Don’t Be A Sore Loser

By on January 22, 2015   /   Games  

chessI’m a sore loser.  Strike that.  I hate to lose.

Growing up, I often played my brother in sports games on the Nintendo or Sega.  As older brothers often do, he consistently crushed me.  My reaction wasn’t pleasant.  If the game was close and he delivered the knockout blow, I’d deliver my own – by slamming the reset button and forcing him to start over.  To this day I’m surprised he kept playing with me knowing my tendencies.

Fast forward to current day.  I decided to pick up chess.  Playing against the computer… (some things don’t change) I got soundly beaten.

Except this time is different.  I’ve been reading a few books.  Studying tactics and reviewing instructive videos.  Lo and behold, I can now hold my own with the computer and even win some of the time.  Now my goal is to continue to increase the competition level and eventually play against a real human.

Becoming better at anything takes time and practice.  In this day of immediate gratification, it’s easy to forget that you need to put in the work.  Gary Vaynerchuk said it well:  It’s this notion that is so prevalent right now, which is that you can just come out of nowhere and build your brand through various tactics.

There is no substitute for putting in the hours.  Unless you want to try hitting the reset button, but I don’t think you’ll make a lot of friends that way.

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Candy Crushed

By on January 7, 2015   /   Games, Problem Solving  

candy crush delete

About a month ago, my wife and I celebrated an incredible moment in our household.  No, she wasn’t pregnant.  There wasn’t a new job, promotion, or any other life event.  No, what tipped the scales that evening was me finally uninstalling Candy Crush on all devices.

I love puzzles.  Love solving problems.  It’s one of the main reasons that Candy Crush appealed to me.  Each game made me think strategically and was a nice diversion from the stress of the daily routine.  Frankly, I was good at it.  I ‘finished’ the game faster than any of my friends, many of whom often gave me their phones to solve levels for them.

I wasn’t addicted by any stretch; I mainly played during downtime or small windows (like waiting in line).  Nowhere near the stories you see online, such as this woman who stole money from her own mother to play.  However, the probem with the game is there’s no reward for winning yet the social aspect of the game persuades you to keep playing, stoking your competitive fire to beat friends.  The time spent playing, even small pockets, could be better utilized such as strategizing or fueling creativity on new business ideas.

I’ve used the time since I stopped playing to finally put this blog together, master WordPress, PHP, and a few other hard skills that will be important down the road.

There’s nothing wrong with playing games, watching TV, checking facebook, or sending out one more tweet.  But if your long-term goals are not being met, it’s helpful to reassess where your time is currently going, and how it could be better spent to get you back on track.

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