As I was writing this title, I had a sudden thought that maybe I’m the only one who sees focus as un-balanced. Let’s hop straight into a metaphor.
I love video games, despite rarely ever playing them. Probably my favorite genre being Role Playing Games (RPGs). Those few in my audience not in-the-know, the primary game mechanics involve a range of abilities and ways of improving those abilities through the gameplay. Perhaps there are five abilities, and you have a certain amount of points (let’s just pick 20 for this example) to allocate among them. A balanced character in this made up game might look like this:
Agility 4
Stamina 4
Health 4
Magic 4
Charisma 4
Then you might want to have a character who is actually, well, a “character.” Something that makes them special. Maybe a good-looking/sweet-talking, magician for example:
Agility 3
Stamina 3
Health 3
Magic 6
Charisma 7
This is a character that still has all the attributes, but is squarely better at charm and magic.
Then enter the type of character that I would build:
Agility 16
Stamina 1
Health 1
Magic 1
Charisma 1
This character is basically an acrobat. Yet, if he were to fall doing acrobatics, he wouldn’t have the health to deal with it. Heck, he might not even be able to do it very long because he doesn’t have the Stamina. But I bet if there were ANY acrobatic, he or she would pull it off without fail. Not a bad trade off?
I wouldn’t say this means focused versus balanced is a good or bad thing. What can matter is that your strategy going into battle depends on what your character is made of. Our acrobat probably wouldn’t do great in a magic-fireball-slinging battle, but if he has a good looking, magician with him to sling the fireballs. maybe the acrobat”s skill could be put to good use getting to places the magician couldn’t.
In this game of life, I lean strongly toward this acrobat. Maybe like this:
Health 4
Business 8
Work/Life Balance 2
Personal 2
Fun 4
Quite unbalanced, and highly focused. So I take people into battle with me with higher Personal and Work/Life Balance stats. Conversely, I help others in stats where they may be weaker. Know thyself! This whole principle takes teams dynamics into account. It doesn’t negate the fact that we can work to improve our stats in all areas. If you haven’t heard of the Wheel of Life, google it.
I personally am probably a bit TOO focused, and I will keep working on balancing my wheel/character. What are your character stat preferences?
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