Blog post featured image - Life is a video game here's how to win

By Pete Cataldo 

Life is a video game and you are the main character. These are the skills that you must build so you can Level Up and win.

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Ever since my parents splurged for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, I’ve been a fan of video games.

Now that I’m a dad, one of the coolest things is sharing my love of gaming with my young kids. 

We play a much better version of Super Mario Bros., but my inner child is still pumped to return to the Mushroom Kingdom to stomp Goombas.

Side note: I’ve been playing video games for decades and my brain has yet to rot, so take that fear-mongering Karens from the 80s and 90s.

But I digress.

In real life, the big bad evil bosses look less like fire-breathing turtle monsters like Bowser and more like that terrible micromanaging supervisor, the stubborn gut hanging over your belt or your dwindling (or nonexistent) savings account.

But the parallels are there.

Good news is that opportunities to succeed in life don’t require crazy mushroom power ups found in glowing boxes that randomly hang in the sky.

You actually do have the chance to power up and then level up your life. Just like a video game. Or more specifically, like a role playing game (RPG).

I was hooked on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the Super Nintendo. That evolved into an absolute obsession with all things Final Fantasy. 

RPGs are like interactive movies. They require attention, problem solving, reading and recognition. 

It’s more than just mashing buttons and trading insults with some prepubescent teen huddled in their parents’ basement.

Anywho.

I was drawn to RPGs because I could build up and control the main hero in an RPG. And because it’s so customizable, each play through would mean a different way of improving that character.

As I continued to play, I realized the connection between RPGs and real life. If you look deep enough, you start to realize that we have control over our own journey. As long as we develop and cultivate the required skills to succeed.

No two people will have the exact same experience playing the same RPG.

And if you’ve ever played the game Skyrim, you know exactly what I mean. 

You can build one character that practices nothing but magic.

Another that’s proficient with swords.

And then a third that dabbles in both, but spends more time being stealthy with a bow and arrow.

Along the way, each experience in the game means different adventures and potential outcomes based on how you play, build, grow and learn.

Just. Like. Real. Life. 

Life is a video game; so here’s how you’re going to win.

Get out of Tutorial Hell and start doing

In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the story opens up with the main character, Link, in a tutorial area where the goal is to navigate introductory tasks so you can learn more about the story, the enemies that threaten the way of life, and how to best utilize Link’s skills and attributes to eventually win.

But first, you must learn the ins and outs of the game and level up enough to acquire a glider that allows you to travel away from the tutorial area and into the actual open world of gameplay.

It’s only then that the game (or life) really starts.

The tutorial world in this game of life is your education. Formal schooling. You learn just enough to be able to survive in the open world.

But, once Link arrives at the open world, the education doesn’t just stop.

Skill acquisition continues so Link can become strong enough to eventually beat his arch nemesis, Gannon.

Your education does/should not stop at school, either.

Don’t settle. Learn more.

The digital age has a ton of flaws (we’ll save that for another newsletter). But, you’ve been gifted an enormous opportunity to learn whatever skill you want by just finding the right resource.

Not learning and growing is stagnation.

Stagnation is slow death.

Your body and mind require consistent challenges.

“Once you stop learning you start dying.”
— Albert Einstein

We grow muscle through providing enough challenging stimulus to the body through strength training.

Coupled with the right amount of rest, your muscles will grow.

The example applies to your mind. 

You learned math skills in school by being challenged through problem-solving. All those homework assignments paid off eventually.

Eventually, the tutorial-level problems became simple. In other words, you developed that skill and learned.

From there, you could apply more stimulus through more challenging problems. And the cycle continued. This is hypertrophy of the mind.

But once we got out of conventional schooling and into our careers of choice, we declared victory over knowledge acquisition and settled.

That’s it. No more.

No more need to read because you secured that job.

Advancement in a career is about showing up and putting in the back-breaking, mind-bending work every single day. Who’s got time to read? You’ve got a team meeting coming up in 30 minutes.

