Level Up Your Life

January 25, 2016
Nerd Fitness founder Kamb draws inspiration from great heroes of geek canon to outline a life-improvement plan focused on taking risks, achieving goals, and becoming physically fit. His system, "The Epic Quest of Awesome," creates opportunities to "gain experience points, accomplish quests, complete missions," using the psychological rewards of gaming for motivation. While the missions are yours to create, Kamb provides some character archetypes for inspiration and a writing exercise to flesh out the specifics. He then lists a host of potential goals, ranging from the strictly physical to the financial and altruistic. As a fitness guru, his "Antifragile Playground Workout" detailing exercises that can be done anywhere, is particularly useful, as are his tips on "travel hacking." Throughout, Kamb draws parallels to South Park, The Matrix, Harry Potter, and a host of others. Star Wars characters illustrate the importance of interpersonal relationships, and Bill Murray's character in the comedy What About Bob? serves as an example for conquering anxiety. Kamb's system is commendable for its specificity and practicality and lack of bland platitudes, but he also provides some poignant thoughts on living a meaningful life, namely that "happiness is a consequence of the things you do daily." 12 illus. Agent: David Fugate, LaunchBooks.