September 27, 2009 74 Comments

How To Level Up

mario in space There were many references in Trust Agents to games. Both Julien and I were raised in the video game culture, and what we learned was how to bring some of this to how we approach business. (Side note: see also, Christopher S. Penn’s posts about World of Warcraft and business.) Today, let’s talk about leveling up.

In games, leveling up is when you reach the end of a series of activities, face a big challenge, and then move to the next level. It’s very distinct and defined in most games. In many games, facing a “big boss” at the end is your chance to prove that you’ve accomplished new skills. Real life doesn’t have such obvious transitions, but there’s a lot to think about with regards to this kind of thinking. If you could see your business and personal challenges as tasks and experiences towards attaining new levels, you might approach things differently. Some thoughts.


How To Level Up

Do the small stuff. In games, especially early on, there are repetitive tasks that bring you early victories. In Super Mario Brothers, it was acquiring coins. In Halo, it’s fighting simpler enemies. In life, these small things might be learning how to master email conversations ( see How I Tamed My Inbox). It might be learning how to build successful blog posts ( see 27 Blogging Secrets to Power Your Community). If you don’t do the small stuff, you’ll never reach the next level.

Explore new levels. In games, if you stick around on the little levels, you might get simple rewards, but nothing new and nothing bigger will come of it. If you’re not exploring new territories in real life, you’re going to miss out on the larger rewards. This might mean branching out past what your job description entails. It might mean taking your advertising out of print and also bringing it into online interactive experiences. Where are the new levels to explore?

Accept difficult challenges. Some games require you to fail over and over. They simply can’t be beat the first time out. Learning about failure is a huge thing. If you see failure as your chance to try it again with a different angle, or with different combinations of actions, then you’re on the right path. If you see failure as proof that you need to stay on the same level a while longer, you might want to rethink that. Failure is an educator. Treat it that way. Accept all outcomes. Apologize where necessary. And then learn your lessons and move up.

Be comfortable with who you are inside. Games afford us the opportunity to be something we’re not. Whether it’s playing an elf ranger in Dungeons and Dragons or being Tom Brady on Madden Football, we can be someone we’re passionate about and we can live a little bigger than we might normally live in real life. What you learn in those moments can teach you a lot about who you are, or who you could be. Experiment with bringing a little bit more of the real inside you into the outer world, even if that’s through a proxy like your marketing, your communications, or some other outlet that lets you try something new.

Games end. Accept it. There are many times when you’ve reached the end of a game, or when you’ve hit a wall that you can’t exactly solve, or that you’ve decided you’re no longer interested in the mechanics of the game. Learn to accept this. If work isn’t working for you, start scouting out the next game. If your marketing isn’t working, try a new game. These things happen. Don’t quit too soon, or you’ll miss the awesome reveals and the fun experience-building opportunities.

And Above All Else

Realize that HOW you look at things is every bit as important as doing the things. This is one way to put a frame around what you’re doing. You don’t all have to run out and buy a Wii or pick up some 12-sided dice, but by thinking differently about your situation, and by thinking in these terms, you might find yourself able to better apply what we’ve learned through the experience of writing and living Trust Agents.

What’s your take?

Photo credit random j

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  • http://www.willsloanonline.com/about/ Will Sloan

    Way to bring home for me, Chris. Good timing too. I'm currently working on “leveling up” so you've given me some great insight at just the right stage. I haven't actually thought about moving forward like this though and it makes it easier to deal with the changes rather than having apprehension about them. I’ll just strap on my blue suspenders and meet new opportunities head on. Thanks!

  • http://www.khurt.com/blog/ Khürt

    I'm currently in the situation where the game no longer holds much interest for me and yet … I still keep playing. Time to talk think about what game I want to play next.

  • deborahrichmond

    I love the imagery of failing being part of the game. I did play Super Mario and, yes, I had to fail a lot, but each time got a little farther into the game, then started over. Wow, this is going to be what I think of now when I have to start over on things small and big. Thanks! This is going to help me a lot with my internet business.

  • http://broadcasting-brain.com Mark Dykeman

    Steve Pavlina wrote a similar post a few months ago, also called Leveling Up, which might also be interesting to your readers:

    http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2009/03/leveli…

  • http://www.willsloanonline.com/about/ Will Sloan

    btw, I'm going to forward this post to my mom. She thought all of those hours of playing video games decayed my brain and she still thinks it's why kids shoot other kids. She'll flip when she sees you've drawn a comparison between success and video games. Maybe she'll understand that all those hours were actually spent acquiring the building blocks of being successful. Then she might also get off my back about still playing them at 28 years old.

