How do you define a win?

For me, being memorable is more important than winning.
Ricki Lake
1968 –

Recently, writer Minerva Zimmerman shared a great story on Twitter about a chess game she’d agreed to play. Her opponent was a nationally ranked player; most would consider him an expert on the game. So she knew her odds of winning were slim to none. But she chose to take a different approach: rather than defining a win as beating her opponent, she decided that simply having fun with the game would be a win for her.

To that end, Zimmerman adopted an unconventional strategy: to protect her pawns. Her opponent, on the other hand, followed the traditional approach and was more than a little puzzled by her style of play. The game took nearly forty minutes because her opponent kept analyzing her moves, trying to understand what angle she was pursuing so he could defend against it. (He had a good laugh when the game was over and she explained it to him.)

Many people would have left this experience feeling bad because they’d been trounced by their opponent. But Zimmerman set her own goal — to enjoy herself — and she succeeded. So she walked away feeling like a winner.

There are plenty of ways to define a win. For some people, just having the experience of competing against a ranked player would be satisfying. Others might value learning a new technique or two. And some might have fun employing unconventional tactics, much like Zimmerman did.

The next time you’re faced with a potentially unpleasant situation, take the time to examine it from different angles and consider how you could re-frame it to create your own win. If you change your perspective, you’re more likely to walk away from the experience considering it worthwhile.

Thanks to Minerva Zimmerman for granting permission to share this story.

The thrill isn’t in the winning, it’s in the doing.
Chuck Noll
1932 – 2014

Copyright © 2017 John Chancellor and Cheryl Chancellor