Level Up Your Life Quotes

“If I’m going to be labeled a weirdo for wanting to improve my life and do really fun things, I’m okay with that. Fortunately,”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“It’s tough to change friends, and it’s even tougher to admit when a friendship has run its course, but it can be an important part of growth, too. Friends come and go and, when you change, oftentimes the things you have in common are no longer in alignment, especially if those things are of a time-wasting or unhealthy nature. We have a finite amount of time—the most valuable resource on this planet—and you have 100 percent control over how that time gets spent. Surround yourself with people who want you to be better, and you will see yourself start to level up faster than ever before.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“As you’re creating your goals and crossing them off, don’t forget to think about WHY you have those specific goals, and whether crossing them off will really bring you happiness. We’ve all heard the stories of famous people who died far too young, whether it’s Michael Jackson, Robin Williams, or Janis Joplin—people who seemingly had everything and yet struggled to find happiness. We often think the end result will produce happiness, when in fact happiness is not an end goal that we chase, but rather a consequence of the things we are chasing.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“The benefits of a single day spent working on your current quest pale in comparison to the bigger reason why you’re doing this: to prove to yourself that you can make progress, and that working on a quest daily can become a new habit for you—a new normal. You”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“As Ben Franklin said, “Some people die at 25 and aren’t buried until 75.” I”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“Spend as much time as you can with the people you love, and put yourself in as many situations as possible with those people who enable you to look back and say, “Man, remember that time we . . .; I can’t believe that actually happened!”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“The question is, how will you handle these challenges as you attempt to complete the quest or mission before you? Will you look at them as opportunities to grow and advance—to prove to yourself that you are capable of leveling up—or will you look at them as brick walls that halt your progress? It all comes down to your attitude and your strategy for attacking the obstacle.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“Starting today, that voice in your head is no longer allowed to utter the words: “I don’t have time.” Instead, the voice must use the phrase, “It’s not a priority.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“When you complete a major quest and return home, do take a few moments to celebrate with friends and family, or simply celebrate alone with your thoughts. If there’s a chance to capture a memento or stick your achievement on the wall, go for it. You’ve earned it, and you should be proud of your accomplishments.
However, after a little while it’s time to grab the sword, don your cape once again, and set out on another adventure. If your life is a movie, then you just got green-lit for a sequel with an even bigger budget.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“I receive emails daily from people who are in crappy situations or are unhappy about the path they’re on, and my advice to them is generally the same: You MUST find a way to be happy today, because tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. Yes, that’s easier said than done. But if you follow the techniques and tactics in this book, and you actively work on bettering yourself, making those around you better, and being grateful each day for the opportunity you’ve been given, you truly can level up your life. Here”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“There are two key things that I’ve noticed nearly every successful person I admire does on a regular basis: They exercise, and they read voraciously. They”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“So, along with goals, quests, and missions there are two other crucial pieces to our happiness equation that are missing. The first is to remember that every day you wake up is a good day to be alive—it certainly beats the alternative. The second is to remember that it’s not things that will make us happier, but rather the experiences we have in the pursuit of “mission complete” that produce the happiness.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“As pointed out by Christopher Vogler in The Writer’s Journey: We seekers look at one another with growing smiles. We’ve won the right to be called heroes. For the sake of the home tribe we faced death, tasted it, and yet lived. From the depths of terror we suddenly shoot up to victory. It’s time to fill our empty bellies and raise our voices around the campfire to sing of our deeds. Old wounds and grievances are forgotten. The story of our journey is already being woven. You pull apart from the rest, strangely quiet. In the leaping shadows you remember those who didn’t make it, and you notice something. You’re different. You’ve changed. Part of you has died and something new has been born. You and the world will never seem the same.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“When we eschew the ordinary world in search of adventure down the road less traveled, we need to be thinking on a grander scale. For instance, if you decide to give up a well-paying but unfulfilling job to try something that truly challenges you (which might require selling your car or downsizing your house or opting out of the rat race), you will get more than your fair share of “Why are you throwing your life away?” comments from people in your life, even well-meaning people who love you and think they have your best interests in mind. The important thing to remember is that you’re doing it to pay respect and tribute to all those people who, on their deathbeds, looked back and said: “I wish I had had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“You need to build a workout plan that can be done anywhere, at any time that efficiently trains your body so you are prepared for any situation. For example, although I rarely go rock climbing, I’ve built my body in such a way that if you sent me climbing today, or whitewater rafting tomorrow, I could do pretty darn well. If I had to run a 5K tomorrow I could do so, even though I haven’t necessarily trained for it. When I traveled around the world with a backpack for a year, I never once set foot in a gym and still managed to get myself in the best shape of my life because I learned to train with antifragility in mind. You need a workout plan that is as antifragile as you hope to become: It can be completed nearly anywhere (no gym required) and helps you build functional strength and power. Want to know the best way to do that? Progressive bodyweight strength training, and varied short-distance running. Combine those two things with a sensible nutrition strategy and you’ll have yourself an antifragile body just like your favorite secret agent.