One Amazing Tip for Being More Successful in 2014

Sharing an article from Time magazine's business.time.com

A quick tip that could make all the difference in what you accomplish next year.

By Geoffrey James

                               

Over the past few years, I’ve been playing this really cool game. 

Everybody playing this game starts with a character that’s assigned a random number of abilities (physical strength, creativity, etc.) and amount of resources (money, equipment, time, etc.).

As the game proceeds, you can gamble resources to gain more abilities or gamble your abilities to obtain more resources. You can also trade resources with other players which is a gamble to get more resources.  (Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t).

                                 

                                             

The game is called “Life” and I don’t mean the one where you run a little plastic car around a board. When it comes to success (either at work or at life in general), there are several advantages to thinking of your life as a game:

First, realizing that your genes and your family connections (i.e. resources) were random keeps you from thinking that they make you “superior” to the other people playing the game. As a result, people are more likely to want to work with, or for, you.

                                         

The perspective that there’s randomness involved also keeps you from grousing because you were given less resources than somebody else.  You start focusing on playing with the resources you’ve got rather than focusing on what other people got.

Second, thinking of your life as a game keeps you from taking it too seriously. Yes, there will be ups and downs, which will be big or small, depending upon how you risk your resources and your time.

                                       

However, realizing that life is just a game allows you to experience those ups and downs with a sense of perspective. Because it’s only a game, so you’re freer to shrug off the downs and use the highs to your advantage.

Finally, gamifying your life helps you understand that the winner isn’t the guy who dies with the most toys (i.e. his time ran out), but rather the person who manages to extract as much enjoyment as possible from playing the game.

                                         

For almost everybody, that enjoyment will come primarily from helping other people rather than helping yourself.  You see, life isn’t a “zero sum” game where the number of winners is proportional to the number of losers.

Quite the contrary. In the game of life, winners (people who enjoy life) create more winners. That’s why the game is so cool.

This post is in partnership with Inc., which offers useful advice, resources, and insights to entrepreneurs and business owners. The article below was originally published at Inc.com.

Read more: One Amazing Tip for Being More Successful in 2014 | TIME.com http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/dec-20-success-tip-how-to-win-the-game.html#ixzz2olH9aN4Q

Nelson Mandela and YOU

\ In recent days much has been said and written about the late great Nelson Mandela. People far wiser than I have made assessments of his life and his legacy. But the one lesson that I will take away from Mandela was his ability to not "tolerate" situations which he believed to be wrong. No matter how scary the implications were to resist the status quo. We all tolerate and accept the status quo in a variety of situations. Situations which are not even in the same league as apartheid. In our professional lives there are some common areas we tolerate:   We tolerate pointless rules and policies We tolerate incompetent and disrespectful managers, co-workers and clients We tolerate a job or career which we dislike We tolerate a lifestyle that we've fallen into rather than one which we've chosen We tolerate being undervalued and underpaid We tolerate hiding our talents instead of fully utilizing them We put up with these situations because the opposite of tolerating them is usually scary, uncertain and usually involves an investment of time and effort. So it becomes easier to just 'fit in', to accept and delay. But there will come a time when you can no longer tolerate the status. When you finally have the fire in your belly to resist and initiate change. And when you do, you'll spin your wheels and usually face some major set backs. You'll have pangs of self doubt and start questioning yourself.                  But as the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa showed - those struggles and dark days are all part of the journey to a brighter future. And as Nelson Mandela showed, it all starts with one person, one day being courageous enough to say "no" and refuse to tolerate the status quo. 3 Questions for you: 1) What are you tolerating right now? 2) How can you start resisting and saying "no"...? 3) What's the next step?

Inspiration "I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear" - Nelson Mandela  Reblogged from:  www.sitalruparelia.com