The Ultimate Mindset

Do you love to play?

Not to get a good score,

or to win,

or to rank,

or even to compete.

Do you love to play?

I am not telling you to enjoy the game so that it will help your performance.

I am telling you that if, for you, playing is not its own reward,

then you play for ulterior motives.

And if you play for ulterior motives, the game will never be a game.

And enjoyment will be hard to find.

For the player who enjoys the game exactly for what it is,

winning and losing means nothing.

For he realizes that the game provides an opportunity for playing it.

It offers nothing else.

There is absolutely nothing to be gained. There is nothing to be lost.

For the player who enjoys the game, the ups and downs are not sources of frustration.

The unpredictability is what makes the game the game.

If it was predictable it would not be enjoyable.

Many players play the game demanding and expecting that everything go their way.

The possibility of failure is something that you love as part of the game.

What would the game be without it?

Enjoyment is the Ultimate Mindset.

Enjoyment is the Mindset of a Free Human Being.

Enjoyment is the Mindset of those obsessed with their Craft.

Enjoyment is the Mindset of those "In the Zone".

But Enjoyment is only possible,

When the Game is Understood for Exactly What it Is.

When the Game is played for it's own sake.

When the Game is played out of love,

and not for it.

To Your Success,

Alec.