Our software company, Totally Games, aimed to make “totally involving, totally fun” games. We wanted people to be so involved in the experience, the way one would be so immersed in a great book or movie, that they might even forget to eat their lunch.
It came from the deep curiosity about what it feels like to be really alive.
We can get lost in the day to day of life, not actually feeling or experiencing or enjoying it. Or, we can find ourselves immersed in the experience and really relishing it. That’s what I call aliveness.
Aliveness in business is a worthy goal.
It was sometimes hard to have this desired feeling of aliveness — when we were mired in the muck of contract negotiations with publishers, or frustrated by employees who didn’t feel recognized for their work, or when fans didn’t like the way we had designed some aspect of a game.
We would worry and fret and try to fix things, and forget to breathe.
I wish I could go back in time and apply what I know now.
I know now that slowing my thought process down, and taking a few deep breaths, helps a lot more than getting even more frustrated by the feeling that I can’t fix all the things that aren’t right or aren’t making people happy.
That’s my magic tip for the day: this simple wisdom to remember to breathe — breathe out the frustration, relax. Breathe in that there are options you haven’t thought of yet. And, know that there is a natural way that the situation can, and will, become more aligned with joy and with what you want. The basic requirement: let go, breathe, and watch for that natural way to present itself to you. It will.
And it will allow you to access that feeling of aliveness in a different way. Which will then open up a feeling of appreciation and the domino effect will occur ~ your business will start to feel fun and alive in the good way again.