What is a game that's rigged in my favor?

Many lifetimes ago, I became immersed in the game of blackjack. I read all the books, online forums, studied the greats and practiced daily.

It was a wild ride that ultimately ended up with me being able to buy an apartment when I graduated college.

It was a game where I was able to eek out a tiny advantage. Math, statistics, probability, memory, socializing and the ability to handle my alcohol allowed me to grind out some wins and a whole lot of free comps which were a very welcomed upgrade over my normal college life.

The biggest takeaway from that time, aside from the emotional resiliency of being able to handle swings of 1000s of dollars in seconds, is to play a game that is rigged in my favor.

The easiest way to identify the games where I have the most advantage is to look at the unique combination of my gifts.

What is the intersection of things that I'm good at that many people are not?

• Entrepreneurship & problem solving
• Influence & business development
• Technology & product development
• Leadership

These 4 areas have been the focus of most of my adult life and have produced outsized results for me. The places where I can naturally excel are the roles that allow for some combination of these skills to shine. The more the merrier.

It's all too common to spend time playing a game we can't win, don't want to win or where we don't have any tangible advantage. If the goal is to out-produce our potential, then the starting point is to triple down on our unique combination of genius.

The games I'm playing these days are much different than the games I played as a know-it-all, "can't tell me nothing" college kid. But. They are still very much architected in a way that I'm more likely to win than lose.