Are You Playing to Play, or Playing to Win?

Malone, the example of a non-scrub, is almost flawless — someone who understood how business works and played it the right way, not the way it should be. As a result of the 'monopoly' in cash flows, where operators did not have to worry about competition, he was among the first to use EBITDA as a financial metric. Malone stubbornly refused to upgra... See more

Lesley (the author's friend) used to think Judo was only worth playing if it was a 'Japanese' style of Judo - upright, dynamic, and graceful. The Japanese style could not have helped her win. As a coach, she has had to remind herself that the goal for her team is to win rather than to set unnecessary high standards.

David Sirlin explains: In gaming, a scrub is someone who isn't playing to win. A scrub would disagree with this statement, saying they are only trying hard within a construct of fictitious rules that prevent them from ever competing. The scrub mentality is to be shackled by self-imposed handicaps that prevent one from becoming good at a game.

It is well known that despite his handicap, Shohei Ono consistently wins despite playing a more challenging game with more constraints than his competitors. This is why he won his second Olympic gold medal in the Tokyo 73kg category despite his handicap. Even though one-handed backhands are notoriously more complex than two-handed backhands, Federe... See more