Life gets so hectic that you can never truly advance in levels because you’re stuck navigating the most mundane of tasks; or stuck in an even worse situation: Side quest purgatory. You skip from project to project. 

Or diet to diet. 

It could even be online course-hopping while you try to find that one bit of information that will finally show you how to build that business or write that book (I’m totally guilty of doing this by the way).

It’s a constant “shiny object syndrome” that delivers an initial rush of dopamine and motivation, but quickly fades and sends you looking for another quest to start (and never finish).

If you’re not careful, you end up never exploring the real storyline of your life; never trusting yourself to break out into the open world. 

You have control over your destiny but you must get out of side quest purgatory. Because eventually, your mind seeks other stimuli. 

And your social media drug of choice is more than happy to apply it for you. It’ll suck you in until you end up going down rabbit holes of dopamine candy, never actually learning or being productive with anything.

Then you sit back in your 40s or 50s (or even later) and wonder what the fuck happened?

Where did the time go? You wanted to do so much, but you’ve been stuck in this dead end job or career and never truly fulfilled.

Let’s cut that noise right now.

Imagine approaching life every day with the curiosity of an RPG character

Every day you wake up is like hitting the Power ON button and firing up the console to figure out what journey you’ll continue or adventure you can get into.

This is possible, if you let it.

Life really is a game.

And to be successful at this game, you must understand that it’s all about learning how to level up in the appropriate skills.

You’ve been born with innate abilities that we’ll call Attributes.

  • Perhaps you’re creative.
  • Or you have a knack for networking and connecting with others.
  • Maybe you’ve got this ability to build with your hands. Awesome.

What are the skills that allow you to level up even deeper so you can take your life to the next stage and advance the story?

The skills required to Level Up in life can be broken down into simple buckets:

  • One that challenges your body;
  • One that enriches and deepens your relationships;
  • One that challenges your mind (read, study and learn);
  • One that allows for play and/or relaxation.

Daily focus on those tasks will lead to a more fulfilled and balanced character. One that is able to wield heavy swords and cast great magic for both offense and defense.

It does not require much.

Even the side quests in most RPGs will take about 30 minutes to complete.

In the game of life, time is a valuable commodity, I get it (trust me). Thirty minutes devoted to these things might be tough, so break it down to the bite-sized chunks of time that you can do.

Working out with the principles I teach in my Lean4Life fitness and nutrition program can be as short as 15-20 minutes.

Deepening your relationships with your loved ones can simply mean unplugging the phone at dinner every night and asking your family how their day went.

Challenging your mind doesn’t mean returning to school to get your graduate’s degree. Dust off that book that’s sitting on your nightstand and actually read a few pages every single day.

Play should be a regular part of your life. If it’s not, then what the fuck are we even doing here? Find a few minutes daily (or weekly) to actually do something fun.

For me, as you can probably guess, my daily play is just firing up my PS5 for about 30 minutes after I shut down my work for the day and before I pick up my kids from school.

Here’s your plan to put it all together 

Let’s create a dual-wielding warrior that’s ready to slay a damn frost dragon.

Or (if you didn’t quite get that reference), this is how you’ll treat life like a video game so you can start winning:

Create your avatar

Like any role playing game, it starts with creating your own character. Usually this means picking some crazy species because each one carries some unique Attributes that give you a leg up to start.

But you already have your species picked (unless the aliens have already invaded and are pretending to be human).

And your Attributes are the unique abilities that you were born with and have cultivated throughout your life.

So what are those core abilities?

Write everything down that you’re really freaking good at. Be comfortable leaning into those traits going forward.

Visualize the journey ahead

Every game has an objective. Even the massive, sprawling open world games have some sort of main storyline that you should complete eventually.

What is your story? What is your overall goal?

Mine? To break free from hustle culture. Work less. Play more. Be healthy and strong physically through the rest of my life. Have great conditioning so I can run laps around my grandkids one day in the future.

