Tetris is a simple and absorbing video game where players sort falling blocks of different shapes as they fall toward the bottom of the screen. The goal of the game is to make the blocks fit neatly together so they are as tightly packed as possible.
Tetris is fun and engaging, so much that it can be addictive, leading to what has been called the Tetris effect: when someone spends so much time on an activity that it begins to shape their thought patterns, dreams and ideas.
Tetris can be a useful construct for thinking about the decisions you make as you make your way through life. It seems as if there’s always something that needs to be sorted, folded, arranged, packed, configured or reconfigured.
Like the falling blocks in Tetris, time is always moving forward, and we need to make the best decisions we can make in the time we have. Mistakes can accumulate and eventually overwhelm us.
What blocks are falling in front of you right now? What needs to be sorted, arranged, configured? How much time do you have to decide?
See also: Puzzle, Routine, Countdown, Balancing tradeoffs.
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