A little win streak goes a long way for one’s confidence.
But had to play a new guy in the racquetball tourney today. Already got the scouting report from Shawn, so I wasn’t too worried. But I was kind of thinking – maybe Shawn gave me a bogus scouting report. So I was nervous going into the game. How different would his game be from Shawn’s? What would I have to adapt to?
It reminded me of playing Othello. I used to play with my father and mother tons as a kid. I learned to play pretty good. I loved the tag line – a minute to learn, a lifetime to master. Cause I thought I had mastered it pretty fast. Catherine and I played a bit at UCSD even. I felt I was pretty good.
But I was sheltered.
I played once during grad school, looking for a new way to waste my time. At Yahoo even. And got spanked. So I played again, cause I didn’t even understand how I got spanked. One more time, just to make sure. Yup, I’m still getting spanked and I don’t know why. Played one more time slowly. Thought about the game for a while. Then I got the idea.
Growing up, we always fought for the most pieces. These folks at Yahoo (back in 1995 or so) were not taking the most pieces, they were taking the least.? Taking the least, limits the moves one can make down the line, which in turn, gives the player with the least pieces the advantage near the end of the game, and well, the end game is all that matters.
Took that game home to my pops. Schooled him. Learned him. But he picked it up. And then was disappointed that there was no one else to play that style with…the early bird. I added the algo to a little blackberry app even.? Needs more work on the end game, to beat sophisticated players, but will give the sheltered player a pretty good game.
Ideas spread. Defenses change. Offenses change. Othello strategies change. Racquetball strategies change. Need to evolve to surive and succeed.?
Why would anyone expect the competitive environment at work to be any different?
[Shawn didn’t give me a bogus scouting report…the guy said I was even better than Shawn. But I think it was cause I let him score more points against me, so he was probably in a better mood, and thus, gave the compliment…how else could one explain how he’d say I was better, even though Shawn beat him more handily?? Fun how intuition is a sneaky beast, huh?]