Top 3 Life Lessons I Learned from Agent Dash

I suppose I’ve been looking at Stepcase Lifehack a bit too much… and playing Agent Dash too much. If you don’t know what Stepcase Lifehack is, you can follow the link and check it out. If you don’t what Agent Dash is, let me explain. No, there is no time. Let me sum up (sorry, I had to throw a Princess Bride quote in there).

Agent Dash is, to quote Forbes Online:

“…a ridiculously simple and even more ridiculously addictive game in the vein of Temple Run, Jetpack Joyride, and others. All you have to do is collect diamonds and keep your agent on the not-so-straight yet incredibly narrow. You can purchase or earn upgrades to add to your agent’s arsenal of diamond-collecting toys, but these upgrades are practically copies of the ones you can find in Temple Run.

Agent Dash, however, differentiates itself with its super-cool graphics and not much else. At first I thought I would delete the game entirely. But after trying to tear myself away from this game and failing, I see that Agent Dash will stay on my iPad, saving the world from stray diamonds.”

It’s sort of like Temple Run meets The Incredibles. It seems rather silly to pull life lessons from a game on my iPad. There may be some serious ramifications about my allocation of time in all this, but there are three things that I’ve come to see have relevance in the real world as well.

Keep an eye on the horizon.

Agent Dash is all about running. That’s pretty much it. To make it challenging, the creators have put all manner of obstacles in your way. Barrels, barriers, sliding doors, electric fences… you must keep an eye out for what’s coming. The trick is, the game gets faster and faster. By the time you get to the 5th or 6th area, you are fairly flying. If you are just looking at what’s coming next, you’re doomed to get fried or flattened. You must be looking way ahead at obstacles down the path.

And so the same concept applies in life. It is extremely easy for me, and I assume others, to get mired in what’s happening right now. Walking around with the head down and worried about current circumstances seems to be pretty natural. I believe God has called us to something higher. We are told to look forward to something greater and our hope lies there. Any other way will undoubtably get us squashed against a boulder or crushed by a falling glass wall… spiritually speaking, of course.

Don’t try to do everything.

The main goal of Agent Dash, other than trying to run as far as you can before you get taken out, is to collect diamonds of varying value. Your path is literally strewn with the silly, shiny things. While your road may be three lanes wide, the line of diamonds jumps from lane to lane. As expected, sometimes you must make a choice as to which lane to run down. Some of the diamonds are intentionally placed so that the end of the run takes you smack dab into a boulder. End of game. The best approach is to pick and choose which diamonds to go after. You really can’t get them all.

And so the same concept applies in life. You really can’t do it all. I’ve come to this realization the hard way over the past few months. I’ve been without a full time job since the clock turned 2012. For the past 8 months, I’ve been chasing whatever I could to help make ends meet. In the process, I also picked up quite a bit of stuff to do as a favor for friends. What I’ve found is that most of it is not getting done, or maybe only at 60-70% of my ability. I believe the word is “overextended.”

Focus. Keep the main thing the main thing.

Stick with the basics.

Like most games in this genre, you can upgrade your abilities with the points you earn. You can also spend your points on “boosts.” In this case, they offer four different boosts: air-drop, extra life, slow-mo and gem rush. The trouble is, the boosts do not come cheaply, and the value they offer is questionable. I’ve tried them a few times and I have yet to get the value back that I spent on them.

Better to avoid spending points on frivolous extras and just do what you’re supposed to do… run for your life.

And so the same concept applies in life (you keep saying those words… I do not think they mean what you think they mean. ~Princess Bride again). I can easily think of multiple times when I’ve jumped into a new venture and spent a good bit of time and resources preparing for it, only to find I didn’t really need to spend that money. All I really needed to do was do it. I can get the “stuff” later if I really need it… hopefully with money I’ve earned from doing it already.

I think that has something to do with wisdom, patience and sound financial planning. I seem to be lacking in all three areas.

So, what’s the take away from this? Be careful what you buy for your iPad lest it actually teach you something? Could be… you tell me. Leave a comment below.