Playing Chess When Everyone Else is Playing Checkers

One of my goals has been to learn how to play chess. My wife tried showing me a few times, but we just don’t have time to play chess the amount of time that it would take to teach me. So, I finally went out and found an app to show me what to do. The result, I’m horrible! The good news is that I finally fully understand what people mean when they say they are playing chess and everyone else is playing checkers. The first few moves don’t take a lot of thought. After that, every single move you must think. You have to be strategic; you have to decide what you are willing to give up. You have to anticipate what your opponent is willing to give up and you have to risk it sometimes when you think your opponent isn’t paying attention. I’ve always heard that playing chess teaches you life lessons. After playing for only a few weeks, I can verify that this is one hundred percent true. When they say you have to be thinking at least five moves ahead, five is the minimum. Now when I make a decision, or I walk into a situation I am always trying to anticipate everything. I also seem to notice when people aren’t paying attention. It’s frustrating not being as good as I want to be, but I’m also finding it to be refreshing. I’m enjoying learning something new. I also read a book about strategic thinking. I’m trying to take something that I think is a weakness and turn it into a strength. It’s amazing how often we walk into situations every single day and we attack them the same exact way every time. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. I think a different way of looking at that is going into every single day with the same game plan or mindset but expecting it to work every time. Things change on a daily basis. How often do you hear that you or your company is slow to change? We are slow to change because we attack every single day the same way. I think it’s great to have a daily work start up ritual, but some days are just different. We all have those days where we know we are walking into a crazy situation. What is our plan on how to treat these days differently? Some days we have a very small focus area, other days it seems like we are asked to pay attention to the whole world, we can’t treat those days the same. The more I thought about myself, I really believe that being strategic is a lost art. It’s an art that few people know and even fewer teach. Maybe that is why I was so intrigued at learning chess. I read a long time ago that gamifying things helps people learn. I was never into video games, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy games. The biggest lessons I have learned so far playing chess that I feel like I can take to my everyday life are that you have to know all the pieces and what they do. That is the lesson that is taking me the longest in chess. Every time I think I am getting the hang of it, one of the pieces that I don’t normally deal with comes in and takes out half of my pieces. Then I feel like I am prepared for that piece and one of the pieces from before attacks me and takes me out. When I think about going to work, what is everyone capable of? How often do I put someone in a position to fail because I give them a task, they just aren’t capable of doing. I agree that we need to push people, but that is different than making someone do something they don’t know how to do. Be smart, Be strategic! Know what you have and be smart about how you use everything! Be ready for obstacles. It’s a great feeling when you have anticipated a move and then it happens. It makes you crazy when your opponent does something that you didn’t see coming. You make a move, and you see the next four moves. Next thing you know before you get to move number two, your opponent comes in and takes out your key piece. You are left trying to figure out a whole new game plan, it’s very humbling. Don’t be caught off guard or come to work not prepared. Finally, keep working. The day you stop learning is the day that you get left behind. It’s ok to have a setback, it’s not ok to get passed because you stopped trying!