How to Successfully Game Jump
On the weekend, I re-watched one of my favourite animated movies Wreck-It Ralph with my youngest son, Jack. The movie is set in a video arcade with characters from the different games. The main antagonist in the movie is a fellow called Turbo and he was the main character in a racing game called Turbo Time. However, he wasn’t happy in his video game, so he jumped to another game in the arcade called Road Blasters. This behaviour spawned the term Going Turbo - the act of game jumping.
Now watching this movie, I was reminded that sometimes in life when we feel stuck, restless, trapped in the wrong video game, we have to Go Turbo ourselves. We have to turn our back on the familiar and game jump.
You might feel like this in a relationship, a marriage, a friendship or in your role at work or in your business. You feel stuck and unhappy. When you feel like this, often the first thing you do is decide to make little changes; small shifts in your life.
For example, in a relationship, you might plan a holiday together thinking it might make a difference or maybe in your job, you wait for that salary increase or 30 June bonus, thinking then when you have more money, you’ll feel better. And sometimes you do……for a while. And sometimes, you just go back to that familiar feeling of dissatisfaction, uneasiness and discontentment.
You get to the point where sticking another band aid on the problem is just not going to fix it; you’re still hurting. That’s the time when you have to actually change the game you're playing. You need to move on from the relationship. You need to quit the job, change professions, restudy, move, whatever it is but you need to make a monumental change.
The question is: do you risk it? It's a tough decision to make.
So, what does it take to successfully Go Turbo and game jump?
A deep desire and a longing for change. You’ve got it feel it in your gut. A restlessness that won’t go way. (the niggle as I call it) You don't make this kind of change on a whim.
A shift in your paradigm. A different view of your world and your place in it. You must experience a fundamental change in the way you think.
The confidence to back yourself. Unwavering self-belief. You must know yourself - your strengths and your magic. You must know that you can do this!
Courage to take a risk. You need to let go and put it all out there. Turn your back on the familiar and get out of your comfort zone.
A plan to move forward. Don't leave your game without another game to go to. You’re not running away but running towards something.
Awareness of the impact this is going to have. What are the unintended consequences? You have to be able to accept these. You may not like all of what the change will bring but you have to ask yourself is it worth it?
Check your intention. Make sure you're doing this for the right reason. In Wreck-It Ralph, Turbo was doing it for his ego and for popularity, maybe not the best of intentions and as a result, it didn't work out so well for him. So get really clear on why you want to game jump. What’s missing now? What’s your purpose? Your values? Your legacy?
Maybe you feel like you’ve played the same character your whole life in the same video game. If you've always played in the same game, then that's all people know of you. It’s your whole identity. This might be great – it brings you stability, clarity, strength and certainty but at some point it might hold you back. You might discover a burning desire to reinvent yourself; to take everything that you’ve learnt from one game and move onto the next one.
Sometimes to discover your passion and to live the life you want, you have to risk big. You just have to go for it. You have to take that leap. Game jump. You have to Go Turbo!
Midja x