Game mindset: Make decisions from a third-person perspective

In games

Most RPGs use a third-person perspective.

You watch your character from above, seeing things the character can’t. Where enemies come from, where treasure chests are, how the terrain flows. Your field of vision is wider than your character’s.

When your character takes a hit, you don’t rage-quit. You glance at the HP bar and calmly decide: keep fighting, or run?

Poisoned, debuffed, low on health. The screen shows it all clearly. You objectively see “bad status” and make the appropriate call. Heal, cure, retreat.

Distance brings clarity.

You’d never let your character charge into a fight they can’t win. You’d never let them stay in the field with empty HP. You’d never let them procrastinate on leveling, wandering the starter village all day.

Because that would be stupid. And you can see it clearly.

In reality

Real life is first-person.

Trapped inside your own head, you can’t see the bigger picture. Emotions sweep you away. You know you should work, but you make excuses and procrastinate. You know you should sleep early, but you keep scrolling. You know you should exercise, but you’re glued to the couch.

You can’t see your own HP bar. You don’t realize you’re almost out of health. You don’t feel the debuffs on yourself. You don’t notice anxiety and fatigue slowing you down.

The problem with first-person: you’re too close to yourself.

Try this.

Imagine a camera behind you, recording your every move. On the other side of that screen, another you is watching.

What would they think of your current behavior?

“This guy said he’d write an article, but he’s been scrolling for 40 minutes.” “This guy’s making excuses again.” “This guy knows exactly what to do. He’s just not doing it.”

See yourself in third-person, and everything becomes clearer.

Psychologists call this “self-distancing.” Research shows that when you think about your problems in the third person, emotional reactions decrease and decisions become more rational.

Not “I’m so anxious, what do I do?” but “He’s anxious right now. What can he do?”

This small shift in perspective lets you step out of your emotions.

Next time you’re stuck, try pulling the camera back.

Make decisions from a third-person perspective.

Player notes

Easy to understand, hard to practice.

I once read about this concept: when watching movies, we often think the protagonist is an idiot. The clues are so obvious, yet they can’t see them. They shouldn’t trust that person, yet they do. They should confess their feelings, yet they keep stalling.

The audience sees everything clearly. The protagonist is trapped in their own perspective.

If your life were a movie, what would the audience think? Would they be in the comments saying, “How is this guy so clueless?”

I’m the classic three-minute enthusiasm type. Not literally three minutes, but based on 30+ years of evidence, my passion window is about two weeks. After two weeks, something else becomes more interesting.

This has always made me feel inadequate.

Then I discovered a paradox: not taking action keeps you invincible.

I believe in my abilities. I believe that with enough persistence, I could do great things. But this “confidence in my head” creates massive resistance. If I actually wrote that book, shipped that app, the feedback would never match my imagination. Rather than face reality, I’d rather keep fantasizing about how perfect I could be.

So I’d deliberately let myself quit.

I got used to shifting focus right before finishing, or suddenly diving into some game or TV series. Psychology calls this self-handicapping: when facing challenges, you deliberately create obstacles for yourself. That way, if you fail, you can blame circumstances, not your own ability.

Seen from a third-person perspective, all of this is ridiculous.

“This guy is self-sabotaging again. He’s not afraid of failure. He’s afraid of discovering he’s not as good as he imagined.”

Once you see it clearly, it’s harder to keep fooling yourself.

Leveling tips

□ When procrastinating, imagine live comments floating across your screen: “What would the audience roast right now?”
□ Before making a decision, ask: “Which choice would a spectator think is smarter?”
□ Spend 30 seconds before bed reflecting: How did this player perform today?
□ When you’re too hard on yourself, treat yourself the way you’d treat a friend
□ When stuck in your head, talk to someone. Let a real spectator help you see the bigger picture