Management Lessons from Temple Run

Something can be learned from everything. It’s all really just a matter of looking beyond what’s on the surface; kinda like not judging a book by its cover. A book can be all ratty outside and still contain useful knowledge within its pages. Or, it can be a time waster like Temple Run and it can still teach a lot about how to manage yourself and others.

No. Seriously.

Focus is key. You simply cannot get too far playing Temple Run if you’re talking to someone at the same time, or even just smoking. In its own way, Temple Run is a multi-sensory game that requires you to be absorbed in it in order to win it.

And guess what life is. Now I know that it’s all the rage to multi-task, but life still remains a multi-sensory experience that needs your full immersion if you’re gonna get the most out of it. And not just life either. Anything you do can always benefit from having a monopoly on your attention and focus.

In a world where multi-tasking is the new aesthetic, a lot of us forget that we can spread our brain power out too thin. When multi-tasking, a study has shown, the amount of brain power assigned to each task decreases in direct relation with the number of tasks being performed at the same time. SO, you may be doing more, but you’re not doing it as well as you can; which is really a quality vs. quantity type of situation.

Hesitate and die. The most annoying way to die in Temple Run is to run into a tree or fall off or whatever because you waffled about whether to slide or jump. In real life,  hesitation is also to blame in many instances of lost opportunity. Remember, life and work are not very big on giving unequivocal signs about where to go or what to do. Often, you’re presented with limited information – and limited visibility even – and you’re just gonna have to rely on what you already know. Of course, if you’re smart, then you’ve already laid the groundwork for your success, despite having very little to go on at the moment of decision.

Bill Gates once said that the key to success was the ability to move massive resources quickly – or something like that. What he was trying to say was that successful managers are those who – with whatever information is available – are audacious enough to trust their judgement of the situation and to commit time, effort, and energy to the pursuit of a goal at the right moment, even if doing so might look like a terribly risky gamble at the time.

Three strikes is a myth. In Temple Run, if you stumble on a little tree root, the demon monkeys show up. Stumble again, and you’re toast. Many of us feel that we should be given three chances before we’re kicked out on our butts. Not so. You are only ever as good as your last mistake. Of course, people won’t say that to your face for fear of hurting your feelings and, let’s be honest, because they wouldn’t want to be told that about themselves either. But the truth is, no matter how well you’ve been doing for however long you’ve been doing it, if you screw up once, your managers will never look at you the same way again. Harsh? Probably. But as far as personal standards go, I have always felt that you should be your own harshest critic. The minute you start making excuses for yourself is the minute you start your slide into mediocrity.

These are just three of the valuable lessons we can learn from playing Temple Run. Don’t sneer, though. The great Paracelsus once asked:

I went in search of my art, often in danger of my life. I have not been ashamed to learn those things which to me have seemed useful even from vagabonds, barbers, and executioners. For we know how a lover will go a long way to meet the woman that he loves, how much more, then, will the lover of wisdom be tempted to go in search of his divine mistress?

Well, not always so far apparently. The divine mistress doesn’t live far away, it seems. It’s just that sometimes, she can be hidden in plain sight.

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