Summer Games

No, I’m not talking about any Olympics. Remember all the summer games you used to play as a kid? I remember going to Grandma’s house sometimes and all the cousins were there – we’d play Red Rover, Red Light – Green Light, Hide-and-Seek in the acre around the house, and by twilight, we’d have jars to collect fireflies in like glowing treasures.

Those old games can teach us a lot now. I’d like you to think about Red Rover. Remember that? Everyone would form two lines, facing each other, and link arms. Then one line would chant “Red Rover, Red Rover, let Brian (or April or Kevin or whoever) come over!” That person would have to leave his/her line and try to run through the other one. If he broke through, he could bring one person from the line back to his original line with him. If not, he joined the opposing line.

I present to you the idea that we all do this. A friend or coworker calls our attention to what might be a good idea. We leave our routine to try this new thing. It might work, and so we take it and introduce it to our other friends. But it might not work, and we get stuck with it anyway.

How about Hide-and-Seek? Adults play this too, and it doesn’t work, either. How many times can you go looking blindly for a simple answer to a problem? How often were you able to find everyone in their hiding spots? Rarely. Which is why we always had an “In Free” call – so the people we just couldn’t find could come in when we gave up. If a solution is evading you, it’s because you’re looking in the wrong places, alone.

One of my mentors, Gary Ryan Blair, has suggested we approach goals through a Red Light – Green Light perspective. He says that if we really look at our daily routines, we can easily see what things we should STOP doing, and other things we should START doing to make more progress. For example, I think I need to RED LIGHT hitting the snooze button so many times every morning. On the other hand, it wouldn’t hurt to GREEN LIGHT more fresh produce in my diet! You get the idea.

As you plan for your day, consider what you can Red Light and what you can Green Light. Perhaps, at the end of the day, you’ll find you’ve created your own treasure. Bask in its glow!