The Pandemic, with the creation of new time schedules, has had most of us crying out to develop new habits. That is not an easy task, so I decided to entertain myself by reverting back to an old habit: watching Jeopardy! every night. I was always a big fan of the show and its iconic host Alex Trebek. I used to be a better player…my recall isn’t as good as it used to be. These days I watch with a different perspective…how the game of Jeopardy is like the game of life.
Recently I watched a smart young attorney competing. In order to prepare she admitted to doing the NY Times Crossword Puzzle for one thousand consecutive days. Now that’s gritty. Apparently it worked as she plowed through the questions and reached Final Jeopardy in a “no lose” situation. She was $3000 ahead of the second place contestant…but she had only accumulated $10,000…a paltry sum when you consider the amounts most formidable contestants earn.
I was impressed with the amount of knowledge she had accumulated…it just didn’t transfer over to dollars. Isn’t that the point of the game? To win as much as you can and return for another day. I made a note that her style of play would cause her to lose the next night when she would play, not necessarily a more knowledgeable opponent, but one who knew how to play the game…the ultimate game.
Through my years in dentistry I have met many talented professionals who did okay, like the attorney above, but never reached their full potential because they never realized the game they were playing. When you know your ultimate game…your entire game plan changes. Let me explain through the Jeopardy example.
Take a look at Jeopardy’s three most successful champions in the photo. The guy on the left, James Holzhauer, long before he racked up $1.69 million as a contestant on Jeopardy!, he made a living as a sports gambler in Las Vegas. Holzhauer also has a very high IQ…but a big part of his game was taking big risks.
I’m not suggesting that we have to be gamblers…but in life we all need to take appropriate risks. All three of the greatest Jeopardy players were risk takers…and do you know what they were betting on? They were always betting on themselves. Our attorney, even when she was confident rebuffed the idea of taking a risk. In that moment of truth…something interfered. She had what the cognitive psychologists call loss aversion. It’s very common. Everyone likes to win but some people are just afraid to lose.
This isn’t a good strategy for Jeopardy, and it isn’t a good strategy for life or for a career. We have to take risks. I remember my career…every course I took I lost a little sleep over how I would pay for it or how much I would lose by being out of the office. Every new technique I learned I worried about the outcome and considered staying with techniques I knew. Taking risks is what moves the ball downfield. Our attorney contestant was smarter than she believed.
The guy on the right in the photo, Brad Rutter is the highest money winner of all time across any television game show, with total “Jeopardy!” winnings of $4,688,436. He has never lost “Jeopardy!” to a human opponent. Watching him play was amazing. He never lost his cool. He would ring the buzzer mostly when he knew the answer. So many contestants on Jeopardy these days don’t seem to have the emotional stamina to compete. Every answer is an adventure. Maintaining emotional composure in life is no easy task…especially when we take risks.
Serenity, tranquility and steadiness are worthy goals in life. Yet…so many of us chase the external returns.
I have seen Brad Rutter go “all in” and lose. He shrugged his shoulders and actually crawled back to win the game. Too many contestants just “lose it” after a bad call, as if their complete identity were at stake. Once again, as in life, we have to play to come back another day…so peace of mind and tranquility at all costs is the objective of the ultimate game as well as the prize money.
And then there is the guy in the center. Everyone knows Ken Jennings. He holds the record for the longest winning streak on Jeopardy! with 74 consecutive wins. That was no accident. Jennings knows how to play the infinite game. This is a game where there are no winners and losers as author Simon Sinek tells us. Jennings watched other contestants like Holzhauer and learned how to take the proper risks…and he watched Rutter and learned to stay calm under pressure…but mostly he watched the host Alex Trebek…who he became.
Trebek died on November 8th, 2020 after a long-standing illness. He hosted Jeopardy! for 37 years. He was loved and respected by all. Ken Jennings has stepped in to be his “temporary” replacement. And what a job he has been doing. Jennings knew how to play the infinite game and he watched the exemplars in the game…until doors opened for him where he didn’t even know the doors existed.
Life has rules. Wisdom…the virtue that Socrates thought was the chief virtue in life, is the virtue that guides us in knowing the game we are playing…the ultimate game…the infinite game. Life is the essence of risk and struggle…all of us must master fear…even the attorney who lost her championship the next night.
My new book, The Porch, is a fable about a dentist who uses the wisdom of learning about the ultimate game of life. His lessons taught him about the necessary tools to succeed and live a life worth living. Check it out…and if you order now I have a special offer for you.