The Game Is Rigged, So Learn to Play the Game

You probably learned in kindergarten that life isn’t fair. You can’t always get what you want—and sometimes you might not even get what you need.

When something doesn’t work the way we want it to, we tend to dismiss the process as unfair, flawed, or even fraudulent. “That’s a scam,” you hear about any number of things.

Getting into college, for example, is unfair and flawed. Sure, you can study hard, join the service club, but “the game is rigged” in favor of people who invest in standardized test prep.

I remember getting turned down from graduate school programs (but I wrote such a great essay!) and then not getting a job I thought I wanted (even though I was obviously the best candidate!). I remember spending six months building a product that no one bought.

The lesson: OK, so what? The next step: Right or wrong, you just have to move on.

Consider the lottery. Everyone knows the lottery has terrible odds. There’s no way to hack the lottery, and you could certainly argue that it’s a scam.

But if you won the lottery, you wouldn’t be complaining.

Sure, the game of life is rigged. So figure it out. The world is always unfair when things don’t go our way.

A better approach to complaining? When something doesn’t work the way you want, move on to something else.

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Image: Derek