How the Game Joust can Help You Get Promoted

 A special shout out to Catalyst John – thanks for requesting a lesson from Joust – this is for you. John is a Business coach & speaker – find out more at: http://catalystjohn.com/

Do you have a game you would like me to share a lesson from? Send your request to Jon@ClassicallyTrained.net or tweet to @CT_Blog

A determining factor in success in life, school, and work (as well as a strong determining factor in getting a promotion) is a strong sense of urgency. So what is a sense of urgency? Focusing on what matters and immediately seeking out to resolve that. Sometimes failing to do so can lead to a missed opportunity.

Other times, not having a sense of urgency means a Pterodactyl will come out of nowhere and knock your butt off of your ostrich.

Move it Bird Knight!

In the game of Joust, your goal is to take out the other bird knights by, well, sitting on their heads. I guess you can try poking them with your lance, but sitting on them seems to do the trick (and is a lot safer, too). Meanwhile, the world is basically falling apart around you, with platforms disappearing and ground turning into open lava pits.

So once you have accomplished an avian takedown, you must pick up the egg that drops from the bird – sure, for points, but more importantly – if you ignore the egg, it will hatch a new knight (!?!?) who will mount a new bird – and try to kill you.

And I can only imagine how bad I would want revenge if someone knocked me off of a bird so hard that I had to hatch from an egg to come back.

Taking out bird Knights, making omelets before eggs hatch, and avoiding a micromanaging boss Pterodactyl – everything in Joust is about developing a sense of urgency.

This same quality applied to your job is a key to productivity, success, positive self-esteem, and is one of the traits that employers often base promotions on.

Creating a Bias for Action

Like any game with a timer, this sense of urgency is more about competing against yourself – trying to get things done right, but as fast as you can.

Leadership expert Brian Tracy points out the value in harnessing this “bias for action,” as he calls it.

“You take action rather than talking continually about what you are going to do. You focus on specific steps you can take immediately. By employing this technique you concentrate on the things you can do right now to get the results you want and achieve the goals you desire.”

This is immensely powerful. Focus on what you can do, here and now – then set out to do it immediately. It is far too easy to procrastinate and put things of because we are “waiting for the right time” or we are “not sure what to do” so instead we do nothing.

Making it Work for You

What is something that you are dealing with (maybe something that is stressing you the most)? What is the very first action that you can take right now towards completing it?

Now do it.

Really, it’s that simple.

You are now one step closer to being done – and since you are in motion, each action you take next will become a bit easier.

Check Your Attitude and Altitude

Just one more note about this sense of urgency.

In head to head fighting games against other skilled players, there is a lesson that becomes incredibly obvious: remember to check your emotions and motivation for taking action.

If you jump into something out of impatience, anger, or frustration you will most likely make some bad choices. Bad choices are not the end of the world, but the goal here is positive movement, not experimenting. The underlying motivation for success has to be a desire to win, to overcome, and every action should support this movement.

Just like flying an ostrich, momentum is a powerful force – it can be very difficult to change direction mid-flight – so make sure your direction is correct, then make adjustments as needed.

One of the major determining factors in winning the game of Joust is your altitude – when you collide with another bird knight, who ever is higher up, wins. This is exactly true with your attitude – keep it high, and success is yours.

You can do this.

What challenge are you facing, and how can taking action right now help?