Play Games Where The Prize Is Worth The Effort

Most games aren’t worth playing. They are either status games, where you have to take someone else’s position in a zero-sum game. Or, if it is a wealth creation game, the upside is usually capped in some way (like salaried positions) and not worth the effort.

If you are going to get rich, you need to make sure the game you’re playing has a payout worth the effort.

Remember, Wealth Accumulation is Just A Game.

Most people who eventually get rich do so because they see the accumulation of wealth as a game to play. They use it to test themselves - their endurance, their creativity, their courage in the face of great uncertainty.

Because ultimately, getting rich isn’t the most important thing in the world. Here’s the late Felix Dennis talking about this in his book, How To Get Rich:

“Having too much money isn’t important. Breaking your neck is important. Getting cancer is important. Having nothing to eat is important. Losing someone you love is important. But too much money is absolutely not important, it’s just a part of the game… this getting rich malarkey is just a game. A delusion, if you will. Being rich is fine, and at the very least is better than being poor. But it shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of your life, or anyone’s life.”

Before you begin the journey, you must understand that getting rich will NOT make you happy. As Naval Ravikant says, having money will take care of your money problems, but it won’t give you peace. You have to create that for yourself.

Play Iterated Games With The Same People.

The game you choose has other players. Regardless of what industry you’re in, you’ll get much further by collaborating with the same people over many years than trying to go it alone.

This is because relationships compound over time just like interest. The longer you work with the same people, the less friction there is to do bigger and bigger deals involving larger and larger sums of money.

Here’s Naval explaining this:

“If you want to be successful, you have to work with other people. And you have to figure out who can you trust, and who can you trust over a long, long period of time, that you can just keep playing the game with them, so that compound interest, and high trust will make it easier to play the game, and will let you collect the major rewards, which are usually at the end of the cycle.”

Any industry is actually quite small. There are a finite number of established players. So, if there’s someone in the industry who is consistently stabbing other people in the back, the group will quickly stop working with that particular person. They’ll be shut out of deals.

That’s why it pays to be absurdly ethical with other players. Naval has built his career on being an honest player. Other people know he’s honest and they come to him with deals because they want to work with him and through him.

Once you find a core group of ethical players, stick with them for the long haul. As Naval says, the major rewards come at the end of the cycle. That means working for decades with the same people.

Play Games Where You Only Need To Win Once.

Remember, the prize has to be worth the effort. You want to play a game where you only need to win once. That’s why the game of start-ups and creating businesses is so attractive. If you build a business and sell it, you can cash out for a huge sum.

Here’s Naval talking about this:

“One thing that’s important in entrepreneurship: You just have to be right once. You get many, many shots on goal. You can take a shot on goal every three to five years, maybe every 10 at the slowest. Or once every year at the fastest, depending on how you’re iterating with startups. But you only have to be right once…On a long enough timescale, you will get paid.”

What’s fun about this process is that you can just keep trying. If you fail once you can try again, using everything you learned along the way to make better decisions this turn. AND you can play with the same people - those who you now trust from your first game.

Get Rich And Then Move On.

Once you win, it’s time to cash out. Don’t spend your time trying to get richer after you’ve won the game. That’ll just make you miserable. Derek Sivers in his book, How To Live, writes:

“Money is your servant, not your master. Don’t act rich. Don’t lose touch with regular people. Stay frugal… You don’t need to tell anyone you have money. You don’t even need to spend it. Don’t buy too many things, too big of a house, or hire too many people. Rich people who do this feel trapped and miserable. The less you buy, the more you’re in control. Forget lifestyle. Forget yourself. Stay 100% focused on creating value. Everything else is a corrupting distraction.”

Do something else. Climb Mount Everest. Learn to snowboard. Learn a new language. Write a book. Follow a dream.

Don’t obsess about money once you have it. Keep your feet on the ground and use your money for experiences. Use it to make your life simpler, not more complicated. Don’t trap yourself in a lifestyle you have to kill yourself to maintain. Buy your freedom and enjoy your life.

Start now.

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ARTICLE SOURCES

Dennis, Felix. How to Get Rich. Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Derek Sivers. How to Live. Hit Media. Kindle Edition.

Naval Ravikant - How To Get Rich: Every Episode