If you have ever played the chess game, you will surely know how complicated, mind-boggling, and a mentally challenging task it is. Entrepreneurship is no different. Managing an entire business, facing numerous challenges, taking risks, and maintaining stability in the ever-changing markets are a couple of skills entrepreneurs should be adept at.
Considering the technological advancements taking place every other day and the brewing competition in the markets, entrepreneurs have to put a lot of effort to level up their performance. Chess is one such game which helps in acquiring the appropriate skills to run a successful business in the long run. Here’s how this can happen:
Entrepreneurship and Chess Game
Analyze, Assess, and Plan
Every move a player makes in the chess game is strategic and adequately planned. Right from positioning the pieces to making their first move, chess players assess the game scenario, analyze the probable competitor moves and prepare themselves to stand tough against them. Similarly, when you want to launch your business in the market, it is very crucial that you gauge the market at first, identify your prospective customers, and strategize every move you make to establish your firm grounds in the industry.
- For instance, you could compare your initial business launch to the openings in chess, where the player places the pieces on the board.
- Then comes the mid-game where your tactical moves are focused on long-term impacts with winning as the ultimate goal. This part of the game is all about your after-launch plans where you keenly focus on spreading your reach, defending your brand while working against your competitor’s strategies, and developing an effective framework to attract your target customers.
- And the final or end of the game is when you make those very last moves towards winning. It is that time when you have successfully fortified your presence in the market, and your brand becomes well-known.
Be Flexible to make changes
Chess game teaches us to adapt to the changing circumstances and be steadfast in fighting the new norm. All of your moves may have been well-planned, but there are abundant chances that your opponent may play an unexpected move against yours. In such critical circumstances, a finesse chess player will make necessary changes in his course of action to counter the opponent’s movement.
That is pretty much how businesses are modelled too. It is anytime possible for the markets to take an unexpected turn. Hence, entrepreneurs should be capable of modifying their plans to face the current situation. Successful businesses have never been stringent to their strategies, even when they are required to be changed. Learning to play chess game will help us to acquire this valuable skill.
Anticipate in advance and take calculated risks
Risking a pawn at the expense of earning a chance to castle is a good move. Chess is all about taking calculated risks and looking at the long-term impact rather than focusing on immediate advancements. It is one of the key attributes, a business owner or an entrepreneur should possess. Be it in terms of investments, launching a new product or ending a previous line of products, whatever step you decide to take, should be primarily focused on whether or not it gives you benefits in the long run.
An entrepreneur should make sure that they don’t fall prey to anything that gives immediate cash-flow but hurts the reputation of the brand in the long run.
Time is money
Chess tournaments can last from anywhere around 10 minutes to hours together. The most massive chess game was played for more than 20 hours! But each player is given a specific amount of time to make their moves during their turn. Once the time is gone, the chance passes to your opponent, and by the time your turn comes again, the tables are turned. Making the most of the limited time you get is something that entrepreneurs can learn from chess.
When you enter into the fold of entrepreneurship, you should be well prepared to juggle with time and do as much as possible within the constraints. For instance, you receive a bulk order from a reputed unit and put all your efforts to prepare the order. But what will be the use if you fail to deliver it on time? You should be skilled enough to understand your priorities, set milestones, and plan to accomplish them in specific chunks of time.
Patience is the key
When you begin learning chess, you are first taught to bear patience. The chess game involves going through a lot of mental stress. Your brain is continuously working and planning the next moves. In such stressful situations, a chess player is skilled enough to maintain sanity, work through the pressure, and never to quit the game.
A similar approach as that of a chess player is needed to run through all the stress, and mental pressure entrepreneurship brings along. Working for long hours, dealing with loss, and waiting to see the fruitful results of your efforts, require a whole lot of patience. Chess teaches you to work with patience and stay calm under pressure, a lack of which can cause you to lose the game of business in no time.
How to get into the habit of playing the chess game?
As an entrepreneur, if you have never been into chess; then now is the right time. The internet is full of resources to learn the game and MPL or Mobile Premier League is one such place where you can quickly grab hold of the basics and advance skills. It is an online game platform that allows you to learn and play chess with virtual opponents. It is nothing less than playing a one-on-one game in real-time.
In times, where it is not always possible to find the right setup and perfect play partners, MPL is a great platform to learn chess and enhance your entrepreneurial skills in turn. So, try downloading MPL app for improving your chess game and entrepreneurial skills.
TakeawayFrom managing your errands in limited time to preparing a full-fledged winning strategy, chess game and entrepreneurship have a lot in common. Chess trains your brain to have an ultimate goal and find all possible ways to achieve it; which is nothing different than what entrepreneurship entails. Big names in the industry, for instance, the co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, is one of the top international players and correlates chess to business/entrepreneurship. Hence, it is no wonder how this ancient game is played by millions across the globe and holds in a lot for every entrepreneur to get inspired from.
