Embrace life as a game

& you’ll be more likely to win.

Changing your mindset like this will help you dig in when things get tough.

Think about the best games.. it’s not crash bandicoot walking a long an empty path with a nice view and nothing happens. It’s crash bandicoot avoiding cliffs and banana and bombs dropped by others cars… can you tell I don’t play? haha anyway you get the point.

The game of life is in the thrill of the challenges. There isn’t an easy route, it’s never going to be perfect so you may as well embrace it.

Gameifying life means you take it less seriously and enjoy it more.

‘Life is a game and you win the game by remembering it's a game’
- Jodie Cook

Here are 5 mental models I use to game-ify life (& dieting).

The dip:

This is the universal observation that things are exciting at the start when you’re motivated and it’s all new.

Then there comes this phase where things are no longer exciting & new but you need to do the work and you aren’t at the point of seeing results yet… THAT is the dip.

Motivation is low and it’s where you have to put in the hard work even when you don’t feel like it.

If you want to achieve ANYTHING of significance in any area of your life you need to push through the dip.

My favourite example of the dip is a Marathon.

No one gives up at the start when energy is high and the crowds are cheering or in the last few miles when you can see how far you’ve come and the end is in sight.

The give up in the middle, they give up in the dip.

If you want to read more about the dip check out the book ‘The Dip’ by Seth Goddin.

The reframe

The reframe game is my favourite. I play it every day, multiple times.

The aim of the game is to find positives in negative situations…

Train delayed? You can finish your audiobook.

Friend canceled? You get 40mins of 1-1 time with yourself in a coffee shop.

Missed the gym? You needed a rest day anyway and tomorrows session will be even better for it.

Didn’t get the job? The next one will be better.

Under pinning this is the belief that YOU can make the most out of anything life throws at you. This is something I truly believe.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it.

We have way more control over our lives than we think - we just need to acknowledge that to start actioning it.

Surfing the urge

Here is an important observation.

Cravings and emotions come in waves.

The thing about waves is they come and go.

Can you ‘surf the urge’ and choose to sit with that feeling and respond to it in a way you want to rather than react to it/ give in to it.

The more you do this, the easier it gets. It’s like a muscle - train it and it becomes easy.

My favourite example of this is hunger. One of the key hormones that stimulates hunger is called Ghrelin. Grehlin levels rise to stimulate hunger.

Your grehlin levels become accustomed to when you usually eat and will rise and fall around your normal meal times whether you eat or not. This is why when you travel to different time zones you often find you’re hungry at unusual times.

This is an example of how if you sit with hunger it will pass whether you act on it or not. (obvisouly don’t do this to the extreme or hunger will build up - I am talking about missing your mid morning snack. Not fasting all day)

Many of your feelings and emotions follow this same pattern. Practice sitting with them.


Embracing the hard

The hard day’s are when most people would give up.

You’re not most people!

Once you realise that anything worth having usually requires hard work you stop being interested in things that aren’t hard.

I get excited by hard things now and if it’s easy I am not really interested.

The hard days are what sets you apart. It’s when most people give up.

If you don’t want to be like most people (average stats are pretty depressing - overweight, less than £2,000 saving, over 50% of marriages end in divorce) then you can’t act like most people.


Take home:

Start seeing life as a game - start embracing hard work. Don’t take things too seriously and look for opportunities everywhere.

If you want me to push you click here to apply for coaching or here to apply for mentoring.