  • http://twitter.com/mattceni matt ceniceros

    Great post, Chris. Although, I noticed that you didn't include cheat codes to your column. Every good gamer has a couple in their backpocket. up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b,a, select, corner office…?

  • http://en-gb.facebook.com/robin.mcpherson Robin McPherson

    Thanks for this Chris. Your point about “Accept difficult challenges” was especially helpful. For a very long time, I had a quote by Samuel Beckett on my desk, but I took it down because while I found it helpful and positive people kept telling me it was negative. The quote is, “No Matter – Try Again – Fail Again – Fail Better. I'm going to be comfortable and confident in who I am on the inside and I'm going to put it back on my desk. And I will Level Up. Thanks.

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  • gloriabell

    I had not thought of this stage of my personal and business life as “leveling up” but you are entirely correct. I am at one of those points where I need to prove I am ready to step up to the next level. Thanks for helping me see a new way to look at it.

  • http://blog.jeffharbert.com/ Jeff Harbert

    Great advice, Chris. I especially like this: “Some games require you to fail over and over. They simply can’t be beat the first time out. Learning about failure is a huge thing. If you see failure as your chance to try it again with a different angle, or with different combinations of actions, then you’re on the right path.”

  • http://twitter.com/billshander Bill Shander

    Great advice using an easy to understand metaphor. Whether you're a gamer or not (I'm not), I think everyone can relate to this.

  • TomRoyce

    Training classes would be wise to use this format and terminology as it is part of our culture. Instead of having large levels of accomplishments such as Grades, Years (Freshman, sophmore, ect.) or Degrees, you could have levels that would be intensely focused. Get rid of I graduated from college, that is cliche even today and tells us little about the person except for their degree.

    Imagine getting an application for a blogger where they say they are English level 27, Math 15, Psychology 30, Philosophy 28, Science 12, and Informational Technology 32? Oh, and extracurricular I am a Stamp Collector 70 and a kayaker 42 and Organization 12.

    That would tell me the world!

  • http://jaybot7.com/blog Jaybot7

    Great post Chris! Being a game designer, I've always had similar philosophies and I love it when experts, such as yourself, make the connection between life goals and video games. Your post is so concise and to the point, it makes me feel guilty for even wanting to plug any of my own articles on the subject :)

  • lauraclick

    I'm not a video game fiend, though my husband is. He will spend hours trying to get to the next level, and to eventually, “beat” the game. I think this analogy is a fascinating, and quite applicable to “real life”. I think this concept could really be used to reach young people. Think about it – we're always hearing about how kids spend too much time playing video games. While it would be great to get kids to exercise and such, why not use their love of video games to teach them how to be successful in life? I think this idea would be great for parents and teachers to share with kids, though it is equally applicable to adults. Good stuff!

  • Mimi Muircastle

    Thank you for the perfect analogy – just what I needed to go with my Sunday morning chair. While I am not of the gaming generation, my daughter taught me to play Zelda and I have never stopped trying to get to the next level…errrr…not just in Zelda :) My next level is looming and I've been collecting points to ready for the big leap and the time is now! Your wise analogy provides clarity and motivation.

  • ahbing

    “Some games require you to fail over and over. They simply can’t be beat the first time out” – This is such an inspirational quote. I am having problem pushing my website's traffic. My traffic has been declining over the past week and I felt like I've done everything I can to increase the numbers. I've only submit to StumbleUpon and I think that's all I can do, shame on me!

    Thanks!

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  • http://shannonehlers.com/ Shannon Ehlers

    One point that occurred to me as I read this was that each step on your learning curve in some way costs something – not unlike formal education. In video games the progress that you make is going to cost time and, at least in the arcade version, some quarters. Sort of like tuition on the pay-as-you-go plan. This bears out in life as well.

  • daleclark

    I really like your game comparisons, nice post!

  • http://twitter.com/mocksfa Alan Mocksfield

    Another excellent post Chris. It is very true about video games, but is also true about sports. I never really played video games, and interestingly enough my kids are not really into it either, but they love to play sports. It doesn't matter if it is soccer, baseball, hockey, a video game or your business – you need to practice and try your best, and most of all learn – from both the successes and failures.

  • thechannelc

    I like the analogy. Leveling up is tedious, very very tedious. The only thing that keeps us sane is what's waiting at end game. And when we get there, killing a boss once is a fluke if we can't kill it again. We've walked away from encounters where success could not be replicated. We live and learn. Nice post Chris. ^^

  • http://www.twitter.com/chrisandersonis Chris Anderson

    007-373-5963 ….who says you can't skip a few levels to the biggest test?

