Life is a Game. Learn How to Win.
Stop playing on Easy Mode.
Most of us treat life like a movie we are watching. We sit back, eat popcorn, and hope for a happy ending. But life isn’t a movie. Life is a multiplayer game. And if you don’t know the controls, you are going to lose.
Chetan Bhagat, arguably India’s biggest author, wrote 11 Rules For Life not as a novel, but as a cheat code for the modern generation. He realized that schools teach us Trigonometry (which we never use) but fail to teach us how to handle rejection, money, or toxic people.
Below is the Complete 11-Level Walkthrough to leveling up your Avatar in the real world.
Rule 1: Never Hope
This sounds depressing, right? But Bhagat argues that Hope is a strategy for losers.
If you are failing, “hoping” for a miracle is useless. “Planning” is useful. In 2025, stop manifesting and start executing. Replace the word “Hope” with the word “Plan.”
Rule 2: Don’t Ignore the Glitch
Your Body is your Avatar. You cannot play a high-performance game with a broken controller.
If you are sluggish or tired, you cannot compete. Fix your health first, or nothing else matters.
Rule 3: Money Matters
Society tells us “Money isn’t everything.” Bhagat says: “That’s a lie poor people tell themselves.”
Money is freedom. Money is options. You don’t need to be a billionaire, but you need enough gold coins to play on your own terms.
Rule 4: Manage Your Relationship Stats
Bhagat warns against “Toxic Players.” You are the average of the 5 people you play with. If your squad is lazy, you will be lazy.
Rule 5 (English): Whether we like it or not, English is the coding language of the global economy. Don’t fight it. Master it. It unlocks global servers (jobs).
Mid-Game Checkpoint
Are your stats balanced?
Discipline AdaptabilityNow, let’s look at the advanced strategies (Rules 6-11).
Rule 6: The Reset Button
Sometimes you lose a level. You get fired. You fail.
Most people rage-quit. Winners hit Respawn. Failure provides data on where the traps are. Adaptation is your superpower.
Rule 7: Eat That Frog
Discipline > Motivation.
Do your hardest task (The Frog) first thing in the morning. If you have to make a tough sales call, do it at 9:00 AM. Don’t carry that anxiety all day.
Rule 8: Spot the Elephant
In every room, there is an “Elephant”—the big, obvious problem nobody wants to talk about. Maybe your business is failing. Maybe your relationship is dead.
The Strategy: Be the brave player who points at the Elephant. Solving the obvious (but scary) problem yields the highest XP.
Rule 9: Be a Banyan Tree
A Banyan tree provides shade to everyone around it. Bhagat says you must be a giver, not just a taker.
Networking isn’t using people. It’s asking, “How can I help you?” When you help others level up, they will defend you when you are under attack.
Rule 10: Integrity (Anti-Cheat)
You can cheat to win a level, but you will get banned from the server eventually.
Honesty is a long-term strategy. It builds Reputation Points. In a world of scammers, being the honest player makes you invaluable.
Rule 11: The Final Boss
Comparison is the Thief of Joy.
The Final Boss isn’t your enemy. It is You. Stop looking at other players’ high scores on Instagram. They are playing a different game with different difficulty settings. Beat your own high score.
Game Over? No, Press Start.
The rules are simple, but the game is hard. Chetan Bhagat hasn’t given you a magic wand; he has given you a manual.
Daily Quests:
- ✅ Eat the Frog: Do the hard thing first.
- ✅ Check Stats: Did you exercise and learn today?
- ✅ Ignore Leaderboards: Don’t compare yourself to others.
The controller is in your hands. What are you going to do?
