I play a game of soccer every weekend. It’s a fun game that’s just the right amount of competitive – enough that we care about scoring/winning and not so much that it ruins anyone’s mood or threatens a dangerous tackle.
One of the things I’ve observed is that my results are correlated with what I optimize for.
If I optimize for just having fun – defined by running as much as I can and spending more time up front – there’s a higher chance we’ll let easy goals through.
If I optimize for winning, I’ll be doing less of both running or spending time up front, but there’s a higher chance our defense will be better. Being a team player comes with trade-offs.
It’s just a game of weekend soccer. Even so, there’s a powerful lesson to be learnt in strategy and trade-offs.
There are learning opportunities everywhere we look.
