Playing to Win (vE1): vs. Playing Not to Lose (Heroic +1 #1,944)

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. After I wrote those last couple of plus ones, I shared them with the wifey. As we were making breakfast. She told me that I should write another plus one, talking about what she thinks is what made Emerson so fired up to go to the tournament that day that he almost didn't go to. Now I follow wifey's orders. So let's get to work. Now, after some micro flashes of frustration the night before the tournament he almost didn't go to I flipped the switch and and committed to embodying the joy, love and encouragement of being a good, wise mentor dad wingman holding high standards while maintaining high levels of warmth and support. Now, here's what Alexandra wanted me to share. After we all decided it was best to sleep on the decision of whether or not he'd play in the upcoming tournament, I told Emerson, buddy, I am so proud of you. You have worked so extraordinarily hard and consistently over the last two years. Then I said, there's always a chance that you might play poorly, but I think there's also a chance you could crush it and get your rating even higher. You want to do the math and see where you could wind up after the tournament. Enter the shift from playing not to lose by not playing at all to playing to win. Now, the US Chess Federation website has a ratings predictor widget thing that you can use to see how many rating points you might win or lose depending on how you do against your opponents. Now, this is important because this is how you become a Master, then an international master, and then a grandmaster, etc. Now, the quality of the opponents at the Austin Grandmaster Chess Academy is really high, which means that even if Emerson loses, he wouldn't lose that many points. But if he wins, he could get a lot of points, which is precisely how he got 200 points in two weeks by playing really well against really good opponents. So, long story slightly shorter. We did the math and we saw that even if he did in fact suck, he'd only lose a certain number of points and his rating would still be over 1800 and he'd still be in the top 100 for his age group. Then I said, you want to see what could happen if you won two or three or four of the games you're going to play? And he said, yeah. Now, we entered the info and there was a chance that if he played really well and won all four of his games, he could get his rating up from 1883 all the way up to 2000 which is his goal for about seven months from now. Now, the odds of him winning all four games against these players were very low because he'd have to beat a kid who is 2350, which is really, really good. But he was like, I could get to 2,000. And I was like, dude, yeah, it's crazy, but if you get three wins, you'd still be over 1900. And after a night with some upset and questioning whether he wanted to play in the tournament and all that, you know what the last thing he said to his mommy was before they fell asleep? I can get to 2000. And he woke up the next morning, decided to play in the tournament. The following day he played in the tournament. He went 3:1. And he got his US Chess Federation rating over 1900. And as always, that's more than enough about our family. Let's focus on you and your heroic family. Question time. Are there parts of your life in which you are playing not to lose and or not playing at all because you're afraid to lose? Embrace the fact that, as Campbell says, Joseph Campbell. When we're on our heroic quests, there's always a chance for a fiasco and. And there's also the chance for bliss. Let's embrace the pain, the uncertainty, and the constant hard work of life. And let's play to win all day, every day, especially today.

What's up? This is Michael, President and head coach at Heroic. One quick note before we go. I just think it's so amazing that Brian keeps reading all these books and distilling them into more wisdom and less time. By the way, thank you Brian for continuing to read the books is still them for us. I love not having to read the book, just getting them more wisdom in less time through the plus ones of Philosopher's notes. And if you're into this kind of thing, expressing the best version of yourself and using your greatest gifts make a positive impact on the world. Make sure you head to Heroic Us to check out all the other resources that we have available to you. You can download a bunch of free goodies, including Philosopher's notes, master classes, and our scientifically proven Heroic app. You can. You can also explore advanced resources to help you go next level, including live and virtual workshops, working one on one with a heroic performance coach, or even becoming a certified coach yourself as you master heroic performance, the fundamentals of coaching excellence, and heroic coaching prosperity. Again, head to Heroic Us to get the ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools you need to activate your heroic potential and change the world together. And please do hit subscribe. Appreciate you have a fantastic day and see you again soon.