Sometimes seeing really is believing

I remember as a young man growing up playing tennis, my coach made us all read The Inner Game of Tennis. I’ll confess to never actually finishing it (sorry coach!), but I did get through most of it and the main impression it made on me was visualizing the game in order to improve. I soon became obsessed with particular strokes that my favorite pros had and I would watch them in slow motion on the VCR over and over. And then I’d get the Tennis Magazine with the frame-by-frame breakdown of shots and study each frame to see the nuances that were in the stroke.

The new game I’m playing on my iPad is called Duet Game. It’s a super simple, yet super challenging game in which you control a red and blue circle and navigate them around objects. The two circles are connected by a sphere (as you can see from the shot below).

I was introduced to this game by a friend and I remember watching him play it for the first time and thinking what he was doing was impossible. I’m now so glad I saw him play before I tried on my own because I’m fairly certain I would have either struggled mightily or given up quickly, assuming it was an impossible game to have much success with, ala Flappy Bird. But because I saw him play first, I knew it was possible and saw how he did it, and I can now proudly call myself an adequate player of Duet (its still freaking super hard).

Growing up I saw my dad running his own vending company and working with him during the summers showed me how to run and build a business. When I started my first company, Spunlogic, I surrounded myself with people that had been successful in business before (mostly through forming an advisory board). With Dragon Army – a mobile-first gaming studio – I’ve connected with friends and made new ones that have been in the gaming business, and I’m currently reading the book, Console Wars, which is helping me learn from more people who have been successful building gaming companies.

I suppose the point is that I’m reminding with Duet and Console Wars that sometimes seeing is believing. Exposing yourself to other people who’ve been successful in what you’re trying to do can help you realize your dreams.

PS – If you’re interested in getting help from or talking to someone who’s accomplished what you’re looking to accomplish, check out Advice For Good. You can look through the list of advisors on Advice For Good and meet with them for advice (after you do an hour of community service and blog about it).