Your Next Move

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Imagine your life as a game of chess or backgammon. In order to win, you have to move. At the beginning of the game you have plenty of options. That is why many people play carelessly when the game starts. Only later, when the number of options decreases, do they finally start thinking. The worst situation approaches when you have only a few choices left. And if you don't stop and start thinking really hard, you will certainly end up checkmated. In order to win at a board game or in life, start thinking as early as possible and throughout the whole game keep thinking. You cannot afford to play carelessly and to rely on mere luck if you don't want to find yourself cornered. Bad losers always blame their dice and bad luck. Most of the time they don't even know why they lost. Winners always know why they win, because they apply plans, strategies and techniques. Professional players know that there is only one best move at any given time. In chess you have computers that think through all the options and calculate the statistical probabilities according to the rules of the game. They evaluate multiple situations within seconds and then tell you exactly what to do. But how about real life? How about your life? Who tells you where to go, when to proceed, with whom and how? You can listen to an army of advisors, you can pay a counsellor or hire a coach, but in the end it is always you who has to decide about the next move. You make hundreds of right and wrong decisions every day. No matter what you do, no matter where you are, the process of deciding never stops. Open your eyes and activate your mind. Switch off the autopilot and take the helm. You can drive a racing car and you can fly a jet as long as you focus and pay attention to what you are doing. Be aware of your surroundings but don't let them distract you. Your next move can lead you away from your goal or take you one step closer to where you want to go.