I have been thinking about games a lot the last couple weeks.  It is the start of another Purdue Basketball season so I am naturally excited about that.  I have also been dabbling in the world of chess.  Mistakes in a game can make you lose really fast.  These kinds of mistakes are easy to catch.  In sports you don’t pass the ball to the other team.  In chess you want to protect your king.  There is also another kind of mistake that like wolves on an elk, takes you down slowly.

My beloved Purdue Basketball team made such a mistake last night.  They played well and got a 20 point lead over Miami.  They then proceeded to squander that lead and lose.  There are a lot of reasons for this, and I’m not a basketball mind so I’ll stick to the one mistake I noticed.  They allowed Miami to take initiative and control the style of the game.  Styles matter, and if you play the style that suits your opponent you’re in a lot of trouble.  Their mistake was allowing the style to change, and it took half the game to catch up to them.

Games are simple, so they are a good way to learn some basic strategies to take back to life.  We can see what works and what doesn’t work in a vacuum.  In life it’s a bit harder to see which moves are smart and which are blunders.  In chess I make certain kinds of mistakes.  I can’t help but wonder if I make those kinds of mistakes in life.  I also do some really cool stuff on the chess board.  Things that win me some games in a fun fashion.  If I can make those moves on a chess board, can I make them in life?

These are the kinds of things I have been thinking about lately on my long meditative walks.  I’ll try some of the strategies from the chess board out in real life.  That is a little bit of game theory that I can get behind.

Every week I spend a lot of time reading and looking for new ways to get stronger, healthier and more awesome.  Here are some of the best things I have found this week.

Strength And Conditioning

What you think is a mobility problem could actually be a stability problem.  https://www.elitefts.com/education/does-mobility-or-stability-come-first/

Another option for training the lower body with bands, because lockdown.  These are something I definitely need to work into the rotation.  https://www.t-nation.com/training/tip-a-band-built-butt-is-a-superior-butt

Career and Mentality

An article on creativity with some ideas I enjoyed.  https://markmanson.net/boring-ways-to-become-more-creative