Level Up Your Life: How to Unlock Adventure and Happiness by Becoming the Hero of Your Own Story

I would first like to encourage those who are hesitant based on the societal paradigm that this is some sort of childishness to this approach at getting what you want out of life to open your mind. Life is not meant to be a struggle where you have only earned something if it was a painful sad road for your to get it, it's meant to be a big fun adventure full of love, excitement, enlightenment and enjoyable challenges for you to conquer. Stories, whether in the form of video games, books, or movies are so appealing because one gets to vicariously live for a time through someone in a world where the 'magic' in life (the mystery, adventure, victories and enlightened joy) is real. In this book Steve shows the world that you can bring that magic into your own life by changing your perspective on life and how you perceive yourself. No one can deny the truth of this life being your great story with you as the main character. Let this book make you realize that that character is a champion of his destiny. I've been lurking Nerd Fitness on and off for a couple of years now and Steve's articles have inspired me infinitely. Every time I would feel particularly unmotivated in any aspect of life I turned to Nerd Fitness for the kick in the rear I occasionally desperately needed. This is a book that will inspire you, "nerd" or not. If you have a vision of yourself in your mind that you are comparing your current self to and feeling any kind of bad about it, stop, pick up this book, open up your mind, and realize you are capable of being that person and doing what that person does NOW. Steve guides his rebels (you) on how to create a system, hack your brain, and attain your desires in a fun way that makes you realize that you are a fantastic versatile life form and are capable of great things. You do not have to by any means imagine yourself as an elfin warrior to get something out of this book. You can imagine yourself as anything you like that seems wonderful to you. The purpose of this, as it seems to me, is to simply visualize the person you want to become and then break down the qualities of that person and how they got there bit by bit until you have made your imagined self a real, attainable goal. Whether Steve knows it or not, he is amazing at manipulating the human ego. He combines in this book some of the most motivating tactics to convince your mind to work on your behalf. He also obviously really loves people and wants to see them thrive. Allow him to manipulate you into thriving and to enlighten you unto the fact that your existence is incredible and how powerful you truly are, There is a good deal of emphasis in this book on health and travel. This is because the healthier your body and the more of the world you see, the more you will want to explore and attain things in the real world. Many of our neural pathways are set to make us comfortable being nacho eating agoraphobics 90% of the time. When one works to become healthy and see more things in the world, those pathways change and little by little your mind realizes that there is more value in having a healthy, fit, able body and in enjoying exciting, new experiences to make you more aware of the ways of the world. Travel, near and far, does not just mean becoming more cultured but also building awareness as your mind expands and is able to connect the dots on matters of the world you live in. This process is just like running around in RPG's and figuring out more and more lore finally putting together a somewhat coherent story of the universe you are playing in. Those connections in game that allow you to recognize 'easter eggs' in the game world will also apply to real life as you figure out more about the real world connecting events, scenes and social situations forming the coherent story of your world. What is cooler than that? =) Nerd Fitness' website also has supplementary tools to help you in your epic adventure such as being able to create your life character, the Nerd Fitness Academy and Nerd Fitness yoga, all which I would also highly recommend. This book gets you PUMPED as long as you go all in. When you suspend your disbelief in movies, books and games you allow yourself to think "In this world that thing that I just saw would be possible" and you accept it. When you are reading this book do the same thing for your own story. Change your perspective on what you think you are and think the world is like and allow what you want to be possible. Personally I have always imagined myself as a lithe, agile, forest exploring, jiu jitsu fighting, bioengineer. I have always summarized my goals as being a bioengineering elf princess :) Since reading this book I have slain a fire breathing dragon (quit smoking), joined an engineering guild (signed up for school), gained cooking skill by gone fully primal and have begun a weight training & yoga routine that will allow me to use my body in every way possible. These are all things I have been half heartedly working toward for years and this book and the accompanying website gave me the kick I needed to go fully into everything I wanted to do. I highly recommend this book. Read it, have fun, make your life a game, or just take the philosophy with you in life that the person in your mind is the person you can begin to emulate right now.