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  • Davezilla

    You know Chris, this analogy is not bad, but what happens when you fail to resurrect at work after your boss spews poison on you? Huh? What then?

  • http://www.coolsprings.com/ Cool Springs TN

    Its interesting how generational “Leveling Up” is.

  • http://twitter.com/TunaOddfellow Tuna Oddfellow

    Playing life as a game has done wonders for me. There are so many games to play at once. Your goals & your attempts & even collecting the reactions of people from a post like this, are all part of the adventure.

  • http://www.carlstips.com Carl

    I agree with almost everything except the giving up part. There is always a walkthrough guide to get you through the hard times.

  • http://www.ManishaThakor.com ManishaThakor

    LOVE this post. Especially the last point, “Games end. Accept it.” With over 6 people applying for every 1 full-time job opening (or said slightly differently, with 14.5 million unemployed and a mere 2.4 million full-time job openings at present), millions of Americans are being forced to reset career expectations. And even those for those of us who willingly entered the state of career 2.0, letting go of the past and scouting out that new game is powerful advice indeed. Thanks for yet another thought-provoking piece, Chris!

  • http://twitter.com/MimiMeredith Mimi Meredith

    I was so glad to share this link with my husband and sons. I feel as if their world has now met mine. Thank you, Chris!

    If I remember correctly, one of the things you pointed out in Trust Agents is that real life not only lacks the obvious transitions (I used to stop what I was doing to watch my husband or sons level up in WOW. I'd love it if any of my successful life transitions ever provided so much spectacle!), but it also lacks the obvious and immediate feedback. We don't know if we're making progress or if we're using the right approach, especially when we're in new territory.

    I think that in real life, we can gain that feedback by becoming very good listeners and honoring the wisdom of those who are veterans at the game. Too often, we rush in, emboldened with a desire to move onward and upward and we forget to learn about the level and respect what it represents. So I'd just say, couple the headlong rush to “level up” with a willingness to be on the level–so to speak–and occasionally, just to be. It's a great way to learn.

    I love the idea of embracing failure. I was thinking the same thing earlier this week…http://bit.ly/MZu88

    Take care and thanks!
    Mimi

  • mandymoorehol

    great gamer. my new guilty pleasure is http://www.fatkidsfalling.com

  • http://thelostjacket.com Stuart Foster

    The first one is the most important: DO THE SMALL STUFF.

    It matters more then anything. Because if you don't put the time in there, it will come back and bite you in the ass. (Know from personal experience unfortunately.)

  • NerdFitness

    Hahahaha, great article!

    The reason I'm laughing is because I run a website called NerdFitness, with a tagline that says “level up your life.” Seems like you hit the nail right on the head with this post.

    I would also add these few:

    Don't skip the instruction manual! Most of the time when you get a new game, you're so anxious to play that you skip reading the manual in the front of the box and you generally miss something that could really help you out along the way. Life is no different: if you pick a new task or hobby or activity, do a little research before jumping in head first. You might learn something you wouldn't have figured out otherwise, giving you a leg up before even starting.

    Join a clan/community: With the explosion of Xbox live and World of Warcraft, communities, clans, and guilds have exploded in popularity. In life, search out groups who have similar interests to you. If you want to start rock climbing, find out if there's a rock climbing group in your city you can join. You might make some new friends, learn some new tricks, and find others that enjoy your passions. Multi-player games can keep you occupied far longer than Single-player experiences.

    Crank up the difficulty! Sure it's fun to coast through a game on easy, but you don't get the satisfaction you would if you had beaten it on hard. Take the road less traveled, try the difficult tasks, and constantly challenge yourself.

    Keep up the great work Chris!

    -Steve

    Single Player and Mutliplayer games

  • thomsinger

    This post should be printed an framed by those who feel in limbo. I talk with a lot of people who want more out of life or career, but they are stuck where they are and they do little or nothing about it.

    Your point about going to the next level (as in a game) is a good metaphor. If we stay in the lower levels we can shine as an “expert”, but the real victories come from going up a level and learning to win all over again.

    Everyone should take a minute and think “where am I?”… and then “what is the next level?”. Finally,,, take the action to go for it.

  • http://twitter.com/Ohdoctah Owen JJ Stone

    I love the way you break things down to a simple human level. Everyone can relate to your posts.. its great.

    “Life is a video game and you've only got one man” ~ Wu Tang lol

  • Eric J.

