Life is like a game of cards…

Imagine playing cards with someone in your life. Both of you each have only two cards to play, red or black. You both choose a card & place it face down on the table. When ready you both turn over your cards & score your points. The winner is the person who accumulates the most points.

Scoring:

Every time a player plays a red card, they have a chance of winning 5 points if the other person plays black, or lose 1 point if the other person plays red. Every time a player plays black, they can win 2 points if the other person plays black or lose 2 points if the other person plays red.

Player 1 Player 2 Score 1 Score 2

Red Red - 1 - 1

Black Black + 2 + 2

Red Black + 5 - 2

Black Red - 2 + 5

What is your strategy in playing the game? How often will you play the red card to get ahead even if it causes the other player to lose points? How often will you risk playing the black card & be vulnerable to the other person who might play red? Ultimately we can not control what cards others will play, we can only control our own choices.

So what is the best win-win strategy in life’s game of cards? It is to play those cards that help you move ahead while not compromising another’s progress. We must consider playing only the black card regardless of what the other person might do. And if we continue to keep losing points in our card games, let’s not retaliate & start playing red. Perhaps in this situation the winning strategy is to choose not to play at all.

Ultimately, it is not the final score that counts; it is how you choose to play the game.