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I loved this concept from Tony Hsieh.

BUSINESS IS A GAME

Everything I know about business I learned from poker: financials, strategy, education, and culture.

FINANCIALS

• The guy who wins the most hands is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.
• The guy who never loses a hand is nor the guy who makes the most money in the long run.
• Go for positive expected value, not what’s least risky.
• You will win or lose individual hands, but it’s what happens in the long term that matters.

STRATEGY

• Learn to adapt. Adjust your style of play as the dynamics of the game change.
• The players with the most stamina and focus usually win.
• Hope is not a good plan.
• Stick to your principles.

EDUCATION

• Never stop learning. Read books. Learn from others who have done it before.
• Learn by doing. Theory is nice, but nothing replaces actual experience.
• Just because you win a hand doesn’t mean you’re good and you don’t have more learning to do. You might have just gotten lucky

CULTURE

• To become really good, you need to live it, breathe it, and  sleep it.
• Be nice and make friends. It’s a small community.
• Have fun. The game is a lot more enjoyable when you’re trying to do more than just make money.

Tony Hsieh is the CEO of Zappos.com and the author of Delivering Happiness. Tony’s (longer) blog post is Everything l Know About Business I Learned from Poker.

What are your thoughts? Do you agree? Disagree?

This should take no more than 30 minutes. This is your life we’re talking about…you can find 30 minutes. And if you can’t …we need to talk, you and I.

How would you rate your life on a scale of 1 – 10? – Are you satisfied with that rating? What would you be satisfied with?

Write a brief description of the current state of your life. – Health, relationships, work, finances, spiritual or emotional well-being, community, etc. Whatever is going on. Just briefly jot it down.

What makes you happy? – There must be some good things, some things that bring you joy and make you laugh.

What are the drains on your energy and happiness? – What people, situations or behaviors are your kryptonite? We all have these things (or someones) that suck the life out of us like vampires draining our life force.

What isn’t working in your life? - These are the obstacles to living a satisfied life of fulfillment…Do you need to lose weight, be more organized, find a different job, end or change a relationship, manage your stress better or maybe just learn to laugh again.

Now describe your ideal life. - I’m not talking about a commercial for the “Rich and Famous,” some Hollywood fairy tale. I’m talking about what kind of life would truly make you happy to get out of bed in the morning. What would you be doing? Who would you be with? How would you be feeling?

What do you need to do to get that life?  – What needs to happen for you to get from point A to point B? Again, not a detailed outline of actions for the next 20 years, just some general goals to work toward, a few habits to adopt or a change in attitude or surroundings to adopt.

Something to think about…Why? Why do you want whatever it is that you want? What do you really want to accomplish in this life? What kind of person do you want to be? What do you want to be remembered for?

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So many of us live from one crisis to the next! We have become so accustomed to crises and deadlines that we feel lost and lazy if we are not putting out some kind of fire. In fact if we are really honest, there’s something intense and thrilling about handling a crisis.

But we take life, ourselves and our goals so seriously that we forget to have fun along the way, and we forget to cut ourselves some slack. We beat ourselves up we can’t meet our self- created targets.

The first step to adopting a less anxious mindset is in the willingness to admit that in most cases we are creating our own emergencies. Life will usually go on if things don’t go according to plan.

I have often wondered if there is another way to live life that might be a little less exhausting. Even though we are invigorated by handling these crises, they often do leave us feeling drained and exhausted. Could it be that these things don’t simply happen to us? Perhaps we need to consider if we have a hand in their creation?

It’s helpful to keep reminding ourselves that life isn’t usually an emergency.