Player 1: A Mindset 🤯

I recently downloaded a game to a friend's console to "pass the time" ironically, it centered us. Present through play and friends, this feeling of centredness reminded me that I hadn't felt the player one mindset in a while. Remember picking up that first 90's game? Curiosity washing over you? If you've never played Super Mario Bros II for Super Nintendo, you've never lived. If you've played, nostalgia will sweep you.

Player 1

What do I mean?

At face value, my friends and I were after mutual destruction; after all, we played as ducks that shot each other on a 16-bit level. Behind the scenes, we were all player 1 in this game and had been player one elsewhere.

A perpetual beginner's mindset = ULTIMATE advantage

The advantage of player 1 is not the skill but the mindset. It is rooted in experience, forged by trial and error. It is the repetition over time that compounds into comfort. This comfort is what you feel when you know the particular game and learn enough to bend the rules.

In our case, using obstacles to expose my friends as fake gamers was an added effect. My true advantage Is in knowing I was player one before. I knew I would fail often, but I'd learn 2x of it, so I tried 4x the amount of button combos or scenarios.

🧠 Think about other instances in which you've been player 1? Some with less prestige than the others

• First to fill out FAFSA
• First, to move away and go to college
• First, to get a "real job."
• Taxes…..
• First, to "figure it out," whatever the fuck that means
• The recession, boom, and whatever financial state we're in
• First, to go to therapy....whewwwwww this one

🫢 Now, In Life...

Nobody else is experiencing life the same way you are, and no one is playing your game. You are the chief designer and player 1. Who says you can't try your version? Your rules?

Your parents won't want to hear this; you might not even want to listen to this, but you can hit pause on whatever situation you're in. Your rules and how you play will not make sense to the outside world. That Is okay. The things, people, and places are all pausable...

They are afraid you might build a game/life without them. They want to control your game and, at times, the player.

Friends? They'll pull you into their games [if you're not tracking, games = life/situations], but you'll never be player 1 in theirs.

Remember to enjoy the rules [boundaries] they set, to operate within those boundaries, and to set rules for how other players engage in your game.

Designing your game: More Play [reps] = Better Design

Great design begins with elimination. You can start by removing characters you don't want or by redesigning a new performance level for yourself.

Do you make things unnecessarily complex? I'm guilty of this. When I procrastinate, I directly design an obstacle against a level/reward I've set. It is on me to remove that obstacle. The thought or the person.

Which obstacles are you facing that you designed? Which characters have you left in the game for too long? Which player abilities do you need to enhance to reach a new level of the game?

Stop falling Into or out of shit and start playing the game YOU design...

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Next Up: Player 1 Mindset: In your career