Playing RPG Games Helps You Understand Distraction For What It Really Is

What seems logically useful is actually a case of Shiny Object Syndrome

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Whenever you level up in RPG games, you are given the opportunity to either unlock a new skill or improve on an existing skill.

When you’re trying to make money online, you are presented with different hacks, courses or services that can instantly make you money with the least amount of effort.

While these two are in totally different categories, both put you in a position that reveals your behaviour towards a goal:

Do you stick to one approach?

Or do you continuously search for different approaches, whichever can get you there the fastest?

Whenever we are presented with new options, we can’t help but feel the need to explore them. This form of excitement breeds impatience. And when it does, boom! You are now experiencing shiny object syndrome without realizing it.

Shiny Object Syndrome is when you keep trying something different without going deep into what’s current.

The reason why it’s tough for us to see this coming is due to our own biases.

A lot of times, when we want something, we are excellent at finding logical reasons as to how this something will benefit us. And because the reasons are logical, we convince ourselves that we are making the right choice. But is it really?

“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.” — Richard P. Feynman

When it comes to making money online, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of exploring and researching different ways to get them quickly. That behaviour almost always doesn’t end well. The time and effort you put in quickly goes to waste.

In RPG games, I often have unspent EXP I could use to unlock a new skill. This extra EXP, like money, is something I’d rather use than leave it unspent. Regardless of where I spend it, my character will be “better”.

But “better” is subjective.

More often than not, the EXP goes to waste because, when in battle, I rarely use the skill.

What I imagined did not reflect reality.

This is when it dawned on me what Imposter Syndrome is really like.

It is the subtlest form of distraction— the kind that disguises itself as an upgrade, but in reality, it is a useless upgrade.