So what is the reason so many people rarely challenge the status quo? Why do we continue to go day after day into the same job, the same school, the same friends? We feel safe, we feel comforted, we feel hope. There is a path for a brighter future and we think we are on it. We know that if we keep plugging away on our dreams eventually we will get to the part of the game where we win. After all, a lifetime of determination excellence and ability should get us something as a prize for this life, right?

Wrong! You are not guaranteed anything. No reward for your hard work. No prize for suffering. And quite honestly, you are probably not even playing the right game. You are playing a game in which someone else determines the rules, and can change those rules at any time.

If you remember Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes, this illustration will be a good one. Calvin and Hobbes would play Calvinball where the only rule is that the game could never be played the same way twice and everyone playing would just make up the rules as they go along. Calvinball is fun if you get to make some of the rules, too. But, if you work for someone else, you are playing a game in which only one of you can keep making and changing the rules. Who wants to play for that kind of team? It does not make for a very fun game, and it does not make for a very fun place to work.

You need to take control of your life. Now.  Today. You have to stop looking so far in the future. This is the last time that this second will pass by on the clock of your life. Make the most of it. What time is this time for you…time to rest…time to take action…time to grieve…time to eat…time to sleep…time to go to the bathroom…time to encourage someone else…time to reflect…time to move…time to engage in conversation…time to be still…time to change?

Make your own game. Play by your own rules. Don’t be afraid.