Gaming lesson

Howsoever much we hate to admit, the fact that we can learn so much from our own children, is irrefutable. just the other day, a couple of weeks ago, i noticed my daughter, playing a game on my mobile. That, that game ever existed on a piece of equipment owned by me was itself news to me -and that she was enjoying it so much annoyed me as much as it attracted me to it. I, ofcourse passed of my ignorance on games as something which was juvenile.

I decided to push and teach myself that game. And push i did. My first score of 10K on that game had me jumping like a little school boy, only to realise a couple of minutes later, that my top score wasnt even the top 5 scores, all of which were in the name of my daughter. Her top score was then some 20K odd and the lowest in the top 5 was 17K.

I persevered and probably played more on my mobile than my kids did. Not surprisingly, with every passing game, my skill level improved. Soon i had topped her score and was proudly showing off my name -right on top of the list, to all in the family.
My daughter, the calm soul, within a day, raised the bar for me to 27K.
I loved the challenge that she had thrown at me. This time i upped the ante to 35K, then 41K and finally 46K. But everytime, that i achieved a score, it did not take her even 24 hrs to bypass it and set me a new more challenging target.
She was loving the challenge more than me and feeding off it.
She continued to raise the bar first to 50 odd K and then to 71K and finally to 112K.
Today we routinely do scores of 200K plus on this silly game. She is still the leader with a top score of 256K and me at 252K. What is interesting is that a month ago i couldnt even fancy my chance of learning this game or scoring even a 10K!

Everytime, i was bypassed, i was making a mental note on what i needed to do better.
But more often, i was meekly following her score and was focused on improving upon that. What she was doing was passing on some invaluable lessons to a man who was nearly 3 decades older than her.

lesson 1 -dont rest on your laurels. what u have achieved was yesterday. today presents a new fresher and higher challenge.

lesson 2 - dont get bogged down because you have been by-passed. Enjoy the challenge. If you try and believe in yourself, there is no reason why you cant achieve the same goal or better it considerably.

lesson 3 - Your target is limited by your mindset, not by your abilities - you achieve what you want to, not what you are capable of. We first though 50K was unachievable, then were convinced that 100K was impossible. Crossing 150K was never going to happen and 200K was beyond us. But we successfully crossed each hurdle and never loked back.
So set your sights higher. Aim for the moon, you are sure to reach there someday.

lesson 4 - keep trying. because thats the only way life has created.

The fact that this lesson came with almost no baggage, no screaming or preaching and so calmly made it all the more endearing. With all humility i take in these lessons.