When I was unplugged for the seven days I was in Bali (to avoid crazy roaming data charges), the only entertainment I had was a book (a Christmas present) and my iPhone.

I made it a point that in those seven days, I would have completed all levels of Angry Birds Seasons with three stars. Prior to me leaving for Bali, I had one level with only one star and many levels still with two stars. Felt challenged, I not only completed Angry Birds Seasons with three stars, I also managed to complete Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit from tier 1 to tier 4 before the year turned 2011.

Needless to say, the book was not read as much, but I still managed to read about 100 pages of it (and learned a lot from that book in the process).

If there’s anything Angry Birds Seasons taught me, it’s patience, thinking out of the box, and ultimately persistence. It’s the patience to wait for one level each day, it’s thinking out of the box to try out new things and sometimes not-so-obvious choices, and ultimately persistence to try 10, 20, 30 times (or whatever it takes) to get three stars in every single level.

It may only be a 99-cents game, but it can teach you a lot.