Have you ever played chess?

Have you ever played chess?

I just started really playing a few months ago when I agreed to play one game per day (minimum) against my significant other. Now - I’m on a mission to reach 1800 elo. Elos, for anyone who isn’t familiar with chess, are a standard rating system of chess players based on their strength in the game on a consistent basis. Right now, I’m very far from 1800! But I have a plan…

I recently learned an approach to playing chess, but really to anything competitive or “graded” in life.

Don’t make mistakes.

“Well… everyone makes mistakes.”

True.

But… how did Tom Brady get to where he is today? How do straight A students get straight As? How did Gordon Ramsay become one of the biggest names in the culinary world?

They don’t mess up.

Tom Brady doesn’t throw the craziest, most ridiculous throws out there (cough cough Patrick Mahomes). Instead he throws “perfect” passes almost every time. The same thing goes for students getting straight As and for Gordon Ramsay.

“But Patrick Mahomes is still a top quarterback.”

True.

He got to the top in another way. The same way a lot of chess Grandmasters can plan out every variation of the entire chess game from the time the first piece is moved.

But that’s not how all top players get to the top. Some, just never mess up.

They never blunder.

It’s something that applies to chess but, as you can see, also to many other areas of life.

I think it applies to business as well. To health. To relationships. To most things.

If you don’t skip the newsletter, don’t skip the cold calls, don’t skip the gym, don’t skip the skincare routine, don’t skip the date night… I think you’re going to do quite well.

There’s always a right thing to do. And doing the right thing is always the right thing to do.