Play To Win, Don’t Just Avoid Losing
Playing it safe is a plague that goes directly against agile mindset and everything we do believe here at Agile Protein. Instead of taking things slow and being careful not to lose, play to win. At the same time, it would be wise to avoid harming yourself in the process.
Play To Win
If you play to win, you can actually achieve what you want. That doesn’t really sound ingenious. Thousands of people in the history said that in much more poetic words. From the sport celebrities to the scientists, everyone knows that you have to have your eyes on the prize. You have to play to win.
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” – Wayne Gretzky
If you don’t attempt to take what you want, you are absolutely guaranteed that you won’t get it. Nothing falls on your laps and neither time nor luck is on your side. There is no great achievement without hard work.
Yet, many people are fine with getting less than they could out of their lives. Some settle down because they’re scared of losing everything they have in the pursue of greatness. Others commit much bigger crime against themselves. They set up easy goals, reach them and then keep on wondering what would happen if they’ve aimed higher.
“It is better to aim high and miss than to aim low and hit.” – Les Brown
We all should remember than playing to win is the only way to reach your goals. If you want to make your vision your reality, you can’t half-ass your efforts. You’ll hardly ever exceed your own expectations. If you aim low, you’ll hit even lower.
So play to win but at the same time, it would be nice if you wouldn’t harm yourself in the process.
What If I Lose?
Unfortunately, when presented with an opportunity people still ask “what can I lose?” On one hand, that’s wise and reasonable. On the other, if you’re going to look for negatives, no deal ever is going to be good enough. You only have to look to find problems.
Because of the way our brains work, we will always find anecdotal evidence to fuel our beliefs. You can talk yourself out of any enterprise if you only set your mind to look for risks. You’ll find plenty.
It’s called confirmation bias and it’s a well-known cognitive bias. It’s the innate tendency of human beings to look for confirmation, rather than rejection of our hypothesis. We like to be right, you know. You have to consciously work against that tendency.
That doesn’t mean you should be reckless or negligent. But really, if failure won’t hurt you or your project or if the potential damage is manageable and you can easily recover then why wouldn’t you risk? Therefore, instead of asking “what if I lose?” ask yourself “if everything will go wrong, will I recover to try another day?”
Beware! Those exceptionally optimistic can’t help themselves but to see opportunities and favorable odds everywhere. Their confirmation bias will make them even more convinced that their enterprise is going to be a huge success.
If you absolutely have to, it’s better to err on the side of optimism and risk-taking rather than safety and risk-avoidance.
Dangers Of Safety
If you’re playing safe then you probably won’t lose. At the same time, it does mean that you won’t win any grand prize. It’s a recipe for mediocrity and as far as I know, no one wants to me mediocre.
Then, there’s the issue of your competition. If you’re playing safe, you’ll be surpassed by those willing to risk more than you. Some of them will lose, others will win. Those that are relentless or possess vast resources will try again, risk again and they’ll eventually get it right.
“Fortune favors the bold”
I’d argue that safety is far more dangerous than risk-taking. Especially if you work out those odds before you take any risks. Take the necessary steps that will allow you to continue your ventures in case of failure.
Cuddling up in a safe environment makes you lazy and less able to take any action whatsoever. That’s dangerous.
Play To Win, Prepare To Lose
At the core of the agile mindset there is positive approach, being ready to fail and willingness to experiment. Those three aspects bundle up to a neat sound bite: play to win. Try as many times as you have to, learn from your failures, and you’ll eventually succeed.
The most important matter would be making sure you actually can try again later. But if only you can recover after failure, you’ll eventually win.
Of course, we assume that you’re not grossly incompetent. Skill is always required in anything you do, especially if you want to become good. But even if you don’t start with all the required skills, you’ll gain them along the way if you don’t quit.
Somewhat surprisingly, we started to talk about playing to win and talked a lot about failing. But that’s the essence of that approach. You have to play to win, use all the resources you can but you can’t afford to be reckless. There is always the next time and you’ll have to be ready to try again.
So play to win but be prepared to lose.
