Winning the Game of Life

Playing the Game of Life
The Attitude of All Winners

Prepares evil sounding voice*

This game will (hopefully) give you a better outlook at life!

I know it did for me when I heard it.

The Rules of the Game

The game we’re playing is very simple:

In this world, there are multiple kinds of dice. Some dice have 20 sides, while others have 50, 100, 200 or 500. Every player of the game gets one dice assigned at random. But they don’t know how many sides their die has.

Regardless of the number of sides, every die has 1 green side.

All the others are red.

Here are the rules to play by:

• The goal is to roll green as often as possible.

• You get to roll your die any amount of times.

• If you roll red, nothing happens and you get to throw once more.

• If you roll green, you score a point! Additionally, one of the sides of your die now turns green as well, making the next win a bit easier.

• For other players, you only see their green rolls, not the total amount of rolls they have made.

• You lose the game when you give up and stop playing.

Pretty simple game, right?

First, let’s break it down and then dive into how this applies to real life.

How to Win the Game

The winning strategy might seem simple:

Just. Don’t. Quit.

It’s an easy game tactically, but not so easy emotionally.

Here’s why:

The game is set up to create frustration at its foundation.

Regardless of the type of die you end up with, your initial chances of winning are incredibly low. And so, you might end up rolling a gazillion times and see nothing but red…

Not exactly fun, is it?

I used to fish regularly, but it always frustrated me when it was one of those days where you’d catch nothing at all for 3 hours. Total suckfest! :(

Meanwhile:

As you’re seeing nothing but red, you might notice someone else rolling green, and then another player, and another… Yet, you can’t seem to get a single win on the board..

The reasons?

• Maybe some other players got lucky and rolled a 1/500 first try, it happens.

• Perhaps they have a 1/20 die while you have 1/200.

• They might have started earlier and have turned a few more sides to green

• Or, they started at the same time, but have done more rolls than you have in that same time.

You might roll a few more times, but you end up watching others win.

Finally, you get a green!

Hooray! :)

You get a bit more motivation, but then afterwards you continue rolling a ton of reds. Meanwhile, you see others seemingly getting way more green rolls than you are.

“This game is rigged!” you say and storm off….

Congratulations, you lost!

Lessons About Life

So, what can this simple game teach us about life?

Firstly, I want to make 1 thing clear:

We live in the age of social media.

What you need to understand about this is that you only see the highlight reel of someone’s life. Most people will only post the great moments. You won’t see their dark thoughts, failures, boring days, frustrations and setbacks.

You only see their success, their “green” rolls.

You don’t observe how many times they rolled red.

This creates frustration, because of imperfect information.

We know how many times we rolled red, but we don’t observe that number for others. And so, this creates a perception that others are lucky, or that the odds are in their favor.

In reality, they probably just rolled more often.

There’s a famous saying:

“The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried.”

How the Game Relates to Life

It may be obvious, but let me shed some light on the game:

The green rolls represent our wins, successes, and achieved goals. The red rolls are the times that we have tried and failed to achieve our outcomes.

That’s where luck comes in.

You might have had parents that built great confidence within you, and it makes life easier. You got the 1/20 die. You might have been bullied (1/200). You might be fairly intelligent (1/50) or you might have had a destructive family life as a child (1/500, sorry).

Please note that life is NOT a fair game!

There are thousands of “luck” factors, millions even!

But…

It does NOT matter!

As you can see from the game, you can turn things around! With enough rolls, even the worst die can give you a 386/500 chance of success, eventually!

If you don’t give up!

However… most people never reach that point, They don’t see how the numerous failed attempts set them up for success. They get jealous and think others are lucky. They get impatient. They think the game is rigged.

And they give up!

It’s the biggest irony there is!

After all, winning this game is inevitable (eventually).

Yes, the game is majorly rigged in the beginning. The chances of failing are almost 100%. But over time, as we play the game of life for longer, we get way better odds, almost guaranteeing success at anything.

There is just 1 BIG difference in real life:

In the game, everything is based on chance.

In real life, it’s based on merit!

For some people this is a good thing, for others it’s a disaster.

Here’s why:

Smart people will “cheat” by learning from their mistakes. In essence, what they do is add another green side to their dice, even when they roll red! 

