something to talk about.

It models reciprocity: by offering to make someone's day +1 better, you're communicating that you care and that they can count on you for support. It's quick and easy, and like online games, you don't have to be face to face to do it. Why it works: This quest is designed to adapt the best features of social games to everyday life. Consider this reply from my friend Chris, when I sent him the '1 to 10' question the other day: 'Better now that you asked. You'll be surprised by how surprised other people are when you take the time to explicitly offer your support. And when you offer to do something to bump their number up by just +1, it pretty much always makes them smile. It's amazing how much you can learn about what's on someone's mind by how they explain their 1, 5, or 10. Sometimes they'll offer details to explain their number. Sometimes they'll answer with just a number. And it's easy to answer-everyone can think of a number from 1 to 10. You really can ask it of virtually anyone, close friend or stranger. After a while, I came to the conclusion that this question is completely awesome. He asked my husband the first time they met, too. He asks it of servers at restaurants when we eat out. He asks me to rate my day every single time I see him. I learned this habit from my friend Michael, a philanthropist and entrepreneur who likes to ask this question (and make this offer) to almost everyone he talks to, day in and day out.

'from a 3 to a 4' or 'from a 10 to an 11'-you get the idea). Now you wait-and if they message back a number from 1 to 10, here's what you're going to reply: 'Is there anything I could do to help move it from a 6 to a 7?' (or. Make sure you send it privately-through email, text, or Facebook, for example.

Superbetter mcgonigal