#1695 What’s Your WIG?

In our last +1, we chatted about how Emerson turned a loss into a learn which I THINK will lead to THE BIGGEST “wins” in the next phase of his chess career.

I actually just got a little emotional typing that—for two reasons.

First, his ability to instantly shake off a loss and alchemize it into a lesson learned then get joyfully on with his life is incredible.

Note: This is a DIRECT result of Alexandra and I striving to embody wisdom from Carol Dweck’s BRILLIANT thinking on the subject of Growth Mindset.

My top two all-time parenting books?

Self-theories and Mindset.

PARENTS!

I HIGHLY encourage you to check those out! 👆

Second, we were buzzing at 11pm that night as I told him how much I appreciated his ability to alchemize losses into wisdom AND how I thought this particular distinction he just made was going to be THE most catalytic for his growth.

So…

A little more context, then the practical wisdom…

Emerson has been playing chess for a little over a year and in chess tournaments for almost exactly a year. He’s gained skills quickly. (Effort Counts Thrice!!)

With a “1600” U.S. Chess rating, he’s currently ranked just outside of the Top 100 11-year-olds in the country.

To put that in perspective, he’s better than 88.1% of ALL US rated chess players and 94.9% of all junior players.

As we discussed, in one of our VERY first +1s on his chess journey, his initial goal was to become a candidate master. You get there by getting to a 2000 US Chess rating. We thought it would take him a few years.

And…

That night after his loss, he decided he wanted to get there in THREE more MONTHS.

Now…

Frankly, I didn’t know if that was a “realistic” goal but I LOVED his enthusiasm and figured I’d chat with his coach the next day to see what HE thought.

What I DID do was leverage that incredibly ambitious goal to get clarity on what he would DO to have the best shot at hitting that target.

That’s where his (goosebumps) new commitment to training his tactical ability to calculate came in.

We’ll chat about our chat the next morning on the science of motivation in our next +1.

For now…

Spotlight back on YOU…

What’s YOUR super-inspiring, WILDLY IMPORTANT near-term (3-6-12 month!) goal that’s FIRING YOU UP?

Of course, you want to WOOP it and all that to make sure you’re REALLY ready to go for it.

And…

For our purposes for Today…

Focus on how GREAT it would feel to achieve that incredible goal.

Then…

Tell me…

What’s the ONE THING you *know* you need to DOMINATE to give yourself the best shot at achieving that ambitious goal?

Got it?

Awesome.

Now get on that.

TODAY.