If you have lost yourself in a good book, perhaps an old-fashioned adventure or fantasy yarn, possibly one modeled after the hero’s journey, you have found appreciation for a meaningful quest.
A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. It serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical.
Wikipedia on Quests, retrieved on February 26, 2026.
Computer games have put their own spin on and acquainted countless people – such as the current generation of high school students and their teachers – with the idea more explicitly.
A quest, or mission, is a task within video games that a player-controlled character, party, or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward. Quests are most commonly seen in role-playing games and massively multiplayer online games.
Wikipedia on Quests in Video Games, retrieved on February 26, 2026.
The concept travels well. To the extent that you can imagine the possibility of adventure in your life, you are able to see opportunity for quests.
It of course might sound a little funny when someone refers to a project in the office as a quest. That moment of surprise though can be useful, as it alerts to a different lens of looking at that project.
Context matters a lot – quests make sense within a system. You may have different quests at h0me than at work. Perhaps you are one of those people who identified an overall mission for your life.
Time boundaries can also play a role. Perhaps your focus is on a specific area for the month, or if you narrowed your view to one evening,you can identify a specific journey there, too.
The quest designation categorizes and – somewhat bluntly – prioritizes. That can make it a helpful tool for thinking and decision making.
Games often clearly distinguish between main quests and side quests and they keep track of your progress towards them. The distinction matters.
- Your main quest is the one you need to complete in order to win the game or the stage of the game so that you are able to get to the next one. It is essential in that you have to complete it so that you can progress or win.
- Side quests feel very similar in that they often involve many of the same types of activities and experiences. They are fun and you can gain valuable game experience and resources. Sometimes this can help increase your odds of success with the main quest. On the other hand, side quests are optional.
Explicit or implied, there are virtually always more side quests than main ones. Whether you consider the former a distraction from the latter or whether you believe they are additive in terms of experience – that probably depends on how much time you have and how you choose to view the issue.
It is convenient that in the context of the game world, the categorization is made for you. Outside of it, you are usually on your own.
The quest(s) and your views about it live in people’s heads; they are not outwardly visible.
Let’s say three people get together for an evening to play a board game. One person wants to spend a few hours playing the game, the second person wants to win the game, and the third one just wants to spend time hanging out together. As far as the game is concerned, the main quest (the game’s objective) is outlined in the rules. By playing the game, the three friends agree to take on that quest.
Imagine a startup, founded by people on a mission. It is going well and they begin hiring and grow a team of people who are at various stages of life and career. The founder(s) are on a quest to solve a specific problem that they were passionate about. The first VP of sales, perhaps their quest is to take their career to the next level. The intern just wants to “gain valuable industry experience.” The organizational quest is separate from any personal ones.
The distinction is important, but let’s assume you signed up for the system’s quest(s) and you understand them enough that you can articulate what they are. Now you can use this for tactical decision-making.
There are main quests and side quests, clearly stated or otherwise. There is probably no shortage of work coming your way, individual tasks or whole projects. There is always more. Prioritization is always happening, deliberately or implicitly.
Filtering can be helpful and this can be an effective lens leading you to clarifying, diagnostic questions. Imagine that task on the top of your list or that project you have been going back and forth on with your colleagues for the last hour. Is it part of the main quest or are you going on a side quest? Or worse, is it part of no recognizable quest at all?
If you cannot tell, then that by itself is probably an interesting learning, too.