Most of you reading this aren’t going to succeed with your online business.
That isn’t me being harsh. It’s me just looking at the numbers. I’m sure you’ve heard them all before.
And there can be many reasons why someone doesn’t succeed with trying to build an online business.
But for me there is one common theme amongst them.
They don’t know what game they are playing.
When you don’t know what game you’re playing, how can you expect to succeed?
But what exactly does it mean to understand the game that you’re playing? Thankfully, there are only two types of games that one can play when trying to build an online business: the finite game and the infinite game.
Choosing which one to play will dictate your success with this stuff.
I Lost Every Finite Game I Played
I’ve been making money online for over 20 years now.
Most of those years were filled with a bunch of failures. Some of them had some major successes.
But the common theme between them all was the fact that I was playing a Finite Game.
What this means is that I would look at the competition and then make decisions based on what they were doing. I would create more features. I would do something cooler.
The goal was to be the best in the space.
And guess what? This is a zero-sum game when you have this mentality. Someone will be the best and if it isn’t you then guess what?
Tough luck.
It’s not that I couldn’t win these games. I’m sure sometimes I did for a period of time, but they are exhausting.
It’s the equivalent of running a race and having to look over your shoulder to see how close the other racers are.
What you really want to do is go for a jog in the countryside where you can enjoy the experience.
I Win Every Infinite Game I Play
Switching to an Infinite Game mindset means that my only objective is to continue playing the game.
That’s my goal now with the different brands that I work on.
What do I do to continue playing this game?
Because if we are being honest with each other, business itself is an infinite game. The players keep rotating in and out, but the game continues.
You can’t win it forever. Eventually, you get replaced by someone else.
So your goal shouldn’t be to win. Your goal should be to continue playing.
And when you have this mentality everything changes for you. Instead of believing that every single piece of content you put out has to be a hit, you write content that you know when the right person finds it, it will resonate.
It means you focus on creating rivers instead of lakes because each piece of content you get out there, no matter if it’s a single or a home run, keeps you in the game.
Instead of freaking out about the performance of your TikTok videos, you look at the next 50 that you’re going to create.
Now, this doesn’t mean that metrics don’t matter. Remember, the name of the game is staying IN the game so you should always look to what is working.
But you shouldn’t sacrifice short-term gains for long-term stagnation or worse extinction.
How to Play an Infinite Game and Find Success
It can be easy to hear about the infinite game and think it’s meant for people who just want to get by. That’s not the case at all.
In many ways, Apple is playing the Infinite Game and they seem to be doing alright.
Playing the Infinite Game doesn’t mean you can’t make a lot of money or be seen as the top dog in your niche.
Playing the Infinite Game simply means your approach and mentality are different in a way that allows you to always be playing the game.
