Tag: Mario

Mario Kart and Choosing the Right Set up for the Task (8-13-25)

Mario Kart 8 Kart Customization

Happy Wednesday,

Recently, my family and I have got back into playing Mario Kart 8 on Switch, which is the inspiration behind this blog series.  Our first entry will be about choosing the right set up for the task in front of you. 

In case you’re not familiar with Mario Kart, here is how it works.  You choose from a collection of Super Mario characters along with a variety of vehicle, tire, and glider options.  These choices impact your speed, acceleration, weight, handling, and off-road capabilities.  Here was my predicament.  Typically, I would choose characters and set ups that were higher on speed and not so much on acceleration.  This was great at the lower difficulty levels.  Then, once I got to 200cc, I was no longer able to have success with this set up.  I slid off courses, struggled, and ultimately lost.  As I reflected, I realized that 200cc is more about stopping and going vs staying at a continual top speed.  My builds focused on speed may have worked in previous situations, but now I was facing a different challenge.  I needed to adapt.  Maxing out speed was no longer serving me.  Instead, I needed to choose characters, carts, tires, and gliders that would give me high acceleration.  Once I switched to this new set up, I started winning!

Making connections.  Work is a lot like Mario Kart.  We have different options of tools and skillsets we can use to solve problems.  Over time, we find set ups that we become comfortable with that we can use over and over again.  This serves us well, until things change.  Then, our tried and true methods are no longer effective.  Has this ever happened to you?  You better believe it’s happened to me.  From time to time, we need to take a step back to understand the problem we are solving for.  From time to time, we need to take a step back and ask whether our current tools and skills are the right ones to solve this problem.

The challenge: Will you be willing to switch your set up when the environment and challenges around you change?

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry

Super Mario, Super Stars, and Invincibility

This week I’d like to kick off a series inspired by the Super Mario Brothers video game series.  This week is about Mario, Super Stars, and invincibility.

Super Stars have been a staple of many Super Mario Brothers games.  Once Mario grabs a Super Star, he becomes faster and INVINCIBLE, able to run through bad guys and projectiles without taking any damage.  The only problem is that the Super Star is NOT permanent.  The moment you activate a Super Star you only have a few seconds before the effects wear off.  While the Super Star might provide a temporary boost, it’s not enough to get you to your ultimate goal.  Sooner or later you become vulnerable again.  If you keep trying to run through bad guys and obstacles the way you did when you were invincible your character will get hurt and eventually lose.  Once you’re vulnerable again, you have to engage with the challenges instead of being able to hide behind the mask of invincibility. 

How does this connect with anything?  Similar to Mario, I’ve had periods of time where I make myself invincible.  I convince myself that I can’t be hurt.  I convince myself I don’t get tired.  I shut my mind off to anything unpleasant and just keep pushing forward running through anything and everything in my path.  At the same time, I ignore all that is truly happening around me and the impact it has on me.  Do you ever do this?

I don’t think invincibility is all bad.  There are times when we need that Super Star invincibility.  There are times when we need to just plow forward for short bursts to get through something.  At the same time, we can’t be invincible forever.  Sooner or later, we have to remove the mask of invincibility and engage with life’s challenges as vulnerable people.

The challenge: Do you accept that you can’t always be invincible?  How will you embrace the challenges of life as a vulnerable human?

Confession: I don’t know about you, but life has been extra crazy lately.  I feel I’ve been tapping into invincible star power to push through for a few weeks.  Now, I can feel that invincibility fading.  When I was younger, I’d ignore that sign and run myself into the ground.  But now, I’m already trying to make mental space to slow down, regroup, rest, and figure things out.  If you’re feeling like your Super Star power is fading out, I hope you make room to rest and recover too.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry