Well it is Friday night and after a long week of training I'm exhausted. I love cooking, grilling, and other stuff like that but I also have a love for a certain game and I must admit (like Alec Baldwin) I'm addicted. My favorite game as of late is Words With Friends. I started playing it when my wife got an I-Pod and now I'm hooked like a fish. In the beginning I was beaten like the proverbial red-headed step child (no offense to your red-headed step children) but lately I win over 90% of my games. My WWF master Orlando L. used to put a spanking on me in the beginning and I can truly say that going through those defeats helped me to learn how to play. Since that time I've learned some valuable lessons from Words With Friends. I'd like to share them with you.
1) Patience - I learned that a game is never really over even when things look bad. When I was a padawan I had to learn how to be patient. I learned to be patient and wait for opportunities to make key moves. I think that applies to life too in that you must learn to wait for the right opportunities to come along to make certain moves. Everything can't be spontaneous in life. Spur of the moment moves can cost you.
2) Perseverance - I learned to persevere through some really hard games that I had a feeling I was going to lose. Some people resign quickly when someone puts a 50 or 60 point word on them. The life lesson I learned from this is that when things seem their worst it isn't time to give up but it is time to redouble your efforts and work harder to reach your goal.
3) Sportsmanship - Technically, Words With Friends isn't a sport but it is a game and I believe that sportsmanship is something that is lacking in many competitive areas of our lives. When someone beats you at something you don't have to get mad. Most people would say get even but my idea is to glean things from your opponent in victory but also especially in defeat. Being a good sport is being self controlled. Being a sore loser doesn't help you to get better it only clouds your vision. "Your thoughts betray you young Skywalker."
4) Appreciation - Words With Friends has given me an appreciation for others' mental capacity. It makes me think and I know that it stimulates the mind. When I play with other good players I can appreciate the fact that they thought out their strategy and their moves. Life lesson here is that we should appreciate the good qualities in others. We should celebrate those things that are worthy of praise in others.
5) Joy - This is a funny one for me. I played a doozy of a game the other day. I got a ton of joy out of that game. I laughed at the end. Yes, out loud! You might have thought that I just won but I didn't. I had lost. The joy of competing, and the love of the game are 2 things that I live for. The lesson I got out of this one is that sometimes it is just the opportunity of competition that is a joy. It isn't always winning.
6) Defense is a good Offense - Sometimes hanging back and defending a position is more important than trying to use your best letters all at once. Blocking certain spots on the board can keep your opponent from scoring tons of points. Knowing when to defend is just as important as knowing when to play your big letters. Life lesson here is that you must know when it is appropriate to defend and when it is time to attack. Instead of always being offense minded we must learn when to defend. It is not always in our best interest to push forward. Sometimes we have to dig in and hold on. That great philosopher Kenny Rogers once sang, "You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run. . ."
7) Fun for the sake of fun is a good thing - Learning to have fun isn't always easy. There are workaholics in this world. Trust me I see them all the time. Having fun is something that we must allow ourselves to do. Life isn't always serious. There are times when we should enjoy things that stimulate us. Lesson: Have fun! It will do your life some good.
8) Seek out others you don't know- One of the things that taught me how to play Words With Friends was my willingness to engage people I didn't know. I challenged random people to games and from each of those people I learned something that I put into practice. The biggest lesson I garnered was that you find nuances that make people different. People do things differently than you do or than your friend does. This doesn't mean they are better or worse than you. It just means they have a different approach. Getting to know others with differences from you makes you smarter.
9) Learn from others mistakes - When I was a kid I almost always had to learn lessons the hard way. Now that I'm a little older I've learned to glean understanding from others' mistakes. When someone makes a mistake in WWF I use that to my advantage. The teachable moment here is that any time someone does something wrong, look at it as a learning opportunity. Don't sit in judgment of what they do necessarily but learn from their mistakes by not repeating them.
10)Never stop learning- I love to read. I really do. I read all kinds of things and I make it a point to learn new words all the time. I find words in books I'm reading, in daily conversation, and in dictionaries. I have a personal rule though: I don't that while I'm playing WWF because my sense of fairness tells me I shouldn't. I don't like for people to cheat me and I won't cheat them. When I have down time though I read vocabulary and I search out new words in every day language I can use in my games. The final lesson WWF has taught me is that I should never stop learning. At every corner I should be challenging myself. Just because high school ends in 12th great doesn't mean learning stops. No matter how smart you are there are always opportunities to learn. Seek those opportunities out.
I hope you enjoyed this. Somehow I think my teacher could probably make a sermon out of this. Here's to you POLopez! Thanks for the training!
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