Life is a game, but it isn’t. This paradox is another classic example of the Principle of Correspondence, that every truth is a half-truth.

Life is serious, your actions have consequences, and you shouldn’t treat it like a game of Uno or a game of beer pong where there’s no real harm or foul that results from losing.

No, you should treat it like a game of poker with your life savings on the line, or like a cage fight with your skin on the line. You should be playing to WIN.

Treating life like it’s a game means moving skillfully, being strategic and thinking and acting in ways that assist in your success. It means looking for opportunities to succeed, living and breathing what you want to accomplish.

That doesn’t mean being a total robot. Even world class athletes take a vacation every now and then, maybe even a rest day. Rest is an important part of recovery so you can be fresh after putting in work and be ready to keep building skills, to keep winning.

I know many people who are gamers. Some who have even been playing video games at a professional level. They take their gaming super seriously, putting a ridiculous amount of time into building their characters, leveling up skills, collecting resources and learning how to win the game. Sadly, I know few of those gamers who took the skill that all of that time and energy they invested into their video games really gave them (skill of winning) and applying that to their own lives.

Those guys already know how to win. How to plan, level up and fine tune the skills necessary for success, but they fail to realize the significance of the mental training they have done.

What would happen if those same guys applied the mentality that they developed for playing video games to their own lives? Well, I don’t think the majority would be losers in life but winners in the virtual world.

Don’t get me wrong, some gamers are physically fit and successful, maybe because they applied the art of winning to other aspects of their lives. Maybe they’re not afraid of competing in the real world. Maybe it’s something they like to do in their free time.

Competing in the real world is scary, loss is real and not just dying and having to restart the level. There’s no denying competition is an inherent part of life, just as it is in other games.

It’s blatantly obvious in the animal kingdom, and it would be foolish to deny that it doesn’t apply to human beings. We compete with each other all the time, consciously or unconsciously.

The reality of competition is much more serious in real life, and perhaps why some people prefer to compete in a virtual world with less severe consequences. It’s safer, and easier to make excuses for why you’re losing when you didn’t even try.

There’s an ugly truth about winning. I recently saw a reel on Instagram of a coach talking to his team about the reality of winning. His name is Lewis Caralla, the head football strength and conditioning coach at Georgia Tech.

I’ll share a link at the bottom of this post but transcribe it here as well for those who cannot watch it or prefer to read it.

“Here’s what you should know about winning before you chase it.

Winning is not loyal to you. It doesn’t care about you.

Winning doesn’t care how sore you are.

Winning doesn’t care how much sleep you get.

Winning doesn’t care how much you work at times.

Sometimes a guy doesn’t outwork you and he still wins. It isn’t fair, man.

Sometimes there is no justice.

Winning requires all of you and then more and it promises you nothing.

It’s a mastermind of creating fear and doubt in your mind. It causes setback after setback.

So the question isn’t about winning.

Are you willing to sprint when the distance is unknown?

And why chase this this called “winning”?

Because the only thing that’s guaranteed in life if you don’t chase it is losing.”

Wow, what a motivational speech. It’s so dead-on target and realistic and those athletes are blessed to have such a great coach.

Competition happens anyway. Life happens anyway whether you choose to play the game or not, you’re still in it. So why not play to win?

The biggest obstacle in your way is yourself. The one you will compete against the majority of the time is yourself, but competition with others is necessary too, in fact, it’s inevitable.

You don’t become world-class at anything by skipping the trial by fire. Top athletes, CEOs, nearly all highly successful people use competition with others to gauge whether they’re competing hard enough against themselves. Their weaknesses, shortcomings and areas that need improvement are exposed through competition and that’s how you learn to be better and win at whatever you do. I’m not saying you have to be world-class, but you should want to be good at things, be the best you can.

At the end of the day those athletes are still competing against themselves. But competition with others is still required, still a necessary aspect of the game, and yeah, it’s terrifying and yeah it sucks, but that’s what it takes to win, not only in athletic endeavors, but also in life.

How hard can you push? How far can you go? Play to win. You’re in this game called life whether you like it or not. Competition happens whether you like it or not, you’re in the game whether you want to be or not, whether it’s an internal or an external force, it will be there. Play to win.

Have that winning mentality in all you do. It can be something big or small day-to-day things you have to do. Sometimes it can be hard to push ourselves to do the things we must, and sometimes we play the game without the intent to win. Remind yourself that you play to win, big or small, you do everything that you do to win, to be successful, to be better than you were before.

I have a stressful job and sometimes it can be overwhelming and I feel like I’m just trying to survive, and I have to remind myself to play to win, and strangely enough, it gives me a renewed energy, a mindset that allows me to see opportunities to get things done that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen with my overwhelmed, defeated mindset I had before I reminded myself that I’m a player in this game whether I want to be or not and I might as well be a winner. Fuck being a loser, that shit is for the birds. Be a winner. Play to win.

Here’s the link to the video: https://youtube.com/shorts/q814UDE82zw?feature=share