Scrabble, Idealism and Careers
I believe a lot can be said of a person's likelihood to succeed by
watching them play Scrabble. If the person, like me, is always waiting
for the perfect opportunity to use their Zs, Qs and Js and if they
pass up on opportunities to place them on the board for moderate
points in the hope that a currently missing tile may arrive and give
them a triple letter triple word score taking them way beyond the
others, then that person may like major steps in their career. They
are likely to either make spectacular successes in their life (of
which there is a slim chance) or they are likely to end up losers with
points being deducted for missed opportunities which have turned into
adversities instead. On the other hand, if the person is willing to
make the most of the current situation, living in the present, not
saving up their Zs and Qs, but instead using them to inch their score
up every time, then they might only be moderately successful, but
successful nevertheless. Even if they fall back, they won't be far
behind other moderately successful people.
Idealists turn out to be either mega successes or failures. They
either make it big or don't make it at all. I'm not saying that the
world is no place for idealists. I'm only saying that idealists stake
out too much; their gamble is too big and their risks are too
great. Chance could play a major part in their lives.
Was it not Marx who said "If you are not an idealist by age 20 you
have no heart; if you are still an idealist by age 40, then you have
no brain."
Interestingly, I emailed this note once to a very
successful and rich friend of mine. He replied that he neither played
his Z's, Q's and J's immediately, nor saved them for later use; he
silently slipped them back in the box when no one was looking.
Copyright © 1995 Anand Venkataraman
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