Play Big Games, Win Big Prizes

Everybody wants to win big prizes, but not everybody is ready or willing to play the big games. Most people would rather just dream about it, rather than putting in the work to make it their reality.

Whoever you are, whatever profession you’re in, this article might just be the push you need to live the rest of your life as a winner of bigger and better prizes.

Too many people want to become great and want to stay comfortable at the same time. That’s a contradiction in choices. One will have to go for the other.

Bigger results usually demand bigger sacrifices and more discipline. You just have to get into the discomfort zone.

Great Argentine footballer, Lionel Messi, who is considered by many to be the greatest of all time (GOAT), once said:

“I start early and stay late, day after day, year after year; it took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”

While it is easy for us to get motivated (however momentarily) after reading quotes like this, in actual practice, most people will quit before they even try. While others quit after one or two setbacks.

The road that leads to greatness is unarguably usually rough, ugly and difficult. Most people give up at their first glance of it.

Now, there’s a feeling of fulfillment and comfort that comes from reaching your goals in life. But the problem is, most people aim too low, constantly hit their targets, and keep celebrating their little victories.

Of course, if you play small games, you’ll win small prizes too. But isn’t winning small prizes a euphemism for failure?

Most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit.

If you spend time studying the lives of highly successful people, you’ll find out that their levels of sacrifice and discipline are unquestionably very high – they spend less time sleeping/ or having fun, but more time working on developing themselves, and working on their goals and businesses.

Bill Gates read 50 books per year. Warren Buffet spend 5 to 6 hours per day reading 5 newspapers, and 500 pages of corporate reports. Not to mention the several risks they take in their businesses. There are many more examples – they play the big game.

People love their comfort zones, and as a result, most people instinctively prefer to play small games where they find it more comfortable. But ironically, life gets more comfortable for those who are rarely comfortable in their comfort. You need to push yourself every day to play a bigger game.

We all have 24 hours in a day. Societal inequality is partly due to how we spend our time individually.

If you play the game of the rich, you increase your chances of becoming the rich. Also if you play the game of the poor, you’ll hit poverty with remarkable accuracy and expediency too.

Make up your mind to put in the work in your business, career, job, or whatever (legal) you do. Quit playing small games.

Play big games and win big prizes.