A few years ago, I read an article about the virtual life game, Second Life. It featured people that were having success in the game, basically virtual moguls. One guy, we’ll call “Rick”, had built a successful business; his avatar was tall, buff and blond – a la Hulk Hogan. His avatar drove a motorcycle and had even found love and gotten married, much to his real life wife’s chagrin. In contrast, the real Rick made near minimum wage, he had a lanky body while simultaneously maintaining a paunch, drove a crap car and spent 99% of his non-working waking hours in front of his computer. Rick’s real wife was at her wit’s end, feeling neglected and tossed over for a computer game, which she wasn’t a part of.
His devotion to the crafting of his fake life was unparalleled. He spent endless hours choosing just the right avatar, building his business, creating his ideal life, which included another wife. This titan of the virtual world was crafting this dream life from his basement. With his obvious dedication, discipline and tenacity, certainly he could create the he wanted for real, right?
Well, of course he could. Brick Sandwich exists on the premise that you can do ANYTHING you want.
That begs the next question: Why wasn’t he pursing this success in real life?
Then I remembered the amount of time he was spending in his basement.
In Second Life, if your business fails or your relationship doesn’t work out, you really don’t lose anything. Not money, or your house or your credit rating. You just hit the reset button. Seems perfect, right? You can create the exact life you want,
But, what do you do when you want to take some of that virtual money and go on a vacation, give some to charity, or help your family? You can’t, can you? It’ll always be in the virtual world, untouchable and most of all…PRETEND.
To gain any measure of success, you have to be willing to take a risk. You might fail. That’s life. Real life.
Do you a have a Second Life? Maybe not the video game, but some other type of fantasy world that you retreat to…instead of pursuing your dreams. Are you lost in the pretend world of reality TV? Is the life you portray on Facebook better than your real one? Are you too busy following the lives of strangers on the internet to live your life?
It's time to stop playing it safe and get out there and make things happen.
“Often the difference between a successful person and a failure is not one has better abilities or ideas, but the courage that one has to bet on one's ideas, to take a calculated risk - and to act.” - Andre Malraux (French adventurer & award-winning author)
