The Rules, the Map, and the Game of Life

Are there rules and a map to follow in life?

We want a plan to follow.  We want to know that if we take certain actions that certain results will follow.

We want to believe that if we just play by the rules that we’ll be okay and maybe even a little better than okay.

It seems like this is the way things used to work.  You might think of it as the American Dream.  It went something like this.

You grow up, go to school, get married, get a job, have a couple of kids, keep your nose clean, do what you’re supposed to do, move up the corporate ladder and in the end you’ll get to retire with dignity.

This was the map and the rules that most regular people seemed to follow in the good ole days, but is that still the way life works?  Have the rules changed?  Is this map still reliable?

The Game of Life

Have you ever played the Game of Life by Hasbro?  It is a board game where you start out in life with just a car and a little blue or pink peg that represents you.  You spin a wheel and follow the path laid out on the board landing on various spaces that give you directions on what to do.

For example, you might land on a space that tells you to pay taxes or vote or add a kid to your family.  You wind through life doing what you’re told and hoping that chance is kind to you.

There are a few basic decisions you make along the path in Life that can play a role in the outcome you get, such as whether you go to college or not, but by and large it is a game of chance.  If you follow the map, play by the rules and get lucky enough to spin a few good numbers, you might wind up at Millionaire Estates as the winner…or maybe not.

I think most of us think real life works pretty much like the Game of Life.  We want to follow some map given to us by someone else.  We are told and usually believe that if we just follow the rules and play the game a certain way that we’ll be okay.

Following the old map, playing by the “safe” rules of yesteryear and hoping we’ll be lucky is just not enough anymore.  It is dangerous and it is certainly NOT a path to living life to the fullest.

There Is No Map

I’ll confess that I’ve often wanted a map.  I’ve wanted someone to tell me how to be successful in life.  I’ve searched for it in books.  I’ve sought a mentor.  I’ve wanted someone, anyone to tell me what to do to be happy, successful and content.  I’ve wanted it handed to me.

I’ve wanted someone to lay out a path just like in the Game of Life.  I wanted to hit a few lucky spins and be well on my way to Millionaire Acres.

Why?  Why have I wanted someone else to tell me how to be successful?  Seth Godin says that it is because we’ve been indoctrinated into thinking this way.

We’ve been taught to be a replaceable cog in a giant machine.
We’ve been taught to consume as a shortcut to happiness.
We’ve been taught not to care about our job or our customers.
And we’ve been taught to fit in.
~ Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

Seth says that our school systems were created to mass produce factory workers.  In the past, the giant machine that is our economy needed a ton of low-paid, reliable labor to run the production line.  That’s how we generated massive amounts of goods that the world bought and that made us a rich nation.

We were trained to sit down, be quiet and follow the rules.  I am good at this.  However, the rules have changed.  The factory worker is not in demand anymore.  Success demands that we become more than just cogs.  We can’t follow the old map to success anymore.

There is no one map for us to follow.

We often wish we had a map because it seems less risky.  It is definitely far less scary.  After all, if we have to create our own map, then we can’t hold anyone else responsible if it doesn’t work out the way we wanted.  Also, we have to lay it all on the line.  That is definitely risky.

Everything has changed.  If you are still following the old map, then you are likely to get trampled on.  It has already happened to millions that are standing in the unemployment lines right now.  I’d bet a good portion of them were on the old path spinning the wheel hoping life would be kind.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t.  They are left empty-handed.

Make Up Your Own Rules

If the old rules don’t work anymore and there is no map to follow, then what do we do?  We have to make up our own rules and create our future.  Seth says that we have to be artists.

An artist sits down with a blank sheet of paper or a clean canvas or a big hunk of clay and begins to make it into something by investing in it.

An artist:

• Pours their passion into what they are doing
• Moves people to change with their emotional investment
• Expresses with power their insight into the way the world is
• Breaks new ground with techniques never before seen
• Does what others say can’t be done
• Gives the world a gift to treasure
• Transforms the mundane into something to behold

Conventional wisdom is that you should find a job that matches your passion.  I think this is backwards.  Transferring your passion to your job is far easier than finding a job that happens to match your passion.
~ Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

We can be an artist right where we are at in life.  We can make up our own rules with our current employer, current spouse and current set of circumstances. 

Of course, it means we have to stop following the old map.  We have to stop waiting for someone else to tell us what to do.  We have to stop listening to the lizard brain and we have to become an artist.

We’ve all seen this before.  We’ve witnessed the auto mechanic, city worker, retail clerk, waitress, factory worker or salesperson that went the extra mile. 

They are artists.  They invest themselves in their work and we know they are destined for more.  At the very least, they are happy doing what they are doing.

How do I know?  You can tell.  How?  They move us.  They make a difference.  They stand out from everyone else around them.  They are the linchpins.

If they can do it, why can’t I?  Why can’t we?  They created their own map.  They made up their own rules.  There is no reason that we can’t do the same.

Photo by mia3mom

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