Marriage is like a game of chess except the board is flowing water, the pieces are made of smoke and no move you make will have any effect on the outcome.
I have held this chess image for awhile, waiting to write a musing on how critical chess is to life in general. There are hundreds of great quotes I might have picked akin to:
Critical thinking is the most important factor with chess. As it is in life, you need to think before you make decisions.
Hikaru Nakamura
But then I saw Jerry’s quote and looked at my image and laughed. So true.
Chess is an amazing game. I believe it should be a mandatory class in elementary school. And again in each of the three levels of school. The grey logic one learns in playing chess is invaluable in all life experiences. In chess, you must think 3+ moves ahead and contemplate how each of those moves would most likely play out. If I move here, they would move there, then I would move here and they would move there… etc.
Life and business and everything else operates from a continuous flow of information in, contemplation following, and leading to an action or a decision. Given that the myriad opportunities that face us over a lifetime could have such massively disparate outcomes, we are wise to learn how to contemplate how any of our choices will impact us going forward.
Chess is the single greatest tool for teaching grey logic, because it compresses this teaching lesson into small parcels in which we may make decisions and discover (given the opponent with whom we are playing) how well our decision making skills have evolved and with each and every loss in chess, we are further able to determine our personal strengths and weaknesses.
I hope your Wednesday is off to a great start!
If you like what you are reading in the blog, you will even love the book more. Take a free preview below and watch the Sizzle Reel. It will give you a sense of how this book might be of help in your life when you are looking to make some tough decisions.
Changing the world…One thought at a time.
This book is written for you. Whether you are just embarking on your journey in life, or if you are a seasoned veteran, we all have so much more to learn. Lessons from the Mountain is a conversational exploration of countless topics of personal and professional self help.
Mr. Weiner has collected a diverse assortment of thoughts from the great sages of the last two millennia, each sparking personalized discussions, intended to stimulate you into deeper contemplation of the subjects that intrigue you.
Leveraging his experiences in building The Illusion Factory and then, Sizzle, Mr. Weiner reflects on numerous moments of engagement that are relevant to all of us as we navigate our path in life.
In this zen entrepreneurial discussion, the myriad topics range from:
• Narrowing choices to increase opportunity
• Assuaging a hurt ego
• Managing the depression that comes with a failure
• Learning to continuously improve
• Owning your mistakes
• Increasing your likelihood for success
• Making ethical choices
• Pursuing seemingly impossible goals
• Coping with a loss
• Making unpopular decisions
• Communicating with compassion
• Learning to collaborate with others more skilled than you
• Accepting your reality, while working to change it
• Stopping bullies in their tracks
• Letting go of anger
• Deepening self-respect
• Understanding love
• Making the planet a better place
• Taking giant risks and succeeding
• The elusive pursuit of happiness
• The art of honesty and friendship
• Following your heart
• Overcoming PTSD
• Learning when to become impartial
• Questioning reality
• The probability of UFOs
• Attracting positive outcomes
• The benefits of being a zen entrepreneur
and many other interesting topics of exploration.
The book has been written over a couple of years of climbing a mountain in the darkness in order to be atop for the sunrise. Photos from those journeys accompany the beautifully illustrated aphorisms, whose content spark each of the philosophical discussions.
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