T
Tublecain
Rock Star
Silver Level
I'm sure we've all heard it at one point or another, with varying degrees of accuracy and depth. Lately I've been thinking about it a lot, and thought I'd start a list. 50 ways the smart folks on this forum think that life is like poker. It can be as short, long, deep, light-hearted, long-winded, philosophical or funny, however you like it. I encourage everyone to post as many as you like, but lets try not to repeat ourselves!
Oh and one more thing; I think we can all do better than "well, you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em"!
I'll get the ball rolling. To me one of the most interesting is the way luck balances out in the long run, and how correct decisions based on a set of sound principles tend to yield the most reliable long term results. Anyone can have a bad day, week, month, year. Anyone can have a good luck streak. But it takes a disciplined, well centered person to make sure that a bad luck streak doesn't affect the rest of their decisions or outlook on life, and that their good luck streak doesn't just end up wasted and thrown away. The lottery winners who end up broke two years later, as well as hard luck stories of hard work, dedication and eventual success and fulfillment often come to mind for me in both cases.
In the long run, I truly believe that results such as success, happiness, fulfillment, (however you want to define them) come from discipline, clear goals, and some kind of set of principles you live by. Although they may backfire from time to time, I truly believe that they eventually give you positive long term results.
Of course, life is infinitely more complicated than a game of poker, and it is much harder to know exactly which is the "best decision" in general, or even at any given moment. There are no starting hand charts, no odds or outs calculations you can rely on. But I suppose I'm thinking here of universally respected values like honesty, sacrifice, discipline, compassion, selflessness, and others that in my experience reward human beings in the long term. I firmly believe that if you can find your own values and principles and stick to them, 30 or 20 years down the line you will be able to look back with a smile on your face.
I'm truly looking forward to seeing what other people have to say about this. Until then may we all find and live by the principles that can bring us results in the long term.
Cheers.
Oh and one more thing; I think we can all do better than "well, you gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em"!
I'll get the ball rolling. To me one of the most interesting is the way luck balances out in the long run, and how correct decisions based on a set of sound principles tend to yield the most reliable long term results. Anyone can have a bad day, week, month, year. Anyone can have a good luck streak. But it takes a disciplined, well centered person to make sure that a bad luck streak doesn't affect the rest of their decisions or outlook on life, and that their good luck streak doesn't just end up wasted and thrown away. The lottery winners who end up broke two years later, as well as hard luck stories of hard work, dedication and eventual success and fulfillment often come to mind for me in both cases.
In the long run, I truly believe that results such as success, happiness, fulfillment, (however you want to define them) come from discipline, clear goals, and some kind of set of principles you live by. Although they may backfire from time to time, I truly believe that they eventually give you positive long term results.
Of course, life is infinitely more complicated than a game of poker, and it is much harder to know exactly which is the "best decision" in general, or even at any given moment. There are no starting hand charts, no odds or outs calculations you can rely on. But I suppose I'm thinking here of universally respected values like honesty, sacrifice, discipline, compassion, selflessness, and others that in my experience reward human beings in the long term. I firmly believe that if you can find your own values and principles and stick to them, 30 or 20 years down the line you will be able to look back with a smile on your face.
I'm truly looking forward to seeing what other people have to say about this. Until then may we all find and live by the principles that can bring us results in the long term.
Cheers.