Their mistakes increase their skills and knowledge!

And it boosts their chances of success next time!

They win, or they learn (or both).

How Losers Lose at Life

Meanwhile, some people are the opposite…

Maybe through skill or maybe through luck, they get some wins. However, unless they realize WHY they won, that success is not replicable! In essence, they did roll green, but they do NOT add another green side to the die.

In other words, despite their win, they are equally clueless afterwards…

Let’s call this a little whoopsie…

But, there’s another way people lose:

Have you ever had the experience that the same negative experiences seem to happen to you over and over again? Or perhaps it’s not you, but you have someone in life who seems to keep repeating the same dumb mistakes?

Loser mentality hard at work right there!

Life is NOT like school!

In school, you are first taught the material and then tested on it.

Life works the other way around.

More often than not, life is going to hit you in the face like a brick wall. Without warning, you receive the test first. Maybe you pass, maybe you fail.

And NOW it’s time to learn!

Whenever you encounter a problem in your life (and they WILL come), it’s now up to you to figure out how to solve it. When you solve the issue you’re confronted with, you pass the test!

You get to move up, until the next test arrives (we call them setbacks).

However…

When you experience that you find yourself in a similar bad situation time and time again, that means you didn’t learn the previous lesson. You’re essentially repeating the same level in the game of life!

Many people stay stuck here…

They get frustrated…

They get jealous…

They hate the game instead of the player (themselves)…

And they QUIT!

Don’t let that be you, start rolling more often and WIN the game!

TITLE: Motivational Quote

Let’s continue this analogy:

Let’s say you have maxed out your die.

That is to say, you now have a 100% chance to roll green.

Great, isn’t it?

Turns out, it’s a terrible experience!

Sure, you might be excited for a little while. You’re reaching all your goals and it seems like you can do nothing wrong at all. It’s like you’re playing life on god mode.

But, something doesn’t feel right…

Because everything feels effortless and success is guaranteed, there’s no challenge. And you’ll soon find that life starts to feel empty…

Meaningless…

Boring even.

Here’s a lesson that was a gamechanger for me:

Happiness in life comes from progress, not the achievement of goals!

In other words:

We feel at our best when we are climbing the mountain and we can see ourselves getting better. It feels good to realize you can lift more at the gym, solve problems you couldn’t before or see years of hard work pay off!

However, you don’t want to end up like the man in the picture above.

You don’t want to end up hitting rock top… 

Hitting rock top means that you have achieved the goals that you have set for yourself. You reached the top of the mountain and feel great! For a moment… but then you get a dreadful feeling in the pit of your stomach..

You get that sense of “…. now what???”

It sucks, and life will feel empty at that point!

So remember:

Climb your mountain, but then look for the bigger mountain to climb!

Or in this analogy:

After maxing out your die, you can aim for a new goal by getting a new die. But this time, you’ll get a better one because of the skills you’ve learned before in life.

You never lose if you keep playing!

Additional Resources for Success
There are levels to the game, reach your next one!

Action Steps for Today

Let’s play the game of life!

Here are some things you can do:

1. If you aren’t clear on what goals you want to achieve, start there. Get clear on what it is you want to get out of life. Without goals, there isn’t any real progress.
   

2. Let’s look back at the past for a moment. When it comes to your main goal, what’s a recent failure you had? Think about that and look for a lesson that you can learn from that failure. (turn a side green)
   

3. Think about something you’ve been procrastinating on. 9 out of 10 times these are the most important next steps!
   

4. Roll the dice! Get started now!
   

5. Ask yourself how much effort is required for you to achieve your goal. Triple those inputs! Because as we’ve seen, you’re most likely vastly underestimating the amount of work required.
   

6. Simply do not quit! It’s fine to change direction and change your tactics. Abandon tactics that don’t work. Abandon actions not in line with your vision for life. But never abandon your dreams and goals!

Now go and win this game of life!

Quick Question for You
Thank you for reading this newsletter until the end! Hope it brings great value to you! :)

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Is there any question related to personal development that is on your mind? Or perhaps you’re facing a problem in your life? Reply to this email and I’d be happy to talk about it in a future newsletter (if I have a solid answer).

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