The What-If Game

I want to start this post by giving a huge shout out to Crunchy Betty! Please go take a look at her blog as it is full of awesome fabulous fantasticness. She posted today about a new game she is playing and she wants all of us/you to try it. It's called the What-If game. It's pretty easy to play and the best part is that as long as you play, you are a winner. Sounds awesome right? That's because it is.

Here are the deets:

The Objective: To learn whether, through no-biggie experiments, you can change the way you look at life, achieve a goal, or kick a bad habit – without feeling like any of it is a Very Big Deal.

There are only a few rules:

1. What Ifs are all experiments, and nothing about the outcome is a Very Big Deal. It’s just fun to play.
2. It doesn’t matter what other people think about the experiments you run by saying What If.
3. If you don’t like the outcomes after a few trials, you can adjust the experiments or just move on.
4. As long as you’re unattached to any specific outcome, and as long as you play it truthfully and without manipulation in mind, it is a success, even if it fails, because you’ve learned something new about how you navigate your life.

 So right now, right this very second, I want you to think about something in your life you would like to change. Something that causes you problems. Maybe you have a bad habit, a goal you want to achieve or a way of thinking you would like to change. Now think about the What-If's for your situation. Some of the ones that are floating around my head are "What If I woke up earlier than I needed to be awake every day", "What If I wrote in my journal more often", "What If I took a more active role in my relationship with my parents". These are just a few of mine. I should probably add "What If I didn't take on so many projects/goals at once" as it seems relevant in this situation (hahaha).

Ok, so now you have your what you want to change, and your action to make that change happen. All you need to now is start to experiment with your What If one day at a time. Maybe tomorrow you force yourself out of bed an hour earlier than usual. Or maybe instead of yelling at your kids because they are getting on your nerves you close your eyes, take a few breaths and calm down. Whatever it is, try it out today, right now if you can.

The key to making this game work is that you focus on the experiment without investing in the results. If you are unattached to a particular outcome then you won't be disappointed. Remember that this is about making the change and then noticing how that change affects your life. Try not to expect a particular result. If you aren't hoping for outcome A then you won't be disappointed if you get outcome B.

And don't give up on the first try either. If you get a result at first that doesn't settle well with you afterwards then try it again a few times. Really give the experiment time to cultivate a consistent result and then decide whether or not you want to keep the change in your life.

My first What-If is definitely focused on trying to get my butt out of bed earlier. I always feel amazing when I force myself out of bed and can have a relaxing morning before going to work. I just hate the whole act of getting out of bed. We'll see if I can get myself to do it every week day for the rest of the month and how it changes my life. I'll make sure to keep ya'll updated.

What are the What-Ifs you want to experiment with?