Play a game of unlocking life

When we’re children, everything is new to us. We want to know everything, we want to touch everything, smell everything,… The whole world is an endless expanse of things to explore. And then we lose it.

How can we experience again the same sense of wonder?

Well, in all sorts of games, there is a mechanic of unlocking something. Unlocking new tools, new characters, or new skills.

This mechanic is useful because it prevents the player from jumping right to the end and failing miserably. It also prevents them from skipping around, not finding anything to hold on to. It gives them a clear path.

Given how widespread this mechanic is in games, it makes sense that it’s useful.

So what if we extended this foundational game mechanic to the grandest game of them all — life?

What if we unlocked new skills, like we might in a game?

Want to be a popular YouTuber with 1 000 000 subscribers? First unlock Intro Reel by making a video.

Want to be a great writer on the bestseller list? First unlock First Words by writing an article.

Want to be a good coder? First unlock Hello World by printing ‘Hello World’ in any programming language.

There are immense expanses of reality that we never unlock. Things we never even try to do. If we did unlock them, however, we would better understand the world and ourselves. We might even have some fun.

Let’s play a little game right now.

Ready? Set! What 3 things can you unlock today?