Finite games are played to an end (outcome) between known players and governed by fixed rules. In these games the winners and losers are easily identified at the end of play. A sporting contest offers a simple everyday example of a finite game.
The infinite game, as the name would suggest, is never-ending. The objective is to remain in the game for as long as possible. Participating players come and go, and the rules are changeable. Sinek says there are no defined winners or losers in the infinite game.
From my reading and listening on this subject (largely in areas of business and life coaching), there seems to be an implication that the choice is clear-cut, that we play one way or another, and that we are best served by choosing the infinite game. The finite game, in this view, is labelled as your route to nowhere.
Well, my feeling is that it may be more beneficial to look upon finite and infinite as two contrasting mindsets rather than simply referring to them as contrasting game types. Also, as a sports practitioner, my reflections on the subject prompted a few questions:
- Can sports people engage in the infinite mindset or does our theatre of activity confine us to a finite mindset?
- Is infinite always a superior condition to finite or may a finite game serve great purpose on occasion? If so, when?
- Is it possible to play both games at the same time and reap rewards from both?
My aim in this short article is to outline my thinking on these questions, from the perspective of someone operating within the sporting world.
Being better today than we were yesterday, everyday
This expression sums up the attitude of the player who commits to the infinite mindset, whose motivation is fuelled by a vision of the person they could become by practising habits of excellence daily. In the infinite world ‘excellence’ is not something exclusive to those at the top of their field or within the capacity of only a select few. Rather, ‘excellence’ is achievable for everyone, where it is measured against oneself and when defined as ‘doing the very best you can today with the resources you currently have available to you’ (Bennett, 2017).
This quote presents another key feature of the infinite mindset, that it is a condition of continuous learning, characterised by constantly searching for improvement, refreshing one’s own knowledge and know-how, and looking for new ideas to accelerate development and enhance performance.
As a sports practitioner, I acknowledge competition as an essential feature of games, but where does competition fit if the game is never-ending?
Part of the answer comes from the notion that the infinite mindset redefines competition as competition against oneself, as part of the eternal quest, but there is a ‘double whammy’ benefit to be gained by also acknowledging the possibility that both games can be played at the same time for mutual benefit. The player with an infinite mindset can be both externally focussed on the finite game and the competition within the fixed game rules, and inwardly focussed on the infinite game (or journey), where the competition is defined and measured in terms of one’s commitment to being a better version of oneself everyday. The infinite mindset acknowledges the importance of finite games in this ongoing journey of self-improvement, while also recognising that in life there is no better (or tougher) competitor than oneself, and therefore no more important game to be playing than the infinite game.
Another dimension to bring into thinking about the infinite game is the infinite space it allows us to work in. The finite game is circumscribed, the infinite game is not. This broadens the scope of thinking, learning and improving that goes beyond simply ones own development. First, by reframing the game as the infinite game - one that is always striving to be better today than yesterday - we focus more broadly on our holistic development. In this space we begin to make changes across all areas of our lives. Secondly, we become more aware of the contribution we have to offer those around us; as a player of the infinite game we become an agent of growth, change and momentum for others, in both professional and personal life. And we can reach beyond that too, into the way such thinking can affect the way the world works, the way we relate to each other in the wider sense, and a reframing of what is important.
This is why I choose to focus much of my attention on playing the infinite game and to operate with an infinite mindset, but have come to appreciate and value the essential role of the finite games that we engage with all the time, as participants and spectators, within and outside the context of sport.
The New Zealand All Blacks are a leading sporting example of a professional outfit who are committed to the infinite mindset whilst competing within a largely finite arena. Through their mantra “leave the jersey in a better place” they attach themselves to something far bigger than themselves or any given situation they might find themselves in. This higher purpose drives their commitment to move forward, feeds holistic development and serves to enhance performance when in the competition arena. Keith Hertling (2018) sums it up well in his own writing about the All Blacks : “If we play a bigger game, we play a more effective game.”
Learning from our everyday experiences
Everyday we are likely to engage in at least one activity that could be described as a finite game (examples may include sporting contests, personal goals and/or challenges, chasing a deadline or applying/interviewing for a new job). Indeed the world and our daily lives could be viewed as a global series of immensely diverse finite games (against an opponent or to an end-goal) being played out across many different domains.
These daily events are important, even vital, but the key to their value is the recognition that we are not defined by our success in these individual moments, rather that each provide an invaluable experience from which to grow, an opportunity to evolve, a step on the way to be even better next time. As humans we are problem-solvers. Many important and original discoveries (about ourselves or the world around us) come from our attempts to survive, to solve the problems that are put in the way of our survival. We need those problems, articulated in a real world setting, to give us the drive to make ourselves better equipped to solve them. Along the way, we have to experience the failure (as well as the successes) that prompt the desire continually to do better.
The world view that frames all experience as part of the bigger infinite game allows us to use feedback from such experience as a positive spur to move onwards, not a negative to brake our progress or push us back. When someone says, put the criticism behind you, that is usually interpreted as, forget it and move on. The better way to think about putting the criticism behind you is as a kind of jet propulsion, a driving force that will help take you forward. So often, that energy can come from the fuel of failure.
With this in mind it becomes clear that finite games are an essential part of our experience and development. They are the games we choose to play in order to get feedback on how we are doing, to explore where we can look to improve ourselves. They provide opportunities to get curious about what other players are doing or might be trying. This is why it remains important to keep reaching out for finite games that will challenge and test us. They may be our best sources for gathering rich feedback and deep-cut learning.
Though it is glib to say there is no such thing as failure, it takes on an entirely new aspect when it is framed by the infinite viewpoint and redefined as some of the most invaluable everyday experiences from which we can learn. To illustrate, I invite you to take a short pause and to think like a boxer.
If you never get punched in the face you would be unlikely to adapt your game and would certainly miss opportunities to change for the better. If you’re not getting punched in the face from time to time you’re probably not challenging yourself in hard enough arenas. If you emerge from a fight unscathed, you emerge as the same fighter, not a better fighter. The truth is, however, that if you are a boxer, you are going to get punched in the face.
Even though it can hurt like hell, I’d hazard a guess that the most successful boxers across the sport have responded to setbacks with an infinite mindset, seizing every opportunity to learn from the ‘feedback’ coming from their everyday experiences, rather than dwelling on the perceived success or failure of a situation. No, I’m not suggesting that boxers should intentionally get hit when they go into battle. Yes, they should always attempt to achieve the opposite because, of course, avoiding blows from an opponent is one of the performance challenges of the game. What I am saying is that in order to grow to be the very best we must go in search of experiences that stretch and challenge us beyond our current capabilities and in doing so we must have the courage to be vulnerable and risk failure.
In this piece I have tried to draw a distinction between finite and infinite games, and to reflect on how the former provides feedback (actually ‘feeds’) the latter. To simplify my point further here I present the idea in diagram form.
A key challenge for all of us, throughout our lives, is to consistently raise our own game. The finite games and challenges are there primarily to push us forward on our quest to raise our infinite game.
In sum, I fully endorse the value of the infinite game, am subscribed to its pursuit and fully committed to doing so with a sense of excitement about the world. I have also come to appreciate the invaluable role finite games play in our daily lives. I conclude that both are of importance and essential to one another, while the essential cog in the machine is the infinite mindset, driving performance improvement and continual learning, guiding the journey with an eye that overlooks barriers to change or threats to development because it is steadfastly fixed on opportunity.