Level Up Your Life is an absolute blast to read. It's actually hard to get through it in one sitting, but not for the reason you're probably thinking! Frankly, every few pages, I found myself having to stand up, take a big breath, do a weird Rocky-when-he-just-knocked-out-Drago spin move thing, grin like an idiot, bang out a few pushups, and furiously scribble notes in what rapidly becoming a tome that could appropriately be coined the FIELD NOTES NOTEBOOK OF EPIC ADVENTURE CHRONICLING (+4). See, Level Up Your Life is a book that not only informs and entertains, but INSPIRES. If you're familiar with Steve's blog NerdFitness.com, you'll find a lot of familiar concepts, but it's most definitely not just a collection of his most iconic posts. Like the best superhero flicks that nod to the hardcore fanbase with winks and easter eggs, yet manage to be accessible to the uninitiated, you can tell Steve put a lot of time, effort, and love into this work, making it both a wonderful introduction to the Nerd Fitness Rebellion, as well as a synthesis and refinement of ideas he's been hammering out for years now. Longtime fans of NerdFitness and first time readers will both find this book a true joy. I've long been fascinated with the concepts of lifehacking, lifestyle design, unconventional living, and all that, and have collected most of the works most often associated with this culture. And don't get me wrong, they're great, but I've often found my ability to focus on them wavering when I wondered if my values were aligned with the concepts. With Level Up Your Life, I feel like it was written for me and people like me; not only with the ever flowing nerd culture references, but with the vision of a life that goes beyond that of "live like a millionaire" or "escape work", a vision that dares to believe that living HEROICALLY is the ideal. If you've ever found yourself thinking, "there's gotta be more to life than this", then you owe it to yourself to grab a copy of this book. It'll serve as a primer for everything from training, to diet, to habit building, to adventure travel, to confidence, to the power of the Heroic Journey myth-arc. This is just a fun, informational, inspirational read. Thanks to Steve for putting it out there and sharing his vision, and I can only hope that the new fire I feel for living more and for leveling up will do it justice!

The ideas are deep, although the presentation is lighthearted, something I don't necessarily like. Sometimes it's way too geeky (even for my taste 😅) He covers a LOT of things: habits, proactivity, mental health, dealing with failures, etc etc. If I had to give an analogy, reading this book is like eating the fast food versions of gourmet foods like 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, or Think and Grow Rich, but I think that's the way the book was designed and I am totally fine with that! And Steve has actually written the book so well in my opinion, it was never boring. He could convey deep ideas with light-heartedness, so it's still a damn good juicy burger! I've learned many of the points and have found myself at the point a bit farther than those who are lost and reading the book. I think if I read this back when I was starting my journey, it would've been really good! Still, takeaways are there and they're really fun! I made my character (which I made according to my dreams), and logged into the website. And found that the concept is *really* appealing. I mean, having cute little goals (and big ones) and then literally have exp points and you level up? Man! That's so much fun! The book definitely puts me in the state of mind that "hey, maybe you shouldn't take life too seriously, have some fun while you struggle!" And also, I can't wait to join and mingle with the community. I'm really looking forward to that! 3/5! (Or 6.5/10 for my personal review system. That number means the book is a good book!)

