The Game Just Flipped

Going from monopoly to checkers and why you don’t have to be good at everything.
​
I played monopoly so much as a kid that we had to iron the money between wax paper. Do you remember when you could spend an entire summer day just playing a board game? The little metal dog around and around the board. I always wanted to own Boardwalk and Park Place.

Now, imagine that you’ve been playing monopoly your whole life. And your parents tell you that you’re amazing at monopoly. And one day, I walk in and tell you “congratulations, you’re now ready for the real thing. Checkers.” I grab the monopoly board, pull it right out from underneath you, all the little houses go flying, and I hand you the checkers board. We all look at you expectantly. It’s time to play, let’s go! What are you waiting for?

And you’re just sitting there holding the little metal dog like… WTF are you talking about?!?!

That is what adulting can feel like. That’s what crossing over into the real world is like. They taught you the rules for the WRONG GAME.

When you were in college and high school, you knew the rules you needed to play by to win — get good grades, be good at all the subjects to keep that  up, conform and say yes to as much as possible. If you did these things, you were a star, you got the scholarship, everyone looked up to you.

That is literally the exact opposite of building your career.

When it’s time to build your career, you  to make up your own rules, live by your strengths, so NO fast and often when something isn’t in your skillset, and focus your energy on getting really good at one or two things. You don’t need to be the valedictorian to make a lot of money. You don’t even need to go to college!
​
So, don’t be afraid to do what you’re BEST at. To own who you are and what you’re NOT. No more squeaking by and cramming for chemistry when you hate it. You don’t have to be good at everything. You have all the freedom in the world to say “no” and to grow in the exact direction that you want to.