Topics: Calm Productivity Self-discovery
- Humans define success as “following your own interests and talents to become the best you can be at what you care about most.” (97% agreement, Gallup survey, 2019)
- The best way to reach this state is to play “the infinite game” because: ^b616c3
- Baby steps beat Herculean feats, powered by the fact that
- People follow the path of least action, and
- Internal scorekeeping is a virtuous cycle
- To maintain that aligned state of being (required to play, and thus succeed), we need to play solely “for the love of the game”, where the work is the reward (writing > the book; composing > the song). As a result:
- Passion follows: Passion is the fruit of craftsmanship
- and happiness follows that: Become extraordinary to create happiness
- We can Align with being through personal discovery
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play. - James Carse
The Problem With Winning
Traditional career and life milestone goals crumble under the simple question: “then what?”. After an anticipated promotion, new job, or album release, many become lost. Although goals are helpful set-points towards positive change, they could sabotage long-term thinking (the fix: Set smaller goals). Playing to win means the game has an end.
Someone with an aligned state of being can always answer “Then what?” ⇒ “Then I keep doing what I do”. Thus, focus on maintaining an aligned state of being; the most sustainable goal you could have.
Success and happiness ensue as an emergent result of that pursuit.
References
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant Gallup 2019 Success Survey (see: chapter 8 of The Pathless Path)