There I was, buckling my seatbelt at the start of a 3 hour flight from Dallas to Indianapolis. I exchanged a verbal hello to the people crammed next to me, before twisting my body to retrieve my copy of Level Up Your Life from my laptop bag. I was already familiar with Steve's work and mission. I remember years ago when he first started sharing his story, his passion for adventure, and his tactics for making life into a game on his blog. I'd watch the Nerd Fitness community grow from just a few people to hundreds of thousands of Rebels from all over the world. So, I was curious to read at least the first few chapters of his first book to start my flight off on a good note. Before I knew it, my reading was interrupted the captain over the loud speaker "Stewardesses prepare the plane for landing..." Glancing down at my phone, over two hours had passed and I was only a few chapters away form having blasted through the entire book in one sitting. Not only that, but beside be was my notebook with a list at the top that said "Baker's Epic Quest." It was broken down by category with goals and tasks large and small scribbled down each column. On the opposite page was a list of allies I could recruit to help me with various "quests" and several changes I wanted to make to my "batcave" when I got home. To be honest, I expected Level Up Your Life to be good. But I did not expect the book ITSELF to be an adventure to read. It's chocked full of specific, tangible advice and tactics that you can apply right away - but the whole thing is wrapped in a blend of references to movies, books, and games from my childhood. There are no shortages of books with advice on how to tweak or improve your life. Some are good, others... not so much. But in my experience, very few of them have that magic factor that makes it FUN to start dreaming, applying, and changing your life. That's what Level Up Your Life does better than any book I've read in the last 4-5 years. It makes it FUN. I was swept away to a world where I was planning out my Epic Quest. Where I was outlining what "boss battles" I would need to overcome along the way. I imgained what it would be like if I could train my body to support my goals and not hold me back. I planned out my families next trip overseas. At the same time, I was aggressively scribbling down lists of steps. Writing down specific tweaks I wanted to make when I landed. I was doing more than dreaming, I was organizing exactly how I could get from where I was to where I wanted to be. It's no surprise I loved Steve's writing, I thought I would. But what did surprise me is how much I bought into the gamification system he's laid out for his own life. And it wasn't just his example, there were many other readers and Rebellion members he outlined who shared similar goals to me (including the dad who did martial arts with his son, something I do twice a week with my daughter as well). I feel like this book is a MUST read for anyone who recognizes they want to make to add more adventure and happiness into their life and are looking for a system that is not only effective in getting results, but is FUN and inspiring to get swept up into, as well. I de-boarded that plane flight not only with a huge smile on my face, but with a notebook full of tangible changes I could start making that very day. I'm pumped up to make 2016 an amazing year of adventure and positive change. And I have Level Up Your Life to thank for that.

What a fun, new way to look at goal setting, habit building and bucket lists! Love it! I'm definitely a reader of "self help" books - time management, habit building, productivity hacks, etc. This book conveyed such a neat idea of turning your life into a real version of a video game. Okay, written out like that, the idea sounds a little, ummm, "nerdy." But the idea works. I've spent hours and hours playing video games, even when the game isn't as fun as when it was new, I was still playing to "level up" my character. I would justify my hours of playing by reminding myself that I worked hard at running my business all day, I worked out in the morning and my house was clean. So those evening hours I could spend any way I wanted. But I still felt a little guilty at wasting so much time on something that really didn't matter in the "long run." So I cut back my playing time and did something more productive in the evenings, but spending my evening working after my normal work day ended didn't make me feel better - it felt like a punishment. Sure I got projects finished quicker, but I wasn't having fun. This book turned my ideas around. It helped transform my thinking from "I have to" to "I get to." Now instead of spending hours staring at a screen, I'm learning new skills and having fun with it. In the book, there's an idea of quests and mini-quests. I made a mini-quest to hike to 10 waterfalls in 4 months. I've already seen 4, and it's only been three weeks. Instead of working out at the gym, I take a hike to see the sun rise over the mountains. Even working is funner. I feel like I'm living life to the fullest now. Of course, certain events led up to some of these changes, but Level Up Your Life helped put things into perspective and really pushed me to do more to enjoy life, create memories, learn new skills and grow both professionally and personally. On another note: I love sci fi and fantasy and the author incorporated some quotes and references, which added to my enjoyment. Not too much that is was distracting, but enough to convey a point. The books also incorporates science tests and facts about addiction and why so many people can get lost for hours either gaming or watching TV and then shows you how to put that knowledge to good use. I recommend this book to all of my friends who are frustrated about how much time they "waste." I'm not sure how well this book would be received by some one who hasn't played a video game before but I'm sure they could find something valuable.

