It occurred to me recently that most people are playing the same “games” as everyone else. The most successful people play their own, very different “games”.
Most people take the usual, what Jim Collins calls the paint-by-numbers, approach to life. Graduate from college, get a good job, gradually advance to more senior positions, traditional employer-sponsored insurance and retirement package, retire around traditional age, and pursue a few late-in-life hobbies and time with family.
There is nothing wrong with this path, and many, many people have lived happy, successful lives following this path.
I see many others, particularly most of my business owner clients, who have picked a different path. Rather than play the game where they work hard for a vision someone else has built, they create and try to execute on their own, unique vision of success. Often they are unconcerned with the typical worries and concerns of the world (new cars, nicer homes, bigger bank and retirement accounts, “keeping up with the neighbors”), instead focusing on a vision that, at times, may even seem crazy. Jim Collins calls this one the try-to-paint-a-masterpiece-on-a-blank-canvas approach to life.
What fascinates me is the frustration these two groups often have for one another; a frustration resulting from trying to win two completely different games.
We all could do a better job of articulating our vision and goals. Many people are unclear on what theirs actually are. It’s impossible to achieve an unclear goal.
But that spark deep inside each group motivates completely different outcomes. Is one right? I think not. But there is better execution and implementation possible for each of them. The first group often looks at the second and says, “Yeah, but I can turn work ‘off’!” The second often looks at the first and says, “Yeah, but I have decision autonomy!” And both are right!
The key is to find your game, not to choose the one that your parents, your spouse, a teacher, or “society” tells you to play. Which one motivates you to, metaphorically, get up at 5:00 AM to practice free throws in the cold rain? That’s the game you should play. And when we find it, that (for some) very unpleasant image is just…fun!
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