So if there is one thing I have learned it is that the future doesn’t just come. It has to be built, dream by dream, gadget by gadget, conversation by conversation.

I got over the disappointment of 2000, the 2000 I had been waiting for since I was about 8. No flying cars, no exclusively silver wardrobes, no weekend trips to space. But what I took away was a resolve to get everyone excited not just about The Future but about being part of the group of people who are building the future. That is who we are. Never forget that. We are the music makers and the dreamers of dreams. We are the architects of a future for our species that inspires us. We build because we can, because it is our favorite game. It is not a better game than the players of the sports games, or the money game or even the video game. It is merely the one that we find the most fun. (So let’s play!)

So it seems the way to win is not only to build the most outrageous, the most exciting, the most impactful, the most inspiring future, but also to make sure that we are having fun doing it. After all that is why we picked this game- it was more fun for us than race car driving, or organic farming, or brain surgery. So the next time you are discouraged by bureaucracy, or frustrated by people who ‘don’t get it’, or at your wits end with your own seeming lack of progress. Remember, we picked this because it was fun and let the challenges and the struggles and the set backs be part of the game, just like you would in Super Mario Brothers, or Zelda, or Guitar Hero. After all if you just went back a level and got the magic sword, you probably could beat the dragon this time…and that would be fun wouldn’t it?

So this 1st week of the new shiny year, think of your life as a video game that you just took out of the package. Play it with vigor, play it with valor and with creativity, but most importantly make sure you are having fun.