You know how in movies, lectures and books, for some reason, as soon as somebody is talking about strategy or just anything even remotely related to strategy, they always bring up that old game of chess?
I mean, it's not the worst comparison out there, but let's be real, it's got its limits and downsides.
Picture a chessboard.
Those pieces?
Well, they're like obedient soldiers, following your every command.
Both players can see the whole damn board, all the pieces laid out like a Sunday picnic.
But then there's life.
Oh boy, it laughs at predictability.
It's all kinds of messy and doesn't stick to a script.
It’s all like, "Hey, here's some incomplete info, deal with it."
Also, those pieces in life aren't just black and white; they come in all shades of crazy.
That top-down view, the one where you're seeing the grand plan from above?
That's a luxury reserved for daydreams.
Get real, you're down in the trenches.
Life's a wild ride, this never-ending stream of curveballs you're constantly dodging.
Having room to think and breathe?
Well, good luck with that.
So, back to the big question.
Is chess really the way to explain how we make decisions and strategize in this messy thing called life?
Well, for most of us, probably not.
In walks Venkatesh Rao onto the scene with his mind-bending concept of “Tetris thinking”.
Venkatesh is typing now:
“…books on decision-making traditionally introduce analogies between life and games. Chess, Go, poker, casino games and football are the usual suspects. I prefer an unlikely candidate: Tetris.
Like other games Tetris is a closed world, but it models the primary processes in open-world risk management – dealing with increasing entropy and consciously choosing your path to death — very well. Playing Tetris helps you hone entropic decision-making skills… The purpose of the game is to position and stack blocks of various shapes that fall from the ceiling to the floor of a tall, rectangular game-play screen. Compact, filled rows at the bottom disappear by sinking through the floor, while poorly packed rows with holes persist. Over short periods, the height of the stack can go up or down, but over longer periods, it inevitably rises, and you have a gradually shrinking amount of vertical space above the stack to maneuver new blocks into place.
There is a vicious cycle: If your current decision is poor, your next decision becomes harder, since bad decisions raise the stack height, leaving you with fewer options and less time to make the next decision. Eventually, the stack hits the ceiling, and you die. “
So there you have it.
Chess?
Nah, ditch the chessboard and embrace the falling blocks.
Your life is an infinite game of Tetris.
Sounds terrible, doesn’t it?
Trust me, it’s not as bad as it might seem.
Here’s the deal.
Your only opponent is you.
In this Tetris of life, you're not going head-to-head with someone else; it's you against yourself.
You versus your own decisions.
It’s all about thinking on your feet.
Life doesn't hand you a script; you've got to adjust on the fly.
Plans?
Sure, they're great, but more often than not, life's like "Plot twist!" and you're adjusting on the fly.
Reacting?
Yeah, that's the norm, following some pristine blueprint is a luxury you can't always afford.
It doesn't stop until you die.
Life's not giving you a timeout.
There are no pauses, no breaks.
It's a non-stop rollercoaster till the lights go out.
It throws you so many unexpected challenges, in different shapes and colours every time.
When you clear a line, boom, it's gone, and you've got space to tackle the next one.
And the next one.
There's no "Game Over" screen here, it's like a never-ending juggling act, with pieces raining down without mercy.
Now, let's talk speed.
Things don’t get harder — they just get faster.
The rules stay the same, from the first piece to the last.
The only thing that changes is the speed.
The more you play, the tougher things get.
So buckle up and keep up because in this Tetris of life, giving up just isn’t an option.
Be ready because there might not be time to get ready.
Thinking ten steps ahead?
Forget about it.
In Tetris life, you've got your eyes on one row at a time.
All you have is now.
You can only see the next piece in the lineup, so you're all about making the most of what's right in front of you.
Get past your mistakes fast.
Oops, you mess up?
Happens to the best of us.
In the heat of it all, you might plunk a piece in the wrong spot.
Can't rewind, no do-overs, there's no undo button – you're stuck with what you've got.
The only option?
Deal with it, clear it, and move on.
Or you'll hit that dreaded "Game Over" faster than you can say "Tetris."
Time is your most precious currency.
There’s no room for endless pondering, get moving.
Life rewards action, not intelligence.
A timely decision that can be fine-tuned trumps waiting for the picture-perfect one that's set in stone.
Here's a sneaky one, ever heard of "decision debt”?
It’s like the death of a thousand cuts.
Small slip-ups here and there?
They add up over time, and trust me, undoing them's hurts.
Accomplishments disappear.
In the blink of an eye.
Just when you think you've got a clear row, the next challenge drops down.
Most of the time you don’t get what you want.
Life won't always give you what you wish for.
You might want that L-shaped piece to complete your masterpiece, but hey, the game's got other plans.
Make the best out of whatever you're given.
Make it work, no matter what piece lands next.
Control where it goes, but don't stress over what you can't control.
Just like any game, the more you play, the better you get.
Now, the grand finale: you can't "win" at life.
You can only control how quickly you lose.
Don’t play to win — play to play.
So, let's get real here.
Life is a lot more like Tetris.
Stop playing it like chess.
PS. Do you struggle to set yourself apart from your competitors? Does your tone of voice lack a little personality? Either way, get in touch and I’ll help you become remarkable. Or get more communication advice that doesn't suck here.
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