Keep Trying

Why do we give up so easily?

Bird picture

It struck me the other day that we have probably reached the point where more people (at least in the West) have played a computer game than not. Obviously some play and decide its not for them and others develop an obsession but most people fall somewhere between the two extremes. And if not gaming, there are thousands of Apps that seduce us to keep trying to prolong our streak!

The thing that gave me pause for thought was why then, is trying but failing such a problem for most people? That’s what happens over and over in many games. You try a level, you fail but you still try again - and again and again! So why is it such a problem in real life? Why does that determination rarely carry over into the real world?

I wondered if part of that was because with a one player game you can fail endlessly and no-one knows or judges you but that doesn’t stand up against the enormous popularity of online gaming - although many do have an element of anonymity but as we know with social media even comments from strangers can be very harsh and still hurt us deeply.

Is it because its ‘just’ a game and there is nothing to lose? Except pride, time and patience of course!! An old saying was “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” which we merrily do in a game but rarely do in real life - why are we so quick to write ourselves off? Why does the determination to finish a level hardly ever seem to make it to the cold light of day? Why can we have massive online streaks and struggle to achieve our goals one day to the next?

I do know that there is a lot of game psychology that keeps people playing but why can’t we bring just a little bit of that into our daily lives? I know there are often little ‘outs’ in games - cheat codes or just getting a friend to get you over a particularly difficult bit but why don’t we bring this strategy into real life more? Why are we so bad at getting friends to help us through the difficult patches? Accept that some things need perhaps a bit of professional help or advice. After all the only difference between success and failure may just be one more try!