My goal isn’t to win. It’s to remove the option for failure.
I don’t play chess very often, but earlier today I was playing a game against an entire class of students. The entire class spoke Dutch, and I know very little Dutch. So, they were basically able to speak freely while I tried to capture fragments of what they were discussing. Meanwhile, I was slaughtering them on the board. Repeatedly.
They were even googling opening moves that could let them win and try to beat me. Sometimes they won and then went right back to losing. See, most chess players play to win; and somewhat defensively. Me? The first piece I am usually trying to take off the table is the queen — even at the cost of my own queen. I’m not playing to win — I’m playing to keep my opponent from having the option of winning. This isn’t a defensive play style — it is straight-up offensive.
I’m usually only engaging a small portion of my pieces while the opponent is trying to figure out how to deal with fewer and fewer options as time goes by and pieces are captured one after another. I’m trying to understand their strategy and disrupt it, not beat it. If I identify a piece that is important to their strategy, I immediately make it a target. Then again, I keep going after whatever piece is important.
It is very often my opponent ends up with a table full of pawns against a table full of pawns. And again, I keep going.
It’s a fun game, but while I was playing, I realized this extends to the rest of my career. I often design the things around me such that the only option is success. I continuously fight to remove any option that can result in failure.
Don’t get me wrong, I still fail. I still make mistakes and have blind sides like everyone else does. But my strategy is different from most other people. Most people play to win. Me? I just remove the option to lose.