Monday, February 6, 2012

Name Your Game

Are you an “early adopter” or a “late adopter”?   Do you have to have the latest toys and technology or can you wait for the beta version or beyond or until the technocrats work out the bugs and/or until the price comes down and you can afford it?  With a little water already over the dam, one might dare to ask, how is that “game” working out for you?  If you’re an early adopter, what do you do with all the “old” technology? 

Can you delay gratification or do you need immediate gratification?  Are you cautious or daring?  A big spender, a spend-thrift or a miser?  Hyper-organized or just plain hyper?  “Sensible” or spontaneous?  “Devil may care”?

Do you like to prospectively line out your daily/hourly/weekly/yearly goals and activities, or do you simply operate in “somehow/someday” mode?  Do you live primarily in the NOW, in the past or in the future?  Are you a “belt-and-suspenders” kind of person or do you prefer to work without a safety net? 

What lines have you drawn in the sand?  What barriers have you built that you will not cross?  Or is the “world your oyster”, such that “anything goes”? 

And why does it matter?

The bottom line is outcomes:  How is your “Game” working so far, and how likely is it that you’re going to get where you want or need to go – in this lifetime? 

If you’re too cautious, too particular or a perfectionist, it might never happen.  If you’re head-long/head-strong, you may overshoot the subtle twist and turn adjustments required for a meaningful outcome.   

If you’re simply out to “Beat the System”, be very circumspect about HOW you’re going to do it and check the odds carefully.  (The odds on get-rich-quick schemes, “calling your own shots”, or sheer brute force heavy-handedness are not very good.)

If you’re a teenager and want a car, why?  To impress your friends?  To go mall hopping?  To go to the drive-in?  Or to get a job?  Yes, it MAY matter! 

If you’re trying to play soccer on a baseball field, there’s going to come a point – at SOME point – where the lay-of-the-land and the rules don’t match and you’re out of bounds.  

Most of us, like the blue-haired ladies at the Bingo hall, like to hedge our bets by playing several “games” simultaneously.  In some things (finances?), we may be cautious and organized but in others (diet?) we’re no-hold-barred. 

The name of the real “Game” of life is EVOLUTION – imposing continual change and requiring adaptive development – which we must play with “Total Intentionality”, immersing ourselves in gainful engagement with purpose.  Take a look at the “Game(s)” you’re playing and see how the outcomes measure up to where you “should” be or want to be.  You may need to make some adjustments.  But that’s a key part of the “Game”!  Plan, prepare, do, learn, adjust, become (wiser, smarter, more knowledgeable, more skilled, more productive, more flexible, less ‘opinionated’, more valued, etc.) and prosper!           Quartermaster

“It is impossible to consistently perform in a manner inconsistent with who you are [,what “Games” you’re playing] and how you ‘see’ yourself.”  Dr. Joyce Brothers

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