    This is a fantastic post! I myself feel that I am hovering somewhere near a level gain but I just need to figure out which class I want to level up! This is some seriously good advice that can apply to anyone's life!

  • http://twitter.com/socialmediawave Craig Stark

    If we look at humanizing business communications and behaviors in the employer/ employee world, it sure would be nice to see egos and politics get checked so that people could actually perform without fear of same. Encouraging an organic leveling up would be so beneficial to corporate culture.

    Great post.

  • jamesrhayes

    Being comfortable with who you are vs who everyone says you are supposed to be is important. I catch myself trying to utilize twitter, blogs, and other social media according to other people's style but to be successful I believe you do have to be yourself if you are ever going to truly level up. Thanks for providing food for thought on a routine basis!

  • http://www.johnbeck.tv/ SANEEL

    THANKS FOR THE INFORMATION

  • http://www.thehappyaccident.net Greg Pincus

    I think the analogy is quite effective… and you can really extend it if you want. What about using cheats to get to the next level? How does that reflect what goes on in the workplace or in social media? Also what about shooting for a high score in a game vs. playing a level for speed? Take the analogy way beyond just leveling up and you've got different platforms equalling different gameplay, the amazing speed at which games have evolved… heck, the writing (and reading) fun, like a good game, could be almost endless.

  • http://twitter.com/leonderijke Leon de Rijke

    Good post. I especially like this one: “Failure is an educator.”

    Well said, Chris!

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  • sytaylor

    What I find tremendously interesting, is that we are living through a change of the guard in the working population. Generation X now holds the key the baby boomers once had, and Generation Y is finally making it's presence felt. We have two digital natives in the working crowd, but we still work in our compliant business speak / mid-90s ivory towers, hidden behind the Baby Boomers.

    Business Gametheory is all together quite a useful tool. So is your Google Fu and ability to demonstrate personality from miles away

    Excuse the cross reference, but your post inspired me to blog http://thinksy.blogspot.com/

    Thoughts welcome :)

  • http://www.charleslau.com Charles Lau

    This post reminds me of the times when I play my video games. I had a lot of trials and errors with the games… I “invested” significant amount of time and money in a game which I want to be “invincible” in… The whole motive is to become one of the “respectable” players in the arcade centres! Though it feels good to be a seasoned player, I have actually spent a lot of money in the end…

    It reminds me to have that same mentality when I am working on my websites… I will keep my thoughts this way!

  • partywedo

    Some of the the lyrics of a country song written by Allen Shamblin and Steve Seskin hint at the processes of learning as you go.

    “The longer I live the more I believe
    You do have to give if you wanna receive
    There's a time to listen, a time to talk
    And you might have to crawl even after you walk
    Had sure things blow up in my face
    Seen the long shot, win the race
    Been knocked down by the slamming door
    Picked myself up and came back for more

    Life's a dance you learn as you go
    Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
    Don't worry about what you don't know
    Life's a dance you learn as you go”

    Chris, thanks for reminding us that there will always be opportunity for those who continue to learn as they go.

  • http://www.wildwomannetwork.com SandraLeeSchubert

    “Games end. Accept it.” Yesterday I sat with a friend discussing our work careers. Both of us having been working 30+ years and have been laid off every 2 to 5 years, sprinkled with some self employment. After 30 yrs we don't have the good career milestones to relish.Confronted with a general sense of exhaustion & no decent retirement packages we were hashing out what to do. My friend would just take any job and coast to retirement. I am looking to find my energy again and “reboot”. My task is not to find the next new game but create my own. Game on.

  • http://twitter.com/meleighsmith Melissa Smith

    Chris, what a great comparison for our generation and those that follow in our footsteps. I've often found myself comparing “real life” situations to challenges I've faced in video games – especially when trying to share ideas or “wisdom” with gamer friends that have less life experience than I do (read: my younger friends).

  • donwyatt

    Loved this post and the gaming analogy. Had this thought to add. For many games (think World of Warcraft or another MMO), when you hit a rough spot there are guides written by fellow gamers that can help you succeed. This peer-to-peer networking really works and thanks to their experience results in a much shorter path to success. The takeaway: We all need coaches and mentors to help us consider problems and opportunities differently, and to help us overcome our rough spots.

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  • http://nathanhangen.com/blog Nathan Hangen

    One of my Army pals and I always joke about how life in the Army is like playing WoW or similar…always trying to level up and then realizing that each level feels just one shy of good enough. I think the hardest part of this for me is being happy with my current level and realizing that I'll get to the next floor so long as I keep trying. Thanks for the inspiration Chris.

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