WIN AT LIFE Using Common Video Game Rules!

Hello, you amazing person, you. Believe it or not, I want to talk about video games today. And I know that's going to surprise you because I am most definitely not a gamer. My kids totally got into it, like a lot of kids did. I couldn't make that goofy little Mario person go the width of the tv. Not even kidding. It was hilarious for my kids. I accepted it's just not my forte. But youth get slammed all the time for playing video games. But what if I told you, and what if you told them that the skills they use in a video game to win a video game are the exact same skills they need to win at life? I'm not even kidding. I'm going to share that with you today. So let's talk about it.

Hello, you absolutely amazing human, you. My name is Sandy Boucher Mishko Pognon Kwei Nadishnikas Mang Dodem, a Red Thunderbolt woman of the Loon clan and a proud member of Seine River First Nation in Northern Ontario. And I'm here once again as the facilitator of a day that changed everything. We are on video 11. I have my handy dandy clipboard here today. Just getting all organized and I can't believe, believe we're in the final stretch. Now, as you well know, in all of these videos, we've been looking at the Meca Life strategy, M, E, C, A. So first off, we started with M and that stood for mental awareness, being aware of what's going on in your own head. Is it supporting you or is it one of the barriers you have to overcome? Then we looked at the E, environmental awareness, looking at what's going on in your world. And last video, we cruised into the sea of the Meka Life strategy. And that is control. Now, I realize that a lot of people out there would love to control everything, and we don't. There is just so much we don't control. We don't control the weather, we don't control the aging process to a large extent. I mean, we can look after our health, but you know what I mean. We don't control other people, but we totally control what's going on with us, our attitude, how we choose to react to things. All of those are within our control. And that's what I'm talking about today. And I get to share with you something I've been sharing with audiences for over a decade. And I call it the video game analogy. Now for younger viewers. I don't know how old you are, but I bet some of you are Memory lane tripping right now. And the younger viewers are going, oh, my God, what is that? That is antique. It's one of the things I used to love about doing live events and I will love again as soon as we can do live events. I often bring props. I have a field day when I'm doing a seminar. We learn so much more when we're having fun, so it only makes sense. And I'm gonna have a controller with me. I don't even know what kind. This is a super pad, 64 colors, if that means anything to the gamers out there. I am totally not a gamer, but the video game analogy works for everybody. So again, I don't know how old you are. I don't know if you've ever played a video game. Chances are really good you have. Most of the audiences I talk to, they've tried it at some point. Personally, I'm not a gamer. I can't get the stupid little Mario dude to go the width of the tv. And my kids can testify to that. I have tried. It doesn't work. Mario doesn't like me. I can get him to bounce up and down, but that's about it. But even if you're not a gamer, I'd be willing to bet either you've seen someone playing a video game or you can imagine it. And I'm gonna give you details that you're going to be able to follow along. So today that's what we're going to do. We're going to play an imaginary video game as I introduce you to the video game analogy. Okay, so, ta da. Imagine you're sitting on the couch, you got your controller. Oh, I better tell you what game we're playing. Right? The scenario is a haunted, creepy castle. It's one of those games that you got to find your way through past all the challenges, past all the bad guys to get to the end and get that major treasure that's just waiting for you. And of course, if you're the first, bonus points. Now it's going to involve going down hallways and into creepy rooms. And of course you got that really scary music playing in the background. That's the game we're playing. You got it? Okay. The game begins. We dodge this and we dodge that. And suddenly we find ourselves in a hallway. A long creepy hallway. There's a light coming in from a window at the end. And on each side of this hallway are a bunch of doors. We can hear some noises in the distance. We're not sure where it's coming From. So we decide we know if there's doors in a video game, probably means you want to go inside, right? Or at least check out what's in there. So we use our controller and we go into the first room. Now, I want you to imagine this room in this castle. You look around, you poke around, you check with your foot, you know, with your sword, the way you do in a video game. And you quickly realize there's no traps, there's nothing dangerous. There's really not a lot of anything in this room, except for one thing. In the middle of the floor, shining incredibly bright, almost like it has its own light source, is this golden key, a skeleton key. The kind of key that, you know, opens up absolutely everything. Now, if you're a gamer playing a video game and your goal is to win this game and you come across a key, what are you gonna do? So what are you gonna do? I hope you just streamed into your computer, tablet or phone that you're going to pick up that key. Because as any gamer knows, if you come across a key in a video game, you can bet your butt that you're gonna come against a locked door in the future and probably in the near future. Now, let's. I'm sharing this video game analogy with you because it applies to life. We have to get in the habit of picking up keys. Taking a video course is a key. Learning from an elder is a key. Getting on Google and googling something and learning a new skill is a key. Watching someone doing a craft and learning a new craft is a key. Grab all the keys you can, because you don't know when you're gonna come up