Are You Playing the LONG GAME

Are You Playing the 'LONG GAME'

Our lives can never be simple as we want it to be.  Truth of the matter, life itself is a complex web of intertwined equations with variables and unknowns.  But the question that keeps bugging us is how do we discern that indeed we are  playing the 'LONG GAME' [or NOT] ?  That is a very crucial unknown that needs to be pinned down because we need to align our actions with the realities.  Because at the end of the day, it is NOT for life to adjust to us but instead, it is for us to tweak and twist ourselves to the turns that is popping up in our life.

But do you know that TO PLAY THE LONG GAME, you gotta get yourself into the much shorter game ?  Taking a leaf from that old adage, a JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND STEPS STARTS WITH A FIRST STEP.  So, let's not be overwhelmed and get misguided by the thought that long-term goals need a long-term approach.  Because that statement is double-edged.  Because it all boils down to taking the correct first step for you to be on track.  Take that misstep and you are far from taking the next misstep as well.  

Let's even take the most simplistic example of gaming.  How will you approach that kind of gaming ?  It's either way.  If that is a one-off thing, obviously, you'll take the short game but where you are into a grueling marathon, the way to go is to PLAY THE LONG GAME.  If you're a student, are you aiming for high grades within the semester?  Or are you aiming for honors when you graduate ?

To simplify things, nothing beats setting long term goals because our trek in life is never short-term.  Let's talk about relationships ?  How come things are siZZLING so hOt at the start and yet things seem to fiZZLE out in the long run ?  Simple.  It's because either or both partners were playing the short game rather than the long game  Not that they treated it as a one-off thing but by skipping or failing to set your LONG-TERM GOALS, you end up getting trapped into the cocoon which is very much a short-term game.  If that couple framed their relationship for the long haul, they could be very likely still together till now.

Now, before you get me wrong, you might ask me:  DOES PLAYING THE LONG GAME assure me of SUCCESS ?  No Senor.  No Sir.  You still have to eke things out but what's the difference when you PLAY THE LONG GAME, by default, you will have more options, more iterations to play around your options before you finally take that shot.  Lesson here:  NEVER FAIL to SET your LONG-TERM GOALS✅✅✅