How To Win At The Game Of Life By Steven Boyd

Ah yes, The Game of Life. Not the board game, but the unpredictable and beautiful one. There’s no cheat code for this, no shortcuts, but there are winning strategies you can use to help make life a beautiful game to play and enjoy.

Here’s a version that actually works in the real world:

1. Define what “winning” means for you

Each person may have a different idea of what “winning” means. After all, we are not robots, we have been given free will to think and act. But, if you don’t define what winning means for you, you’ll spend your life playing someone else’s game.

Winning might be:

· Peace instead of prestige

· Time instead of money

· Quality instead of quantity

· Curiosity instead of certainty

· Love instead of applause

2. Learn how to lose well

Everyone loses. Winners just:

· Learn quickly from their mistakes

· Avoid the pity party

· Don’t let one bad round define their whole character arc

After all, failure isn’t a verdict. It’s feedback and part of learning and evolving as humans.

3. Take care of your spirit, mind and body like it’s your top priority

Since God gave us a spirit, mind and body, we need to take care of all three and keep a good balance to achieve success for the long term. 

Daily prayer, meditation, exercise, being honest, sleep, movement, good food, sunlight and water help to align us with our highest good and manifest a winning attitude that attracts success.

4. Build relationships, not just achievements

At the end of the game of life, no one counts your trophies. They remember:

· How you made them feel

· Whether you showed up

· Whether you were kind and sincere

· Did you offer to help in a time of need 

5. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable

Growth feels like:

· Awkward

· Uncertain

If you’re always comfortable, you’re probably not pushing yourself enough and may have settled into a “comfort zone”. In life, one is either going forward or backward as neutral is not an option. Life is about evolving and growing, not stagnation. 

6. Play long-term, but enjoy the current level

Yes, plan for the future.
But also:

· Laugh now

· Rest now

· Try to appreciate the wild and awesome spectacle of life now

If you postpone joy until “someday,” you never unlock it.

7. Be kind. Seriously.

Not naive. Not spineless.
Just… kind.

Kindness compounds. So does cruelty. The law of karma never sleeps and never forgets, it’s mathematical in nature. Only one of those makes the game of life easier and happier over time.

Final words of wisdom

You don’t win life by dominating it. One may conquer an industry or the world, but if a person loses his family, friends and self-respect in the process, what has a person truly gained other than a few short-lived trinkets and a lot of sorrow. 

You win the game of life by participating fully—with curiosity, courage, integrity, kindness and a sense of humor when things go off the rails (they will). May you all enjoy and win at this wonderful game of life! 

About Steven Boyd: Steven Boyd is a writer and aspiring yogi. During the work week, he plays the part of global director of talent management for an engineering company. Steven has been practicing yoga and meditation daily for over 30 years. He follows the spiritual path of the Self Realization Fellowship that was founded in 1920 by the Great Yogi-Guru Paramahansa Yogananda. His book ‘Autobiography of a Yogi’ has sold millions of copies. Steven Jobs of Apple computer was a big fan of this book.