Hero Habit #1: Design Your Life as a Winnable Game

Remember your last brutal day at work? That’s great…because we need to be challenged otherwise we get bored, complacent and lazy. But when is too much challenge bad for us? If it’s causing unrelenting stress, frustration and overwhelm that’s a sign it’s gone too far…

I’ve been there. My life had turned into a series of ever worsening BAD DAYS. I hated my job and dreaded going into work each day. I hit snooze endlessly and struggled to drag myself out of bed. I began coping with the situation by having a drink and sharing my horrible day with my spouse.

The conversation would drift as I blamed my situation on the horrible people I worked with and eventually I claimed to be the lone hero. Then one drink turned to two and I would begin to make excuses, skip my workouts and eat some comfort food to numb my pain. I woke up one day and looked in the mirror at an overweight, unhappy middle aged guy and wondered “Why is this happening to me…?”

 I came to realize that I was playing an Unwinnable Game and the voice of my inner villain had taken control and was guiding my actions. That voice was hypercritical and was always looking to complain about my circumstances and blame others for what wasn’t working. Even when really good things happened and I tried to shift my mindset to give my inner hero control, my positivity and happiness reserves were so drained and the tiniest setback would poke my inner villain back into action.

Through hundreds of conversations, I discovered that I’m not the only person who’s felt this way. I had been doing the same job for eight years and wasn’t feeling challenged anymore. I needed to be S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D, but was afraid to take on more responsibility. Thus I began a slow downward spiral that affected my attitude, health and performance.

Want to avoid my plight? Here is what you need to know…

Hero Habit #1 - Designing Your Life as a Winnable Game has several foundational elements: career, spirituality, health, wealth, relationships and inner game. 

Knowing our destination in advance seems obvious, but with so many opportunities in life, we can get distracted and we don’t typically realize it until it’s too late. We need to understand our strengths, so we can leverage them on the journey. Then we need to stop and evaluate our direction along the way, otherwise we could end up far away from our goal. Being off by just a couple degrees could cause us to be living an unwinnable game…

An unwinnable game could be caused by: living a life someone else wants for you, performing a role that is not reflective of who you are at your core, energy draining relationships, complacency in your work role, putting yourself and fun priorities last or having a spiritual hole that leaves you feeling empty.

Remember, the people we care about most see the signs of an unwinnable game well in advance…. and unfortunately we resist what we need most 

Ready to BE THE HERO? 

For more information on Designing a Winnable Game, please visitwww.MichaelHahnSpeaker.com or see you next edition where I’ll highlight another Hero Habit #2: Assume Positive Intent.