Playing the Game of Life Presumes Full Commitment

I never really know what to say. When it’s time to sit down for a mentor meeting for DEUCE Community Inc or a consulting meeting for Agency : Standard, I often wonder what, if anything, I have to offer the person across the table from me. 

Everytime it works out wonderfully, but maybe it’s the introvert in me that struggles to know what to say without having considerable time to think first. In any case, a mentor meeting last week became profound in an unintended way that I think is worth sharing. 

The gist of the conversation was around whether my mentee was in the right program or not. I think we’ve all felt this on some level. 

The example I shared with him was the kids in high school that used to say, “This is so pointless. When are we going to use this is real life?” These kids used a legitimate point to cut corners, hedge effort, and ultimately  underperform in high school. 

But, to whose benefit? 

Here’s my take. All of these games are made up. School is a game, life is a game, and every other social structure is a made up game. My question to you is, “Are you going to have the courage to play the game to the fullest extent?” 

There will always, always be good and strong logic to bail, give up, and do the easy thing. But, until you’ve shown up for whatever game you’re in regardless of how you feel, regardless if there is a pay off, and regardless if it will matter in the end, you’ll never have the single greatest lesson playing the game can afford you. 

Marking time is the same as not playing at all. However, things get interesting when you can still give your all despite many great reasons not to!

Carry on!