My dog Winston loves to play keep-away with tennis balls.š
When I do catch Winston and get that ball, I throw it across the yardā¦
And he runs and chases it down like itās some prey heās stalking (aka itās super cute).š
Winston enjoys chasing his tennis ballā¦š¤©
But most of the time, heās happy to dart back and forth with it secured firmly in his mouthā¦
Challenging me to catch him.
When he was super young, it was easy to get him and grab the ballā¦
But now that heās a bit olderā¦
Itās almost impossible to get the tennis ball from Winston without full-on tackling him (which Iām not gonna do)ā¦
So lately our game had become really one-sidedā¦
At least until last night.
Thatās when I had a fascinating insight.
I was outside in the yard with Winston as usualā¦
When my wife and daughter came outside to join us.
My daughter Eden had brought a second tennis ball out with her as wellā¦
And dropped it in the grass so she could go on the swing set we have.
Meanwhile, Winston got distracted for a minute and abandoned the first tennis ball weād been playing withā¦
And I grabbed it.
Then I threw it, and he chased it as usual.
But hereās where things get interestingā¦
Once he got the first tennis ball, I just went and got the second ball (the one Eden had brought out).
Suddenly, Winston wanted that ball insteadā¦
And when I threw that one, Iād just switch back to the abandoned ball.
This continued for a while.
And even when I stopped throwing those ballsā¦
I saw Winston bounding back-and-forth from one ball to another.
So in a flash, the entire paradigm of the game had shifted.
It went from a game that was impossible for me to winā¦
To a game that was impossible for Winston to win (unless he drastically changed his behavior).
And hereās why Iām sharing this:
#1. As the āhumanāā¦
And also, if you want to defeat an opponent, divide their attention. Distract them. Give them two things they covet and let them try and consume both at once.
In the case of two tennis balls and one dog mouth, itās impossible to hold both balls at the same timeā¦
Which, in turn, divides your āopponentāsā attention.
Now I know, this first lesson is very āArt of Warā or āLaws of Powerā esqueā¦
Personally, I wouldnāt employ this type of strategy against someone unless I had an extremely righteous reasonā¦
Because my preference is to create situations where everyone wins.
Still, though, itās good to know.
And that brings us to the second lesson:
#2. As the ādog.ā
Watching Winstonās behavior, I was struck by how many times Iāve seen humans act the same way.
Sometimes weāre presented with two things that we want equally badlyā¦
And they may both appear tantalizingly close to our reach.
And yet, the reality isā¦
Itās a total foolās errand to try and go for both at once.
The much better strategy (in fact, the ONLY strategy)ā¦
Is to put all of your attention and effort into the attainment of one thing at a time.
Otherwise, youāll end up with neither.
So think about how this applies to us?
Trying to do two new courses or trainings at the same timeā¦
Trying to read a book and watch a movie simultaneouslyā¦
Working towards a house and a new car concomitantlyā¦
Weāre not dogs, and Iām not saying that achieving two things at once can NEVER be doneā¦
But I will tell you, itās a helluva lot harder.
The more efficient model is to attain the first ball, secure it safely away, and then put all of your energy into going after the second one.
Paradoxically, doing this will actually get you both things much fasterā¦
And itāll save you a drastic amount of energy as well.
Anyways, food for thought š
ā Stefan āSun Tzuā Georgi
P.S. This post originally came from an email I sent to my private list. If you want to see more stuff like this from me, you can apply to join my list using this link
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