You never know when a life lesson is going to pop up…and sometimes one shows up in the silliest of places.
I definitely experienced that the other day.
In early November, my life felt like it was on overdrive. We were putting the final touches on Goodness Abounds (our latest collaborative book), and at the same time were preparing for our Your Soulful Book writing program to start. Having two simultaneous launches wasn’t something that we had planned on, and it’s not something that I would recommend because, while launches are fun and exhilarating, they can also be exhausting.
During this time, Dan and I were deeply needing to find a way to wind down at the end of the day. Our brains were so tired from editing and designing and creating and marketing and answering emails and doing all of the behind-the-scenes tasks that were required of us that we needed something that wasn’t work related but that also wasn’t too mentally or physically taxing.
Usually in the evenings we would play a Wii game together. We’ve done this for years, and it’s such a great way to spend time together, have some fun, and exercise at the same time! But…we just didn’t have the energy to dance around or jump up and down or do much of anything at all. As we were going through our games and deciding which one to play, I came across one that I had forgotten about: Pinball Hall of Fame. We had gotten it several months prior and hadn’t yet taken the time to play it. It seemed perfect: it certainly wouldn’t tax our systems, and we could still have some fun together and tune out for a little while from our busy life.
And I have to say that it was (and continues to be) just what we needed. While playing, our brains have to concentrate and be completely focused. But it’s very different from the type of focusing that we do at work. It’s more of a meditative focus instead of a thinking focus, if that makes sense. In any case, it quickly became part of our nightly routine, and we continue to enjoy playing it together.
One of the features of this game is something called “The Williams Challenge.” In it, you get three tries to get a certain score for each pinball machine. And once you achieve this for 10 of the machines, you win. Well, after a couple months of trying, we’ve only made it to the fifth machine before losing the challenge. While we have fun playing, we just haven’t been able to get past this point.
The other night, Dan was on a tight deadline and needed to work after dinner to complete a project. (Working late is something that we both used to do every night but is thankfully a rarity nowadays.) So while he finished up, I decided to play pinball on my own. Instead of trying to win the challenge, I decided to play the individual tables instead. And what I found was really interesting…not just in pinball but also in life.
Before you begin playing, you can see the list of the top five scores for each table. (Even though it’s just the two of us playing, the game came with high scores programmed in, which we definitely want to beat so we can enter our initials in instead.) I decided to start with Pinbot. For some reason, we frequently struggle with getting the points needed to move forward with this machine during the Williams Challenge. (You need 600,000 points, and we frequently get less than half of this.) When I looked at the high scores for the individual table, I saw that they were much higher than those needed in the challenge. At first, I wondered if I should even try – knowing that the odds weren’t great that I would make it. Because I’m competitive, though, I decided to give it a try. I wanted to get onto the board, and I was determined to do it. And what I found truly amazed me. Out of five games played, I scored above a million four times and during one game scored high enough to reach the number 3 spot!
I then tried this approach with other machines and experienced the exact same results. When I raised my own bar and my own expectations, my results rose up to meet them.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
I realize that this is a silly example, but it’s really stuck with me because it can be applied to all areas of life (certainly not just pinball).
When the bar was set lower, my results were almost always lower. And when the bar was set higher, my results were almost always higher.
And it wasn’t because I had practiced more or had finally gotten really good at the game. When I went back to the challenge and didn’t need as high of a score, my score went back down. And when I went back to the table and wanted to be included in the top scores, my score again rose to the top. Over and over again.
It certainly wasn’t every single time. But it was more than enough for me to realize that it wasn’t just a coincidence.
Since then, I’ve started looking at other areas in my life to see where I could raise my own bar, and the possibilities truly are endless. This excites me so very much because I want to show up in this world as the best version of myself that I can be. I want to live life to its fullest and see what I am capable of. I want to see what dreams can be reached more easily and effortlessly, simply by raising my own mental bar.
Because that’s the thing: I wasn’t putting in any more work from one game to the next. I was just relaxing and playing and having fun. The only thing that changed was what score my brain thought it needed to achieve. And my score was almost always higher when the bar had been raised. No, I didn’t always reach the score or surpass it, but it was almost always higher than before the expectation was raised. And that tells me something really important: I am in control of the outcome in my life. I am in control of setting or lowering my own bar, and I am also in control of reaching it.
That feels so good and refreshing to know…to remember.
We’re all capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for…so much more than we even realize.
I’m definitely looking at pinball…and the world…much differently now. And I hope that you are, too.
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” – Norman Vincent Peale
Yes. Let’s do exactly that.
Hugs,
