🛟 ‘Life is a game’ is a lifesaver

The Book of TREE 1.34

A few years ago at work I had a ton of video to edit on a very tight schedule. So obviously, the clients didn’t supply the video by the agreed deadlines. I started the editing a day-and-a-half late. On Thursday morning it was all just about going to work. By Thursday evening the clients still hadn’t supplied all the video and it definitely wasn’t going to work.

I almost got stressed.

In the past, I would definitely have gotten very stressed. The difference is that I’m learning how to see life as a game. In a game, my week would merely be an interesting problem to solve and no one would die if the problem didn’t get solved.

It turned out, real life was exactly the same.

So I didn’t get stressed and we sorted out the video problem. It’s easier and more fun to solve interesting problems when you’re playful instead of stressed.

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Important footnote: ‘Life is a game’ is a mental model. I think it’s a good one but it doesn’t have 1:1 correspondence to reality. Shortly after my video editing adventure at work, I learned that a friend just lost his parents to assisted suicide and suicide. I also learned that another friend’s widowed father has just fallen in love after years of loneliness. These things are big and earth-shattering and ‘life is a game’ may not be the best mental model for understanding them.

Arctic Monkeys covering Nick Cave? Yes, please!

Christine and I went south last week for a bit of holiday. Here are a couple snaps: me contemplating 19th century French posters in Bath and an excellent lizard outside our cabin in deepest Dorset.

Housekeeping: if you’re a paid subscriber in your second year, we will be sending you a thank you before summer is done. We’re still working out the details. I can tell you it won’t be a book by me because I’m not publishing one this year. Founding subscribers, you will also get an extremely limited edition print late this autumn.

Grow slowly
Jeff