against that locked door. And I am living proof. Guess what? When I was in high school, one guess which class I really didn't like. Math class, like so many other women out there. But guess what? I run my own company. If I didn't understand math, and I did go on and take bookkeeping, by the way, and think, heavens, that I did, because if I didn't understand my own financial statements, I would be so incredibly vulnerable. Math class, bookkeeping skills were a skill I needed, even though I didn't go into that field. It helps me to stay successful. That's the lesson of picking up a key. So now we've got the key. There's nothing else in this room. So we head back up in the hallway and we continue our journey. This time, we decide to go into the room across the hall. We go in the door, and it looks a lot like the first room, except this time there is no key in the middle of the floor. There's actually nothing in this room. Nothing good, nothing bad. So the question is, what are you going to do again? I hope you just screamed into your phone, tablet or computer that you're going to get out of that room. Because if you're a gamer, you understand this is a time limited game. You only have so long to get to the end and succeed. Do you see the life lesson? How many of us are sitting in a room that isn't good, isn't bad? We're just burning up our time. Our game is limited. We only get so much time. If you want to get everything out of life, get out of that room. So now the game continues. We go back in the hallway, we cruise along, we get to the next door, and all of a sudden, holy molys. We can hear all this commotion. It's coming from the room. There's like screaming and banging and fighting and it's obvious that something's going on inside. We decide to get really brave and we peek inside the door and we can see good guys and bad guys just fighting. And like, it's just horrible. What do you do? I hope that you just screamed into your phone, tablet or computer that you close the door and get out of there. And yes, I always have some participant that says, you get in there and you fight the good fight. Why? Why would you waste the energy? Why would you waste the time? Why would you risk getting hurt? Especially when this fight has nothing to do with you or you winning your game. But how many times do we do that? How many times do we jump into a battle that has nothing to do with us? We have zero skin in the game, but we get all upset and we give all our energy and all our time and then we're upset we didn't get our to do list done. Maybe next time don't go in the room. So the game continues. Do, do, do, do. And all of a sudden, mwah, we run out of energy. We took too long. If you are determined to win this video game, you're playing a video game here. If you're determined to win this game and you just ran out of time, what do you do if you didn't know the answers to that question? Ask anyone who's ever played a video game. You reset and start again. And here's the best part. When you reset and start again, you know you're gonna run into that first room, you're gonna grab that key, you're gonna get out of there. You're gonna do it in two seconds. You're not even bothering going in that second room because there was nothing in there. You're cruising right past all the people fighting in room three. You're now at the end of level one and you level up. And I think that's the best part of the video game analogy. First, how many times in real life do we fail at something and quit instead of trying again? We never tell ourselves the next time. We have more wisdom now than we had when we started. When we try again, it'll be so much easier. Please, if you get nothing else from this video game analogy, please try again. But the thing I used to love the most about watching my son play his video games is he knew the next level was going to be harder. He knew he had never played it before. There was no way. He knew what was waiting for him. There was going to be even harder bad guys to beat even harder levels. There was a really good chance he wasn't going to make it. And guess what? He couldn't wait to try. When I do online or not online in person seminars with my youth, I tell them all the time, you know what? You get slammed for playing video games. If you apply the very same attitude and skills to life as you do to winning a video game, then you're gonna have any goal you want. Keep going. Don't be scared. It's brand new. Accept that. Do your best. Try again. Now, there's one other part to the video game analogy that's really super important, and it's kind of related to that room with all the bad people. Remember, we're talking about the Mecca life strategy, and we're talking about control. Control. Stay on the couch. It's just the game. When you're going through life today and there's chaos happening out there, don't give up the controller, don't put it down and jump into the insanity. Stay on the couch. Maybe you're the voice or reason that insanity needs. Maybe you're the outside perspective that your friend who's in the middle of that insanity really needs to hear from. Maybe they need you to grab them and bring them on the couch and remind them that they have a controller as well. I swear, I am the only motivational speaker out there in this time of health and wellness that's saying, stay on the couch. Because that's where your control is. If you need to reset, you need to pause the game, you need to go make a sandwich, do that. But then come back and keep going. That's the video game analogy. And I hope that made sense to you. There's so many parts to it that it's actually included as a free download with this module. Next time. What are we talking about next time? Oh, I have another game to play with you next time. But that's next week. For this week, please take care of you. Stay well, stay safe. Don't forget, please stay home. And while you're at it, try playing the video game analogy. You might be amazed at what you discover by playing a video game this time in real life. Until next time. I love you. Talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.