As I type this, it’s the first day back to work after a couple of glorious weeks of family time. And although a quieter house and cooking for fewer people is easier, I wasn’t yet craving getting back into routine. (Having to brush the snow off my car both before and after my 6 a.m. gym class did not improve my mood this morning!)
One of my favourite holiday luxuries is staying in our pyjamas and playing board games for most of the day. There are always a couple of new games under our Christmas tree, and this year we pulled out some oldies but goodies as well. (Dutch Blitz was the big winner — I know you were going to ask me.)
One of our new games this year, courtesy of fellow game enthusiast Maureen Haan, is called Villainous. What makes it interesting is that every player is given a different way to win.
I’ve written before about games that have lots of ways to win. The trick is that you can’t win using all the ways — you need to choose one path to victory, usually based on the hand you’re dealt.
But the added insight for me this year was the importance of remembering your objective and blocking out the advice, resources and opportunities that look promising (and might be for the people around you), but are actually irrelevant in moving you toward your objective.
It sounds simple (isn’t that just “avoid shiny object syndrome”?) but it’s easier said than done, especially when you are learning a new game or you get thrown a few curveballs. The distractions don’t show up with a label saying, “Ignore me!” They can seem personalized and potentially valuable, inviting you to dabble with them for quite a while before you realize they lead to a dead end.
As we head into this new year, I have been admittedly reluctant to add to the countless exhortations to focus, simplify, get clear on your purpose etc. that are filling my feed. Even the ones with valid messages feel like noise to me this week.
It’s not about their quantity or quality. I think my ambivalence is rooted in having a lot of possible wins this year, and a lot of possible routes to reach them. All good news. But I am very aware of needing honest conviction to choose my most important objective, and discernment to know which paths are taking me towards it, versus the ones that are just detours and distractions.
Are you somewhere similar right now?
Remember the game you’re playing. Even the people right beside you might be playing a different one, and the suggestions they offer might lead to resources they need more than you do.