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Health & Fitness

Mission Control

Have a mission and win.

Chess is a challenging and can be difficult. It is a game of thought, planning, anticipating, and reacting. These skills are used in order to win the game which is your only mission in chess.  Your mission is the organizing principle or the big picture of what you will accomplish. It is the reason for doing what you are doing. Checkmating your opponent is the main reason for playing chess.

 In order to accomplish your mission in chess or in life you must devise a strategy. Your strategy is the plan of action or the things you have to do to accomplish the mission. When devising a strategy tactics come into play. Tactics are the steps and things you do to make sure your strategy is achieved. The tactics will lead to the resources that you will need to accomplish your mission. This in turn will lead to the activities you will engage in in order to obtain or keep the resources you have acquired. For example the overall mission in chess is to checkmate you opponent. To do this you could devise a strategy to go to an endgame, promote a pawn to a queen and ultimately beat your opponent. The tactics or steps to carry out the strategy could be to trade your pieces, attack the King side, and control key squares. To do this you’ll need sufficient resources in the form of sufficient pieces to attack and enough time on the clock, if you’re playing with one. The activities you’ll engage would be to put your pieces in positions to be traded and control key squares. These things will ultimately lead to winning.

 Life is no different than playing chess. You should have an overall mission or reason for your life and for your existence. For example say if you have a burning desire to help people with their problems and you believe that is your mission in life. So you decide to be a psychologist and obtain a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. This is your strategy. The tactics you would employ would be to apply and be accepted to college, study hard, and get your degrees. The resources that would lead to employing your tactics would be money for school, time, a job, and job flexibility. The activities would be applying for grants and loans, flex time at work etc.

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I’ve seen people employ this course of action and win at chess and in life. I’ve also seen people refuse to do this, lose and give up chess and give up in life. One of the laws of physics states that energy can never be lost or gained it is redirected or employed somewhere else. It’s similar with having an overall mission. If you don’t have one then you’ll be helping someone else with their mission, whether you know it or not.

All top performers in their field whether they are Attorneys, Salesman, Architects, Coaches, Generals, Housewives, Car wash attendants, or business owners have started their rise to the top with an overall mission for their life. You may have done the same in your life without realizing it and achieved success. Or you may have not done these things and wonder why you can’t get anywhere. The bottom line is obtaining a mission is one of the single most important thing a person can do in their life because having a mission means having control, on the chessboard and in life.

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