Is there a point in trying to be #1 when it comes to making money online?
Is there a point in trying to be the best coach or course creator around? If so, how do you define #1?
Does everyone else agree on those terms?
In his book, Simon Sinek talks about how leaders usually don’t understand the game that they are playing. This could be said about you as well.
Do you look at your competition and wonder why they do better than you? Do you wish you could get more customers than them? Do you wish you won all of the awards?
Why?
Your goal should only be to stay in the game forever so you can keep playing. The longer you’re able to play, the better your chances of success.
Finite Game vs Infinite Game
The Finite Game has 3 characteristics:
- Known players
- Fixed rules
- Agreed upon objective
Sports are finite games. Soccer (my favorite sport) has a set of known players (the teams with 11 players each on the field), fixed rules, and an agreed upon objective (whoever scores the most goals wins).
Because of this there can only be one winner and because there is a winner it means the game ends.
You don’t get to play forever. You don’t get to see that your one goal down and time is up but request another 90 minutes to try and catch up.
Business, by its very nature, is an Infinite Game. It’s been here before us. It will be here after us.
We are simply players within it so our objective should be to play as long as possible.
So how do we make that happen?
Understanding the Game
When you understand the game that you’re playing, then you change how you make decisions. You change your approach to everything.
More importantly, you begin to see that you don’t have competition. You’re merely competing with yourself.
If I looked around at all of the people that talk to the same audience as me, then I could easily fall into the trap of trying to offer the same things that they do because I want to compete.
It means that the game that I’m playing is one where I’m trying to get the customer before them or take their customers from them.
That sounds like a horrible game.
A better game is to aim for helping people to level up. That is my only focus.
When you come to me with your problem, I don’t want to just solve it, I want you to feel like you have leveled up with things.
Thinking in those terms means I no longer look at the competition as competition. I see them as comrades. In some cases, they can help me level up the people that I come across and guess what will happen?
The “competition” will be happy with me and so will the people that level up.
So before you decide to play the game, first understand what game you’re playing.
How to Play the Game
The easiest part of the Infinite Game is playing it.
As I said before I’m here to help people level up. To do that I just need to share my knowledge and that’s what I do.
I share everything that I can that’s in my head.
But doesn’t that mean people won’t buy from me? Nope. People continue to buy from me in generous numbers and they do because I go out of my way to help them.
I give them things that they need without asking for anything in return.