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“Yes, Life is a massively multiplayer game. And when you can spend more time surrounded by the people you love, or people who challenge you to be better, and less time surrounded by people who drag you down, your chances for happiness in the Game of Life are greatly improved. As”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“As I read in a Quora thread when somebody asked the question “How do I get motivated?”: “F%*k motivation. Instead, cultivate discipline.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“If you’ve ever played Destiny, Diablo, or EverQuest, or even games like Call of Duty, you know leveling systems are beyond addicting. You’ll play a game far after it’s stopped being fun simply because there’s the possibility of an increased level, a new achievement, or additional item. That’s why you’ll spend five hours killing rats just to get to the next level, as you’ll then unlock a new sword or spell that gives you a chance to gain . . . yup, another level. These leveling systems are designed specifically with human behavioral psychology in mind. As I told you earlier in the book, our brains love progress, and we love to be rewarded when we make progress. It’s the same psychology behind why we feel good when somebody likes the photos we post to Facebook: we take an action, and we are rewarded for it. What’s going on here? When these activities take place, our brains release dopamine, which makes us feel better and more accomplished. And then we chase that feeling. In fact, our brains can actually create new pathways with each repeated cue and reward. Once we understand this process, it becomes our responsibility to use it for good rather than for evil. Although I don’t play games like EverQuest very often anymore due to the time commitment they require and to my own admitted addiction to these types of games, I am still addicted to progress and leveling up. I just do it in real life now.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“As children we seek out toys to learn more about our world, to solve simple problems and engage with our environment. As adults we love to feel productive, and similarly feel a void when we sit around doing nothing. Haidt defines being productive and happy as “flow,” a concept coined by psychology professor Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. Haidt explains it as “the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“These people will find a way to rain on any parade, and the more you try to change and improve yourself, the more they’ll push back with reasons why it won’t work. The truth is that most people fear change. They, themselves, might want to change but don’t want to put forth the effort and energy to make it happen. Or perhaps seeing somebody else making positive changes makes them feel insecure about their own situation, so they choose instead to try to drag you back down. Despite the fact that I run a positive business that focuses on encouraging people to find happiness, I’ve had some amazing insults publicly thrown in my direction—venomous things that nobody would dare say to my face. But that’s life for a Rebel. It’s important to remember that most people who are insulting or angry are really just struggling with unhappiness or dissatisfaction in their own lives and need somebody to take it out on.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“So, I challenge the voice in your head, starting today, to erase the phrase “I don’t have time” from its vocabulary. Instead, your voice must say, “It’s not a priority.” If you’re truly committed to building your life into something you’re proud of, then that has to take priority over Facebook, over video games, over watching cat videos on YouTube, over TV, and so on. Once we stop allowing ourselves to say, “I don’t have time,” and truly look at where our time is being spent, we will find some pockets of time here and there for focusing on growth and on the quests and missions we need to complete in order to level up.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“to shirk”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“Whether you realize it or not, you are an underpants gnome! Any time you read an inspiring news story, watch a YouTube video of somebody doing something amazing, or read a book like this one that encourages you to make changes in your life, you are collecting underpants. In”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“IT IS BY GOING DOWN INTO THE ABYSS THAT WE RECOVER THE TREASURES OF LIFE. WHERE YOU STUMBLE, THERE LIES YOUR TREASURE. —JOSEPH CAMPBELL”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“Happiness is a consequence of the things you do daily, not a reward”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“A basic framework for happiness:

- Time spent daily, hopefully in a job that challenges us, but also in our after-hours hobbies.

- An ability to show ourselves that we are making consistent progress and improvements toward a specified goal.

- Energy and attention dedicated each day to an activity that puts us in the zone.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“How do I get motivated?”: “F%*k motivation. Instead, cultivate discipline.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“If no one ever told you when you were born, how would you know how old you are?”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“Life is meant to be lived on your own terms.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

“Whether you live for another few days or for another 10 decades, I want you to live a life you can be proud of. I want you to look in the mirror with pride each day, and I want you to look back at the end of your life and say, “Yup, I played this game right.”
― Steve Kamb, Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story