I like to think I'm a guy who has his sh*t together. But I stand in awe of what Steve has been able to accomplish with his own life and with Nerd Fitness. This is simply one of the best books I've read in recent memory, and I have three reasons why: Reason 1: It's the perfect balance of "how to" and inspiring adventure. Steve is a master storyteller. I felt like I was sitting at the blackjack table with him in Monaco and trekking next to him through Machu Picchu. The dude's hilarious and inspiring — and he breaks down everything he's learned about self-improvement, courage, and personal fulfillment in a way that's accessible and action-oriented. I read the book in one day, took like 7 pages of notes, and proceeded to annoy the hell out of my girlfriend by talking about it incessantly the rest of the evening. Reason 2: It's so beautifully meta. The book is (more or less) centered on the Hero's Journey and shows you how to walk through each step in your own life. THE HERO'S JOURNEY Ordinary World Call to Adventure Refusal of the Call Meeting with the Mentor Crossing the Threshold Tests, Allies, and Enemies Approach the Inmost Cave Ordeal Reward Road Back Resurrection Return with the Elixir But Steve doesn't just tell you about the Hero's Journey and give you a few tips on how to embark on your own. Instead, he takes you through your own journey WHILE YOU'RE READING THE BOOK. You know that feeling when you're learning a thing...and then you suddenly realize the person who's teaching you that thing is actually DOING THE THING as they teach you? Isn't that a great feeling? Reason 3: It's incredibly thoughtful, inspiring, and well-written. Writing a book is difficult. Writing a GOOD book is akin to performing some kind of miracle. Level Up Your Life is a good book, one that was a pleasure to read, and one that will make you see your world — and your place in it — a little differently. Highly recommended.

This is definitely an above average book in my opinion but I thought it came up short. Much like the book Play It Way by Charlie Hoehn this book has an excellent premise with the concept of essentially playing a game with yourself to get you to enjoy doing the things that many people outright hate. Things like exercise, getting out of their comfort zone, getting a new job or smaller more incremental goals. Its a great concept and sometimes the author, who truly seems like a legitimately cool guy, nails it and other times not so much. In my opinion this book would have been better with an editor who just let Steve let his freak / geek flag fly because it seems like he's on to a great concept but the book gets bogged down by testimonials that I didn't find very inspiring, constants references to his website which has information that you'd think the book would've had since you know...I paid for it, and lastly it tries to be too many things. It wants to get you in financial shape, fitness shape, cure anxiety, and ends up wallowing into the same concepts and execution given in typical self-help books. It does a decent job in all those areas but it doesn't do anyone of them particularly well and unfortunately the gamifying your life aspect gets shorted because of it. All in all I liked the book but maybe my expectations were too high. I mean Steve seems like the real deal. He's actually created something special with Nerd Fitness and he appears to walk the walk. He's not some dude you've never heard of before with a big toothy grin trying to tell you how to make millions when he doesn't have it in the bank. My problem with the book is that I thought he'd have more to say that wasn't so generic and re-hashed. I probably won't read this again.

I just finished this book and IT IS SO DAMN GOOD. It just filled me with warm fuzzies and a renewed passion for obtaining my life and health goals; it reignited a fire in my belly and I am so excited for all of the possibilities that my future has. Level Up Your Life is fun, funny, inspiring, NERDY (obvi), and a really easy read. It embraces all the philosophies of Nerd Fitness, but presents them in a clear and organized manner. It's fun and thought-provoking. There are writing exercises that you will have to actually sit down and do if you want the most out of this book. One of my favorite reads ever is "On Writing: Memoirs of the Craft" by Stephen King. One of the things I loved about that book was that he presented the idea of a toolbox, a place where writers keep all the things they need in order to become the best at their craft. With that idea, Steve's book doesn't give us the secret to everlasting health and happiness (although I hear the answer to everything is 42) and he doesn't give us any magic answer; but what he DOES give us is even better than that. He teaches us to tap into the magic inside each one of ourselves. This book presents the tools to its readers to help us build ourselves in becoming a better version of who we already are. Even though I just finished it, this is another book I expect to go back to time and again. Why settle for a life that is just good enough? There is so much to do and to experience! I definitely recommend this book to anyone - but especially to the nerds, the dreamers, and the people who aspire for an extraordinary life.