Linda and I played Settlers of Catan over at Aaron and Char's last night.
Char whooped us again.
She acts almost guilty about it. I told her not to, I was going to keep playing until I figured out how to win.
I think it's just that I'm so vocal in defeat. (Imagine that, me being verbal about something.) Not a sore loser, really, but expressive.
After a while, she couldn't help but start giving advice. "You know, Duncan. If you put a road there...." Or she'd kind of go, "Uh, are you sure about that...?" At first, I was a little irked by her advice, but I could see that she was right, so after she won the first game handily, I started taking some of her advice.
I started saying, "What should I do now, Obi-char?"
"Is this a good move, Jedi-master?" At least I think she's Jedi. She might be Sith...
Nah, she's Jedi.
After one of my frustrated outbursts, she turned to Linda, and shook her head. "Frustration, there is much in this one. Ready, he is not...."
I think she just sees the board more clearly. Figures out the angles much quicker.
It's good for me. I can tend to think I'm so smart. Running my own business, there is no one to contradict me. I start to get a little full of myself. So it's humbling when everyone is better at a strategic game than I am.
I've started to notice a few things:
I'm always trying to correct the mistakes of the last game.
I'm addictive when I'm not winning. I want to keep playing until I win.
I tend to focus on one part of the board too much.
I tend to set all my moves in preparation of beginning to get going, getting ready to get started to start thinking about winning. And then the game is over.
Wait, what does that remind me of?
Oh, yeah. My business. It's a great analog to my business. Always preparing for the future, which never quite arrives. Always trying to correct the last mistake. It's something to think about as I approach the endgame of my career. (Not this minute mind you, but in the next decade or so...."
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I can't tell you how many games of Settlers I've played, but I can tell you never once did I win.
Typically we played with five people, and I tried every strategy under the sun with no luck. I also think people were reluctant to trade resources with me because they were always worried I was two steps ahead and already planning my victory parade.
I'd often try to follow the strategy of the person who won the previous game only to have someone else find a more efficient way to win. I guess the lesson there is just because you can duplicate the success of someone else, or at least mirror their plan, that doesn't mean you won't lose eventually.
The same could be said for a lot of the Bend businesses, just because you are capable of doing what you've seen someone else do is no guarantee of success.
I would get so focused on a particular path to victory that I probably missed other opportunities along the way. I wonder how many stores go out of business because they're on autopilot, copying someone else's business model and don't have the sense to make changes when it isn't working?
At least I was only playing Settlers when I was being stupid.
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