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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, today I’m picking up some shirts I had embroidered for Podcast Movement, and I believe if you are learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a simple story involving a simple game that teaches a valuable truth.
Today’s Fun Fact of the Day: Today is Embrace Your Geekness Day. In an age of social media, mobile technology and gaming consoles, it’s impossible to avoid being just a little bit geeky. Don’t fight it; jump head first into Embrace Your Geekness Day and show the world how intelligent, technically savvy and clever you really are! (from www.daysoftheyear.com)
Here’s What I leaned yesterday.
My 12 year old daughter thinks she needs a cell phone. Her mom and I disagree. Several of her friends have one and she swears she is the only person at her school that does not have one. Still, her mom and I won’t budge.
Well it turns out she doesn’t actually want a phone. What she really wants is the appearance of a phone.
We found this out recently when my iPhone 4s stopped making and receiving calls. After several calls to customer service and several short periods where it would receive calls, we decided it was time to give it up and get a new phone. Since the phone still worked fine outside of actually functioning as a phone, it still had some usefulness. As soon as my daughter found out I was getting a new phone, she started begging me for my old one.
We told her that we would consider it, but not until after school was out for the year. It didn’t take long after she got home from her last day of school to ask if we had decided to give her the phone.
It turns out that she really only wanted a phone so that she could play games, take pictures, and shoot video. Of course if the phone actually worked as a phone and texting device then that would be great, but just having the appearance of having a phone was good enough.
I decided to let her use the phone on a trial basis to see how she handled the new gadget. After all, since it doesn’t work as a phone, it’s basically a glorified iPod Touch. She gave me a long list of games that she wanted on the phone and I checked them all out. One of those games was a game I’d heard of but never played. It’s called Crossy Road.
Have you played it? If you haven’t allow me to explain.
It’s basically a modern day version of Frogger. You have to cross roads, rivers, fields, and railroad tracks safely. With every forward hop, you get a point. Along the way you collect coins or other items that can be used to unlock additional characters. It’s simple and fun.
After I installed it on her phone I decided to give it a try. Much to my surprise, it was fun! After a few minutes I beat Addison’s high score. She wasn’t too happy about that so she took the phone back and set out to reclaim the high score.
I then decided to get the game for my phone. Pretty soon I was able to get a score in the 80s. Both of my kids were impressed. I then got a score over 100. I called Addison into the room to show her my score and she was shocked. She kept trying, but was unable to top my score.
I played the game off and on for a couple of days and got a score of 190. When I showed the score to Addison she was even more amazed than she was before. Satisfied that it would be a while before my score was dethroned in our house, I stopped playing the game. Addison kept playing. When she got a score that she was proud of, she came and showed it to me. But my score of 190 was still pretty safe.
Or so I thought.
Out of what seemed like nowhere I hear a high pitched squee that only a 12 year old girl can make. She came into my office with a huge grin and said, “Oh, Daddy!” Her score was over 200!
Here’s what I learned.
This simple story involving a simple game reminded me of a very powerful truth. Well, several truths actually.
First, it reminded me that we need people in our lives who will spur us on, challenge us to reach farther, go faster, achieve greater, and soar higher than we would otherwise. Our full potential is almost never met by pure self motivation.
Second, it reminded me that we can’t take things for granted. Addison did not take my high score for granted. She did not see it and accept defeat. She saw my score and recognized that not only could she also get that score, but she could beat it.
However, I DID take my score for granted. I thought that it would be a long time before she was able to be it. I thought I could rest and relax. Satisfied with my achievement, I slacked off and got passed by as a result.
I’m not saying that we have to go 100 miles per hour all the time. What I am saying is that when we allow ourselves to fall into a false sense of security or take things for granted, we hurt ourselves. And if we take the wrong things for granted, we hurt those around us too.
Are you stuck or feel like you’ve achieved all that is possible? Let me challenge you to find some who will help you and push you to new heights. Likewise, be a motivator to that person and help them reach new heights. You just might find that you’re able to cross roads, ford rivers, and make tracks in places you never thought possible.
I’m Darrell Darnell and this has been Stuff I Learned Yesterday.
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