Finding Success in Life is like playing Super Mario Bros.

If you've been alive and living on planet Earth (at least the more developed portions of planet Earth with access to computer games), you would be familiar with the game. In it, you control a little short stunted animated character dressed as a plumber and jump him through and over pipes, ducts and brick walls, taking lifts and ladders to reach and to retrieve gold coins all the while avoiding pit falls and dangerous turtle-like creatures. Sounds surreal? Well, strangely enough, life is like that too. It doesn't matter where you are or where you live, real life, even in the parts that have never seen or heard of Super Mario before, follow the same patterns.

We've all read reports on the widening incoming gap in today's society. The rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer.  Social mobility is on the decline even in the self-proclaimed Land of the Free and their steadfast belief in the American dream, where a good life awaits those who work hard enough. Unfortunately, as the income gap widens, class stratifications begin to set in.  If your parents are poor, you are statistically likely to remain just as poor while those who's parents are rich are increasing their wealth. So what is social mobility? Social mobility, is simply the ability to climb up the economic scale of the social ladder and to cross class barriers and stratifications.

So what you may ask, has this got to do with a little animated plumber? Plenty it would seem. Real life mimics art, or perhaps it is art designed after real life.  The path you choose matters. The path to success is a maze of rising platforms, climbing ladders, hazards, slides and pits. Choose the right ones and you progress upwards like in the game where invariable, the goal is ever upward or forward. The higher you go, the harder the game becomes for you to progress.

Different people would choose differently.  Some take the slow but steady ladder climb, other choose to take a leap for that fast rising platform to try and get a lead. Many hit hazards that retard their progress, some slide all the way back down to zero. The paths are many, and they start from childhood. The group of friends you choose to hang out with, the school you attend, the choice of subjects you take, all form the starting levels of your maze,  In the adult phase in life, the choices become even more complicated. The career you select, the academic qualifications you obtain, the network of people you mingle with, the type of investments you make, they are all paths upward or downward. As you progress, the choices of paths for you may increase, or decrease depending on your initial choices. If Mario had jumped onto that missed platform instead of taking the easy gold coin on that side detour, would that larger cluster of gold coins now be for his taking?

Careers and success paths are rickety climbs, choices stacked upon choices. As you jump from platform to platform, your choices change. It is a continual process that never ends unless you hit a dead end. The midlife crisis is a common phenomenon that manifests itself when people in their midpoint in life, right after their initial frenzied charge, find themselves facing limited choices, missed chances, regretted paths or worse, dead ends. The select few, more capable or simply more lucky, made that string of correct choices and made the perfectly timed jumps to identify and leap for the rising platforms that let them proceed ever higher, leaving most of their peers behind.

To make matters worse, the world is innately unfair. Some people are born with higher starting points and can perhaps, even tap on the opportunities provided for by the efforts of their previous generations. Success of course is never assured and they too could fall as readily as everyone else.  They too need to make the right choices at the right time but unlike the vast majority of us, some were born with a silver spoon and they start life with an inbuilt head start.

There are five key ingredients in every choice. Gamers do this every single time their little plumber is faced with a choice of paths. All five must be present in order for success to occur. Opportunity, recognition, want, essentials and position.

Opportunity. Firstly, an in opportunity must present itself. Unfortunately, this is beyond our control and your starting point matters.  When an opportunity presents itself however, the other four kick in. 

Recognition. Do you recognize the opportunity? You can hardly make a choice if you don't even recognize that an opportunity has present itself.

Want. Do you want to take advantage of the opportunity? Some people might see an opportunity but decide they don't want it. They are perhaps, already satisfied with their lives or prefer a more sedate leisurely life. You have to want to take the opportunity for you to progress.

Essentials. You might recognize an opportunity and want it, but do you have want it takes? Do you qualify for the job? Did you climb the right platform in your previous job to gain the right skills to take advantage of this new opportunity? You need to pad your tool kit with the right set of essential skills, qualifications and capabilities.

Position. You have everything it takes and are ready. The opportunity has presented itself and you see it, but, you are not in a position to grab it. The plumber is still lingering at a different place. Many people face this. They might be tied contractually and cannot leave, or they may be watching from the sidelines, situationally unready because of family problems or simply being in the wrong place at the right time. Like a footballer who is caught on the back heel and wrong footed just as the ball arrives at his feet in front of an open goal.

As the little plumber climbs and jumps his way upward, avoiding hazards and seeking the right platforms, these five items are continuosly evaluated over and over again. We too have to do the same assessments as we navigate through life, jumping from job to job, upgrading or downgrading property investments, buying and selling investments, choosing life partners, business partners, friends, or simply deciding whether or not to linger this morning for an additional cup of coffee before going to work. Every choice has bearing on the next set of present opportunities or paths before you. Can you see far ahead enough to plan? Are you perhaps, hedging your bets to take the route that you guess would lead to greater heights? Or are you taking the path of least resistance, preferring instead that upward is not necessarily the best life choice and a leisurely route is more desired. Are you making the "right" string of choices to reach where you want to go in life? As you stand on your current platform and stare out across at the other floors and platforms, watching as  some of your peers climb stellarly past you while others, those moving at a more leisured pace or perhaps stuck in a more torturous path, have been left far below, the choices are yours to make. Unlike the little plumber Mario and his brother Luigi, the game controller is firmly in your hands and where you go depends on you and you alone.