So, when you sit down for a friendly game of Monopoly, how do you play? Are you ruthless from the beginning trying to take over the board as fast as you can, or do you enjoy the time together with family and friends, and the game is a secondary concern? I bet that depending on how you play, the game reflects how you play life. I could be completely wrong, but hear me out.
For me, when I play Monopoly or any other game for that matter, I want the game to last some time, I enjoy interacting with everyone, but then there is a time when I flip the switch, and it’s time to crush. Let’s just say I hate to lose. The bad thing about this, the strategy some of my friends utilize is entirely different and thus puts me at a big disadvantage. Did I tell you that I hate to lose?
These friends have the crushing mentality from the beginning of the game, and while I’m easing past St. James Place for the second time, talking to everyone and having fun, they are out there buying up strategic properties and plotting my demise. Many times when I get to the “flipping the switch” mode, the game is essentially over. The bad thing about Monopoly is your death is a prolonged agony where you have to hawk everything. You must foreclose property after property, and you know the end is close. The term “close” is usually an hour away in this evil game. There is simply no putting you out of your misery fast in Monopoly. Sometimes, like in life, you’re lucky, and the dice roll your way, and I end up doing the crushing, which is fun. It just depends on how the day plays out if you are the victor or vanquished.
Again, how you play the game can hold a glimpse of how you make decisions in real life, and a significant part of this is how do you keep score?
Score Keeping
In every game, there is a way to keep score, to tell you how you’re doing compared to everyone else. In Monopoly, the amount of properties is usually a good way to do this. So, in life, how do you keep score? This question looks inside the more important idea of what game are you playing?
How you keep score gives us insights into how you play the game of life. The funny thing is, there is no right or wrong answer to this question. This is something you can’t learn in school or copy the answers from your smart neighbor sitting to your left. The answer lies simply in yourself.
WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY? I’m starting to sound very mystic, or at least like I’ve had one too many Kung Pao chickens at my local Chinese restaurant, which is very good, by the way.
It’s funny what you start to think about when you have lots of time in quarantine and listen to lots of Tim Ferriss podcast shows, which again are all good and makes you think about subjects like this. There wasn’t one particular show, just the overall thinking of how people perceive their life or how do people play their game differently from our own.
A teacher once told me in Jr. High school, “Jay, the most important thing is to know what game you’re playing and how you’re keeping score.” At the time, this information went in one ear and out the other without really thinking about it. Looking back, this is a very profound thought, and it’s true.
He was a young teacher who loved his summers. He lived in an apartment and drove a modest Datsun type truck. He didn’t have a lot of expenses, but he loved his summer breaks. He did things like bike through France during his summer or hike around the Boulder, Colorado area. Quite simply, the world was his to discover, and he took full advantage of this.
His scorecard was measured by his happiness. To many, he probably was considered a free spirit who was out of touch with reality. He wasn’t creating wealth or investing as much as he should be, but then again, his scorecard wasn’t based on money.
It’s funny looking back; I thought he was about the coolest teacher I ever had the opportunity to run into and emulated this lifestyle when I got older with traveling the world. As you might have guessed, my scorecard is based on happiness and adventure.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve noticed with friends and myself, our scorecards change over time. Many people settle down and use the family as a marker of success. Another popular one is “impact” on others. These people want to have a positive impact on other people’s lives. They are focused on bringing good into the world with activities like charities, tutoring kids, or donating their time to church functions. Again, there is no right or wrong answer to this question. There is only you and your scorecard.
Here are some examples of games we play and different scorecards some people use.
Enlightenment – Measured by inner-peace, profound meditations, clarity
Health – Measured by physical fitness, physique, capabilities
Family – Measured by romantic dates, a wedding, a house, kids, good schools
Impact – Measured by lives touched, improved, saved
Enjoyment- Measured by smiling, laughing, enjoyable trips
Power – Measured by the level of influence, title, perception by society
Money – Measured by salary, investments, assets
The list goes on, and they’re a million different scorecards someone can use.
So why is it important to know what game your playing and how you keep score?
Let’s take a look at a young couple Cindy and Jim. They recently started dating, and Jim is playing the money and power game. He’s in banking and is looking for that big promotion and the perks that come with working for a major bank. Cindy, on the other hand, is more interested in enjoying her time now or living in the moment. She enjoys having fun with friends, traveling the world, and mountain biking on the weekends. They are bound to run into trouble if they don’t tell each other what game they’re playing. While it’s easy to assume that everyone is playing the same game, in reality, each of us has a slightly different scorecard.
Consciously or unconsciously, we are all playing a game and prioritizing our goals. It’s possible to play multiple games at once, but there are tradeoffs in doing this. The decisions we make in life are more complicated, just like in any business.
The beauty of life is that we get to choose our game, and we can change it anytime we want to. It behooves us to be mindful about the game we’re playing along with the game’s others are also playing. It’s easy to stumble onto someone else’s Monopoly game only to find out that we’re playing the game completely different. Just remember that we are in control of our own game, and winning is subjective, depending on who’s scoring. In short, play your own game.
So, what game are you playing, and how are you keeping score?