Life is NOT a Checkers Game

Life is NOT a Checkers Game

Checkers anyone ?  Sure as long as you don't take things seriously because a plurality of us end up lost in the maze, thinking that our life is a checkers game. No senor.  Ours is a game of chess.  Right from Day-1 till to date, surely you would agree that life is unfolding everyday not in a straight line, not even in a black or white scenario.  Obviously, when we finally hear the newborn baby's first cry, life looks as simple as checkers.  But that's about it.  After the first move, after Day-1, life can never be simpler from thereon.

Take it from the great American legendary hero, the late Kobe Bryant.  To quote him: 'these young guys are playing checkers.  I'm out there playing chess'.  That's a mouthful.  Let's picture things out.  Before a chess match starts, the chess board is so neat and orderly.  And that's a replica of life when you hear the newborn baby's first cry.  But that's about it.  At the first move, things will spiral.

As in chess, real life needs a strategy to begin with.  Without that direction, you're akin to a rudderless boat out there in the high seas, at the mercy of the furious and merciless waves.  Back to the chess board, after both players make just the first move, presto, 400 possible scenarios will arise.  After the second pair of turns, the possibilities suddenly sprout to 197,742 probabilities and after the 3rd move, open your eyes, there will be 121 million options.

Take it from Israel Horowitz, the American International Master who was more famous for his chess books.  As in life, he says: 'One bad move nullifies forty good ones'.  Exactly, that's how our life spins and shapes up or shakes out.  You could have taken all the right moves and made all the right decisions the past 30 days but when you woke up today, you made one harrowing decision.  That moots and negates everything you did correctly the past 30 days.  Worst, that may wreak havoc than expected.

As in chess, NEVER as in NEVER announce your moves before you make them.  Doing so will telegraph your moves.  Before you know it, you are the 'talk of the town' amongst that platoon of kibitzers out there, scratching their heads while waiting for any next moves people around will take.  Don't look farther.  Look up at Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates [and even the revered late Steve Jobs].  No one had an inkling of what they were brewing in the confines of their 'war room' until, kaboom, they would launch another earth-shaking product or commercial initiative unthinkable before.

And definitely we humans, we commit mistakes, we will own this faux pas and that.  And that's fine but as in the chessboard, when you did fall, figure out where and how you slipped because before that fall, you did slip.  And unless you fell off from a ravine or cliff, most of our falls are precipitated by a skid.  So, you gotta figure it out.  From Malaysia's Star Online @https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/health/2019/08/08/life-lessons-from-playing-chess, it says that we need to be creative in chess to create the headway or beach head that will lead us to an opportunity.  In life, to be creative is a MUST-DO.

Word of caution.  As in chess, don't take care of your ego.  Make the move that's rightful even if you need to move backwards by a couple of steps if that leads you to move forward thereafter.  As in chess, in life you gotta be strategic but if you gotta be tactical, take it, do it.  Swallow that dose of pill even if it's hard to swallow.  If taking a step backward softens the impact of your previous wrong move, then you'll be fine.

Thing is, never get scared to make a wrong move.  Committing the wrong moves makes you better prepared the next time around. And listen to this old cliche:  when a door closes, it could lead you to a window of opportunity.  So, DON'T be so hard on yourself.  You will be stronger, more circumspect the next time around.  Lastly, DON'T look back at that hard fall that cause your bruises.  MOVE on, MOVE forward.  You DON'T have to be at the level of Chess World Champion Magnus Carlsen or Filipino-American Super Grandmaster Wesley So.  Learn your lessons, that's all it takes.  📌📌📌