Monopoly Lessons

I was a huge Monopoly fan. I’ve spent hours, days, weeks playing the game with my brother when I was a child.

I don’t play it anymore, but I’ve come to a conclusion: Unless you’re 6 years old, you don’t need to take it personal when losing.

Am I right? In the end, it was just a game. You had bad luck when rolling the dices, you made some strategic mistakes. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.

You can always play again the next day.

It’s not about you. Don’t have a tantrum. Don’t throw the board and don’t beat yourself up.

It’s just a game!

Now, what if we take that worldview, which is very mature and works, and apply it to a startup pitch not attracting investment or apply it to a piece of failed content strategy.

In all of these things, in fact, you’ve landed on the Boardwalk when somebody has a house there.

I’m sorry to break it to you, but it’s not necessarily about you.

We are playing the life game against billions other people, moving pieces, contributing, investing, even landing on already owned properties, figuring out what to roll next.

Am I right?

If you can take this perspective, the question will be: are you gonna better or worse playing the game?

But, leaving emotions and irrational thinking aside, you will get better. You can approach the game with joy, controlling the intense fear.

So we can be self-aware, conscious, mindful and say “How fascinating!” That’s much better than: “Holly shit, I don’t get it, I’m gonna fucking lose, I’m gonna be dead!”

The fear will take charge. You’ll give a fuck about way too many unimportant things. You’re not gonna die if you get that email or if you don’t get that job.

Don’t act like it’s fatal.

Play the game.