Discard...and Win

Imagine doing something nearly 10,000 times before you actually achieve any success.This is what Thomas Edison faced before achieving success. During the process of creating the incandescent electric lamp, Edison went through nearly 10,000 experiments before he found the one thing that worked. When asked about his many attempts Edison stated that he didn’t fail 10,000 times, he succeeded in finding 10,000 things that didn’t work.

In chess there have been many people, myself included, who have lost many games before finally winning. Some might say these people were just lucky. However luck doesn’t play a role. These players were determined and found a way to win. They tried many things. They tried different styles of play, different openings, and different strategies. Of the things they tried, they discarded what didn’t work until they found the thing that did work. Searching for what will work is not an overnight process. Like Edison you may have to go through a
multitude of things or combination of things before you find the right one that
will bring you success.

Finding the right thing takes time and planning. You must find out what you need to succeed and put together a plan of action. For example if you tend to lose games because you get behind in the opening then you must evaluate what you are doing wrong. Are you wasting time on to many pawn moves? Are you not taking control of the center? Whatever it is evaluate, plan corrective action, and win.

The situations in life that you are dealing with should be viewed in the same manner. You will have to try different things and different ways of doing things in order to find what doesn’t work. If you come up short don’t look at it as failure. Look at it as succeeding in finding things that aren’t suitable, and discard them.

You’ll be that much closer to finding the one thing that will work.  It will take time. But if you’ll evaluate, plan corrective action, you’ll win. Because don’t be fooled, it’s about winning.