Life Lessons From Chess

Don't underestimate consistent action

Your pawns become queens when they reach the other side of the board. Even the smallest actions build up over time and eventually lead to useful skills.

Think like a horse

Predict and play out possible futures from your perspective and other peoples’ perspective. Then act in the way that leads to the best future.

Put your greatest skills to use

Don't let your queen sit on the sidelines if you can use it to change the game. Develop skills in areas that will have a disproportionate benefit for the time invested, compared to slowly improving your weaknesses.

Position yourself

Put yourself in the position that leads to the most options. Make moves that will help you advance in your goals and open you up to other opportunities. Move to the center of the action.

Combine skills to gain an advantage

Focus on learning skills that complement each other. The combined strength of your skills is more than the sum of your separate skills.

Be unpredictable

If you play the way everyone else plays, you're both boring and easily defeated. Switch things up occasionally and explore alternative solutions to common problems. But also study the traditional paths, so you know how they compare.

Learn from the masters

Observe the experts in your field and observe their choices and mistakes. Learning from other peoples’ mistakes is usually much faster than learning from your own.

Learn from your mistakes

Study your past failures, so you can make different choices next time and win. Keep repeating this process, until you're a master.