Be an infinite player in a finite game

This post originally appeared as a 5-14 weekend issue of the Daily Job Hunt email. Sign up for kick-butt career hype in your inbox each morning.

Forward

Yesterday is over. Done.
Let go of the past.
Own today.

Do a PDP

Forget about your future goals for a minute. What are you going to do today? A great way to frame this is through a PDP, or personal development plan.

Examples:
-Blog daily for 30 days
-Practice the guitar daily for 7 days
-Email an employee daily for 5 days
-Make a podcast with 5 episodes total

Links worth checking out

• Product Hunt Jobs
• Top Books (page on Career Hackers)
• General Assembly (place to learn new skills)

Meme of the week

Everything is a Game

Once you realize that there are actually no rules to life, everything gets easy.

We grow up learning "the rules" of this and that, and we think we HAVE to do it because otherwise we'll get in trouble.

But you don't actually have to do anything. Those so-called rules are just rules of one particular game.

Some games can be strict, like the TSA's or the IRS's. You can call those finite games, based on right vs. wrong, top-down models.

Another finite game might be applying to jobs. In this game, the rules are that you "have to" apply on the job posting.

But you can choose to be an infinite player in a finite game.

You could follow the rules, but only because you want to....

See how freeing that feels, already?

You can also be creative, and choose a new way to give them what they want.

In job hunting, that would be sending a pitch, and bypassing the job posting. If you create tons of value, they won't care that you veered off from what you were "supposed to do."

So have some fun!

Let go of the pressure to do things the "right way."

There is no right way to play a game.

Joel
and the DJH team.