Life and Chess

I believe in chasing goals and dreams. I believe that the path towards a dream unfolds an extraordinary learning process, producing extraordinary people, and extraordinary results. But, perhaps the most amazing thing is that the value of success is far surpassed by the value of the journey.

I believe failure is underrated. I believe it’s better to set a goal and fail, than to never set one at all. Because what you learn in the process, will help you achieve bigger goals in the future.

When I was in middle school, my father and I would play chess for hours every day. And I would lose… everyday. But, he always insisted on teaching me lesson, as he did with everything in life. So, with every defeat he would preach, “Learn from your mistakes” or my favorite, “The only way to win, is to lose.” I understood him, but normally brushed his teachings aside – I just wanted to win! I always lost to him; he never played, unless he played his best. My goal, my dream was to beat him, and with every loss, I became a stronger player. Until finally, after scores of grueling bouts, I won.

After that we played chess less and less. The intense desire to defeat my father had faded, and in turn my skill ceased to grow. But I was able to take my playing elsewhere, as a new chess tournament started at my school – I wanted to be the champion. But, while all of my peers were busy winning, I was busy losing. To my surprise I took the first place trophy quite easily. But I know now, that I won simply because I had lost the most.

A couple of years later, I found out I wasn’t the great player that I thought I was. I played a friendly game against a kid in my summer camp, and it was the fastest game I’d ever seen. I knew from the first couple of moves that he was going to win; he never hesitated and he moved quickly. I couldn’t even fathom being as good as he was. He must have lost even more games than I had.

When I look back on those days of playing chess against my father, I become aware of the power of setting goals. My devotion to beating my father, had transformed me into an extraordinary learner, and I did great things. I believe this transformation occurs in all the goals we set. I believe goals make minds sponges for knowledge, and failure becomes the greatest teacher. So now, I try to set as many goals as I can, and failure is not invited, but welcomed. Because, I believe every goal is just one more chess game in the game of life.