Mastering the Game of Life 2.2
(Wednesday)
Context:
If you’ve played Chess, you know that it requires a great deal of decision-making in an ever-changing landscape. Just like life.
Chess is a game that develops patience as well as analytical thinking. Chess improves and develops a person’s ability to think ahead, consider the consequences of actions, and make decisions based on logic and the limited facts at hand.
To truly put this lesson in context, we’d like you to play at least one or more games of Chess this week!
Why do we encourage you to play a game of Chess? Over the last few lessons, you’ve been learning about the rules that Chess Masters follow in order to play the game at the highest level. If you want to ‘play the game of life’ at the highest level and be successful in whatever you set out to do, you need to put these rules to the test. Playing a game of Chess, even once, can help you better understand how the rules of a Chess Master can be applied in the workplace and life.
RULE 6: Study the history.
Why it’s important: You can learn a lot from history. We’ve already touched upon the idea of learning by example. In this lesson, we focus on really studying people who are successful to see their pattern of decision-making, as well as studying your own pattern or history of decision-making.
Questions to Consider
1) Do you believe studying a successful person’s approach to life could benefit you? Why?
2) Do you currently study anyone, with the goal of learning their strategy, mindset, or approach to becoming successful in whatever they choose to do?
3) When you study someone successful, or someone you admire, what two things should you pay attention to?
Consider:
Trusting Your Intuition
Excellent leaders often say that they go with their gut to make decisions. They are able to trust themselves and their expertise and not get stuck in the cycle of overthinking. The more you know about a subject, the more reliable your intuition will be.
You can become an expert at decision-making by studying those who were great at making tough decisions. But How?
Become a Student of Life
Chess Masters become a student of the game. They study the games of previous masters. They also keep notes of the moves they made for each game they’ve ever played. Why do you think they do that? How could that help them become more successful?
Watch the video.
Use this simple decision making hack.
The easiest way to start using the experience of great decision-makers is to ask yourself the question, “What would they do?”
If you respect your father, try to determine what your father would do if faced with the same situation you are in or if had to make the same decision that you now face.
If you respect the decision-making of a famous and inspirational coach or innovative and ground-breaking business person, ask yourself, what would that person do if he were in your place?
But in order for this to work, you have to study the history of that person and read about their life, their upbringing, and the struggles they faced. You would need to learn how they think, their attitude, and their mindset. The more you understand their history, the easier you can use the “What would they do? method.
What’s Your History? What can you learn from it?
When we talk about studying “the history” in order to make better decisions, that can mean learning more about your history of decision-making. It can mean learning from both the good and bad decisions you’ve made in your life.
If you examine your history of decision-making, what do you learn?
In general, would you say you make good decisions?
Can you think of one or two decisions that you made that you wish you could do over? What can you learn about those bad decisions?
What can you learn about your history of decision-making?
Answer the above questions in your journal or discuss them with other friends or family members. Ask them if they think you make good decisions.
Activity: Who Do You Admire?
Take a moment to write down three people that you admire. They can be people you know personally or someone that you have just read about. After you’ve created that list, write down why you admire them. What have they achieved? What do others admire about them? What qualities, habits, or mindsets do they possess?
Then choose one person from your list to do further research on. If it’s someone you don’t know, you can do your research on the Internet or go to the library.
Try to determine the following:
What situations or circumstances shaped them as children or young adults?
What is their mindset or life philosophy?
What decisions did they make that changed their life, and the life of others, or resulted in something incredible?
Metacognitive Goals
See if you can use the ‘What would they do?’ sometime in the next week or two when faced with a decision. Using the list created in the activity above, try to see your decision and options through their eyes.
Write down what the decision was, and if using the ‘What would they do?’ was helpful. Why or why not?
Thought of the day.
“The reality is that tomorrow is most certainly uncertain, and no matter how many expectations we form, tomorrow will come, tomorrow will go, and it will all be what it will be. ”
― Lori Deschene