Oztag - A metaphor for life

I was playing Oztag last night (mixed, touch rugby league for all you non-Aussies) and it dawned on me, that it was a great metaphor for life.

The tactics are pretty simple. You create momentum in attack, take the first 2 tackles and then try something new and you stay strong in defense and don't let anyone through the gaps.

Creating momentum is just like taking action. If we stand still in life nothing will change and things tend to happen to us. If we take action, we can experience new things and then change our course if it didn't provide the outcome we expected. Create momentum and attack your defenders!

This also leads nicely into taking the first couple of tackles. The reason for this in any rugby game is to gain metres. In life, if you hit a road block or obstacle take it and instead of beating yourself up for taking a "wrong turn" ask yourself, "what can I learn from this?" Remember there is no such thing as a bad decision, just one you can learn from. If it doesn't work, try something new. If we try as many options available to us, we are more likely to get to where we want to be....it's the law of averages. As Einstein said 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different results'

In defense, be strong and don't let anyone through the gaps. This relates to our commitment in life to achieve our goals. Once you have decided on where you want to go, do everything you can to get there. Spend time with the people who will help you and support you in your pursuit, give yourself a support network and make it so that you simple can't not achieve your goal. Allowing people through the gaps who zap your energy or are extremely negative will break your defensive line if you listen to and take onboard their negative talk. I hear you saying, 'but I thought you said we need to try different things?' Yes, we do need to demonstrate behavioural flexibility when it comes to trying different ways of getting to our goal, we also need to keep our eye on the goal and our commitment high.

Enjoy your game of life, after all it is a game!