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Work is a Game
"Any job is a game." "A game consists of freedoms, barriers and purposes." -- L. Ron Hubbard from The Problems of Work
Yes, your job is a game! Making money is a game. Succeeding in life is a game. And it can be as fun as playing a card game, a football game or a video game.
If you know your job is a game, you become more successful. You win more often if you understand and take advantage of the three parts of a game: FREEDOMS, BARRIERS and PURPOSES.
Three Parts of a Game
FREEDOMS are opportunities to succeed. Anything that helps you win the game are freedoms. Examples: your education, your hard work and the support you get from others.
BARRIERS are the problems you must solve or get through to win the game. They include the rules, problems and competitors.
PURPOSES include the goals, the accomplishments and the rewards.
For example, in a football or soccer game, if you are running down the field, and someone tries to stop you, he is a BARRIER. Your strong legs, teammates and the open field are your FREEDOMS. If you get past the other team, you will score a goal which is your PURPOSE.
As another example, if you want to earn more money at work, the BARRIERS may include a product that no one wants to buy, a competing business or your own laziness.
The FREEDOMS at your work may include a bonus plan that pays you for your hard work, a bright idea of how to improve the company's products and a new list of customers who will buy the products.
Your PURPOSES may be to double your income, pay for some training or pay off your debts.
If you do not increase your pay, you feel unhappy as you lost the game. However, if you double your income, you feel great! You won the game!
So how can you use this concept to succeed?
Three Steps to Winning
You improve your chances of winning by examining and handling the three parts of the game.
1. First of all, you cannot get upset about the BARRIERS. Barriers are included in all games.
For example, if you were a football player, you would not get mad because the other team showed up (a barrier) or because the referee enforced a rule (another barrier). You would not run away nor make up your own rules. You would know that to win the game, you simply play by the rules and do your best.
The same thing applies to your work. You do not get upset because of barriers, like rules, laws, competitors and other barriers. Instead, you get smarter than the barriers.
You do not beat up the competitor, ignore the barriers or cheat. You face the barriers, understand the barriers and figure out how to win the game, despite the barriers.
2. Next, concentrate on the PURPOSE. Have you ever seen a football player run to the wrong end of the field? He forgot his purpose!
The same thing can happen at work. If you have no purpose or you forget your purpose, you make no progress. You make bad decisions. You do the wrong things and fail.
To win the game of work, you need a purpose and you need to follow that purpose.
3. Finally, you can strengthen your FREEDOMS. You improve your current freedoms and add new ones until you win the game of work every day.
So what are your freedoms at your work?
Your mental strength is one freedom. Just as you exercise your body to build your strength for a football game, you train your mind to do your job better than ever. You take courses. You read books. You constantly learn.
To win a game, you listen to your coaches: your boss, your parents, a successful friend, a consultant or a financial advisor. Your coaches can be everyone who wants to help you.
Anything you do to prepare for the game is a freedom. For example, if you eat well and get a good night's sleep, you do a better job than if you stay up all night drinking.
Create Your Game Strategy
1. Write down your PURPOSES for working. Why are you there? What do you want to accomplish?
2. List all the BARRIERS. What do you dislike about your work? What gets in your way to accomplishing your purposes? What is not going well?
3. Make a list of all your FREEDOMS. What do you like about your work? What makes it worthwhile? What is going well?
4. Go back through each list. Add more purposes, more barriers and more freedoms. Make sure every part of the game is on the list. Just sorting out these three parts of a game can give you a boost of excitement to win your game.
5. Work out how you can stay on your purposes all of the time. If you are not excited to accomplish your purposes, consider more interesting purposes, bigger purposes or more beneficial purposes.
6. Work out how to handle the barriers. Sometimes you can dance around the barrier, use a different solution, or even turn the barrier into a freedom!
7. Work out how to strengthen the freedoms on your list and add even more freedoms. Taking more responsibility, recruiting people to help you, increasing your stamina, building your confidence and facing your fears are more examples of freedoms you can increase.
8. Continue to work on all three parts of your game until you are winning as never before.
Take a few minutes and give it a try. You might be surprised to find your game is much easier to win than you thought!
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