I also want to travel and own a business that allows me to work from anywhere in the world.

I’m building a lifestyle that I get to design and not one dictated to me by a capitalist overlord.

What is your treasure that you must capture? Your end goal? What do you see for yourself in 20, 30 or even 40-50 years from now?

Identify the big baddie

You are the hero of this adventure. But who is your antagonist? Who’s the evil doer that is getting in your way?

It might not be a specific person (or dragon or monster) like in an actual video game. Maybe it’s a concept.

The big boss can be work, relationships, money, fitness.

For you, maybe it’s better overall health.

Perhaps it’s advancement in your job or career.

Maybe you have a true calling that you’ve never thought to actualize because you’ve never thought it possible.

Or perhaps it’s a life well-lived with your loved ones.

Get really freaking clear on this one.

Prepare for the adventure

What skills do you really need to develop over the next 12 months? 

Map them out and then plan out the required side quests that will allow you to learn and grow each skill set.

Find the books. Search the YouTube videos and TedTalk lectures or even grab a MasterClass subscription and get a deep dive into something.

In epic journeys, storied heroes like Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins needed a guide, a mentor. Enter Gandalf and Obi Wan.

Maybe you would benefit from a coach or mentor to level up a specific skill that will help you advance. I happen to know a guy 😉

Figure out the right side quests

You learn through practice and putting yourself out there.

If getting healthy is a skill you want to start embracing, then working out consistently will be a side quest for you.

Don’t wait to start.

Don’t get stuck looking for the perfect diet or program (they don’t exist, but I do have a solution to simplify both processes for long-term success in my programming).

The key is to find the right side quests that match your goals. And attack them with laser-like focus.

Once you acquire that new skill, resist the urge to jump into more side quests until you’ve determined that it would best fit your character right now.

But remember, it’s important to always be learning and challenging yourself.

In the tutorial phase of any game, you still learn through actually doing.

When I first started working in television news, the journalists that got as much experience early on were the ones that advanced quicker than the ones who extended their studies.

I had college buddies that decided to pursue masters degrees in journalism and extend their learning in hopes of getting a bigger opportunity to shine once they looked for work.

Meanwhile, I graduated after interning in several places, got a job fresh out of college and was already working towards my second (higher paying in a better market) position with a new station by the time my buddies were finalizing term papers and theses.

Go. Take. Action.

Create a practice

Once you take that action, you must make it consistent. It’s through practice that you cultivate that skill towards eventual mastery.

Like any skill, the practice time reduces as your knowledge in that skill increases (just like math back in school).

But you should commit to a consistent approach of practice otherwise you will atrophy like a muscle that doesn’t get any work.

For me: I commit to at least five minutes in each skill block (Body, Mind, Relationships and Play) every single day.

Whatever that regular practice looks like for you, just make it consistent.

View it as level-grinding to build up the strength of your character for future/more difficult boards.

Level UP and prepare for battle

As you amass skills, you’ll continue to build your character up.

Eventually you will be ready for tougher, more rewarding, and more fulfilling challenges.

Maybe it’s time to spread your wings and fly away from the Tutorial land and go build your own business.

Whatever that looks like for you, put your skills to the test and challenge yourself for a new and better life.

Slay the dragon

All of the knowledge in the world won’t mean a damn thing if you don’t take action to save the known universe.

I’m a completionist by nature. I can’t leave a game and start another without first slaying the big boss.

You might want to juggle a few things at a time, nothing wrong with that … as long as you do take action towards seeing it through to your full potential.

That’s how you win.

If life is a video game, let me help you win … 

I hope you enjoyed this newsletter. My intention here was to deliver that swift kick in your ass to get you up and moving toward that life you dreamed of but never imagined possible.

Go forth and take action. Not Monday. Not tomorrow. But, today.

As always, if you have any questions, comments or just want to say “hi,” please feel free to reach out.

I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Life is a video game” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Until next time,
Pete

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