How Business Is Like A Game Of Chess

I love chess.

It was one of the first “intellectual” activities I ever learned that filled me with confidence.

I never really felt like I belonged in college – I was surrounded by smart people. A+ students. Engineers. Future accountants. I was just kind of adrift.

And I was bad at chess. When I first started playing, I would get beaten over and over again.

But it was fun. And every time I played, I got a little better. I learned the rules. I started seeing patterns.

Eventually, I started beating people. Those really smart people I was telling you about. And it felt amazing.

This was a few years before I started building businesses, but it had a profound impact on the trajectory of my life.

Now, ten years after I started playing chess I have multiple employees, an e-commerce store that did $1.2 million in revenue last year, a real estate company, and more.

In this post, we’ll take a look at how business is like a game of chess – because they are similar in so many ways.

THE FIRST STEP IS TO LEARN THE RULES

You have to learn how to play.

That is the first step, both in business and in chess.

Really, in any game and anything you do in life.

Take the time to learn the rules. Invest in education, whether that is books, courses, or mentorship. Watch YouTube videos. Connect with other players.

And give yourself the time and space to put it all together. You’re not going to become an expert chess player overnight – and you won’t become an expert businessman overnight either.

But if you commit to learning the rules and playing the game, you will start making progress.

WORK BACKWARDS FROM THE END GOAL

In chess, every action you take should be moving towards getting a checkmate. That is the most important thing, and it is your guiding light.

In business, everything you do should move you closer to making a profit.

Yes, sometimes you need to play defensively, but really, it should all be in service of getting a checkmate in chess and profiting in business.

This is the end goal and should be your guiding light in every decision you make, whether in chess or business. Speaking of which…

DON’T WASTE YOUR MOVES

Let me tell you a little story. Back in 2017, I was in a mastermind with a group of other entrepreneurs. We are all interested in building niche sites.

In our monthly checkup, we asked how things were going. One guy said he hadn’t launched his site yet because he was custom coding it all.

We took a look at the site – it was terrible.

He had spent months, and hundreds of hours of work, making something that I could have made in ten minutes with Bluehost and WordPress. And it would have looked better and been more functional had I set it up that way.

In chess, I’ve come across tons of players who, when they don’t know what to do, push a pawn out, or move a knight for the sake of making a move.

Don’t waste your moves. Remember, you should always be trying to make the most optimal move – towards profiting in your business, and towards securing a checkmate in chess.

YOU WILL MAKE BLUNDERS

People struggle with this one, but it’s the truth.

You’re going to make mistakes. You are going to make moves that you think are genius, only to realize you left your Queen open to be taken.

And it stings. Both in business and chess. You are going to have off-games, it happens. It’s inevitable.

But you can’t let it keep you down – when you hit a rough patch in your business or make a bad move in chess, you have to dust yourself off and keep going forward.

Some of my best months of business have come after some of the hardest hits I’ve taken. Some of the best chess games I’ve ever played have come after accidentally giving up my queen.

Dust yourself off, lick your wounds, and keep moving forward. Because the mistakes can never truly be eliminated, you can mitigate them and get better at rebounding.

PATTERNS EVERYWHERE

As you start to play the game of business and chess over and over again, you will start noticing patterns.

This is great because the more you play, the less conscious thought it was take to make the right move.

You will start going from having to think about every little move you make to having unconscious knowledge of what to do next.

You will start noticing trends, as well. Sure, there are a million different possible chess openings you could do – but there are five that are most common.

The first time you have a tough sales month, you might freak out a bit. But after a few years of being in the business game, you might realize your sales always hit a slump after Valentine’s day, but then bounce back.

You need to play the game, whether it be chess or business, long enough to start recognizing patterns – and then it’ll become significantly easier.

YOU’RE PLAYING AGAINST YOURSELF

Initially, this might not seem obvious.

I’m playing against myself? What do you mean? No, in chess, I’m playing against the opponent sitting across from me. In business, I’m playing against my competitors.

Sure, both of those things are true. But, when you get to the point where you start mastering things, you’ll realize you are playing against yourself. What do I mean by that?

Both in chess and business, you’re playing against your limitations. You’re playing against your own worst impulses.

What do I mean by this? Maybe you’ve reached a point where you’ve stagnated – you know you should read a book on an area of expertise that you’re lacking in, but you really don’t want to today.

That’s what I’m talking about.

Sure, you need to learn how to play the game. You need to put in the practice and the reps to get good and have a working knowledge.

But eventually, you’ll realize that it’s you you are competing against. Your own worst impulses.

This is what keeps the game fun though!

THE LEARNING NEVER STOPS

I’ve been building businesses since 2016, and I’ve been playing chess since about 2012.

Even after all this time, I am still learning.

Sure, I know way more than I did when I first started. I can hold my own as a decent chess player, and I make a decent income through my various businesses.

But I’m still learning. The learning never stops.

There’s always room to grow. There’s always someone who is a better player, both in the game of business and the game of life, and you should always be trying to learn from them.

IT’S NOT ABOUT ANY ONE GAME

It’s inevitable. You’re going to lose a game of chess sometimes. Think about it – even grandmasters lose.

And in business, you’re going to have off-days. You might even have off months or off-years.

But it’s not about that. It’s about the long term. It’s about being in the game long enough to win more than you lose.

THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IS TO PLAY

So many people say they want to start a business, but they’re afraid.

They’re afraid of failure. They’re afraid of losing money.

They’re afraid of sitting down and learning how to play chess because they’re afraid they’ll look dumb.

And I get it – it’s not easy. It’s not easy to learn how to play chess. It’s not easy to have a rough week where your profits are down.

But the truth is, the only way to win is to play. If you never start playing, you’ve already lost.

Thank you for reading my thoughts on how business is like a game of chess! I hope you enjoyed it.