How it works
If you’ve ever played a good video game, chances are you spent a lot of time on it.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Whether you’re shooting them up, messing around with your in-game character or planning a strategy to defeat your enemies, games bring a lot of joy. However, as we grow up, we eventually abandon games in favour of more productive activities.
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Approach Life Like A Game
As we move away from games and concern ourselves with more solemn matters, we inevitably lose our sense of wonderment and ability to take ourselves less seriously.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Life doesn’t have to be stale. We can confront reality the same way as we do in the virtual world. In fact, we live better when we approach life like a game
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Approach Life Like A Game
Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street
Zig Ziglar
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Approach Life Like A Game
Have you ever been defeated in a game and declared that it was the end of you? Probably not. That would be absurd
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Approach Life Like A Game
As we grow up and become attuned to social norms and conventions, we develop a fear of failure
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Approach Life Like A Game
fear of failure becomes etched into us; some regrettably never overcome this fear altogether and spend the duration of their time on earth without having lived at all.
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Approach Life Like A Game
We see failure as a mortal blow instead of a scar that reminds us of the mistakes we’ve made.
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Approach Life Like A Game
we live timidly and are afraid to take risks and explore new beginnings. The fear of failure becomes crippling.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Gamers rarely give up and lose their motivation when they fail at a mission.
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Approach Life Like A Game
urgent optimism
Jane McGonigal
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Approach Life Like A Game
Why the difference in the manner in which we approach life and gaming?
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Approach Life Like A Game
True of life — we can always recover after each defeat.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.
Winston Churchill
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Approach Life Like A Game
While the stakes are certainly higher in reality than in the virtual world, the optimal strategy is still the one we use in games. All the more reason we should approach life without fear of failure.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Games often come with fixed objectives.
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Approach Life Like A Game
objective gaming
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Approach Life Like A Game
Games are interesting because they provide a narrative that adds context and meaning to our lives.
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Approach Life Like A Game
we are the protagonist in the game of life.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Without a quest, there is no goal to accomplish, and by extension no possible sense of fulfilment.
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Approach Life Like A Game
The main reason people are addicted to games is because they find more purpose in the virtual world than in reality.
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Approach Life Like A Game
average young person today in a country with a strong gaming culture will have spent more than 10,000 hours playing online games by the age of 21.
Jane McGonigall cites research
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Approach Life Like A Game
We can keep going if we have a purpose that we are deeply committed to.
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Approach Life Like A Game
What would our lives look like if we created a quest for ourselves?
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Approach Life Like A Game
10,000 hours of practice is what you need to master your craft. That is what it takes to ascend to the top of your field.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Children and adolescents can put hours grinding endlessly in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), exhibiting a kind of discipline that even the strictest of adults must reluctantly revere.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Working hard for something we don’t care about is called stress; working hard for something we love is called passion
Simon Sinek
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Approach Life Like A Game
With purpose naturally comes productivity.
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Approach Life Like A Game
When you take that approach in gaming towards that of life, you will undoubtedly achieve more.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Life rewards execution, not planning and thinking.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Games often provide rewards in the form of new gear or content after the completion of each objective.This not only advances the game’s storyline, but it also provides motivation for the individual to carry on towards the next mission.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Games happens because rewards spike our dopamine levels, which energises us and gives us a feel-good aura.
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Approach Life Like A Game
We can recreate this environment by tracking and celebrating our small wins. This is already seen in the fitness industry, which has spawned several mobile applications that are devoted to rewarding workouts by awarding points or even hard cold cash.
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Approach Life Like A Game
While there is concern that many individuals end up doing things for the sake of rewards and lose sight of why they first started, they remain a viable option as extrinsic motivation.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Every next level of your life will demand a different you
Leonardo DiCaprio
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Approach Life Like A Game
Well-designed games will have scenarios that are more challenging than the previous one. As users gain experience and proficiency with game mechanics and strategies, they are called upon to take on tasks that require them to reinvent themselves.
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Approach Life Like A Game
It is this process of constant renewal that allows us to grow quickly. We are forced to adapt to new circumstances in games. Consequently, this adaptation grants us newfound abilities and skill-sets that continue to serve us in the long run and carry over to other endeavours.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Biologically, we grow stronger by adapting to new demands on our body. It’s the main mechanism for muscular hypertrophy. Lifting heavier weights forces us to exert ourselves, creating micro-tears in our muscles.
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Approach Life Like A Game
To cope with this new stress, our body not only repairs but also strengthens itself. The longer the time under tension, the quicker the growth.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Putting ourselves out there in discomfort can be a painful thing to do, but it is by far the quickest way to achieve rapid personal growth.
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Approach Life Like A Game
When thrown into the deep end of the pool and forced to swim or sink, you’ll learn to tread water at the very least.
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Approach Life Like A Game
If you are looking to level up in life, the fastest way is to ensure that every challenge is at the edge of your comfort zone, if not beyond it.
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Approach Life Like A Game
What is different between top players in the game and top people in life such as Elon Musk, Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett?
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Approach Life Like A Game
Deliberately seek out people who are more intelligent, knowledgeable and capable than you. These people will serve as your mentors. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that you are always in the company of more accomplished people — you can only benefit from them.
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Approach Life Like A Game
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with
Jim Rohn
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Approach Life Like A Game
It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play the hand.
Randy Pausch
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Approach Life Like A Game
We have plenty of complaints in life. It seems the odds are never stacked in our favour.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Nothing goes the way we want. A quick Google search lists some of the most common complaints people have:
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Approach Life Like A Game
we can’t control what happens to us, only how we react.
Randy Pausch
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Approach Life Like A Game
One thing that gamers do very well is reacting to unexpected incidents. They find ways to work around bugs — which happen even in the best-designed game — and carry on with their daily business. Some even find ways to exploit loopholes in the game.
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Approach Life Like A Game
The only thing we can do with perceived unfairness is to deal with it.
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Approach Life Like A Game
You can quit playing a video game if it is not to your liking, but you cannot quit the game of life.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not
Oscar Wilde
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Approach Life Like A Game
It is estimated that 4 billion people don’t have access to the internet today. If you’re reading this, or have ever played a video game, know that you’re doing better than more than half the world already.
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Approach Life Like A Game
If there is only one thing you can take away from this, know this: you are in firm control of your life.
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Approach Life Like A Game
The game of life is the biggest and most important MMORPG you will ever play, you dictate your own narrative and decide the path you are going to take.
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Approach Life Like A Game
There is no ‘win’ condition. You are the main character in your own story — how far you go is all up to you.
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Approach Life Like A Game
I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul
William Ernest Henley
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Approach Life Like A Game
A game remains fun only because it excites us and continues to be a novel experience. The same can be said of life: we must design it in such a way that we are committed and deeply involved every single day.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Begin your own quest. Take the road less travelled. Explore and experiment without fear of repercussions. Do what has never been done before. Live life on your own terms.
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Approach Life Like A Game
Above all, remember to enjoy the game of life.
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Approach Life Like A Game