When everything you’ve been working on appears to be lost, what then?

You thought your work was good and opening up possibilities, but it turns out it’s being seen as something else.

This is a finite game scenario.  Only so many can play, the task (goal) is set, and the rules are unchangeable: You’ve created some great stuff but this is what you were supposed to make.

The sentence before the last is the important one: This is a finite game scenario.  

Keep going.

The infinite game continues.  In the infinite game, what you’ve been doing and making is recognised as valuable, and the game will do whatever it can for you to make this contribution for as long as possible – even changing the rules if you’re finding yourself being edged out.

Seth Godin compares thermometers and thermostats.  Thermometers are the people who’ll tell us how we’re doing – or not – in the finite game.  Thermostats make it possible to sync inner and outer worlds.

For me, this focuses on the one person, to try and be someone who lives between the truth or reality of a person’s life and the possibilities.  This captures my attention every morning.  For you it will be something else – different – but powerfully.

Don’t lose it.  Play the infinite game.

(Check out Seth Godin’s blog, which asks, “What is School For?”  There’s a link to a great video in this blog.)