What Goal Setting Looks Like For Infinite Game Players

Ev Chapman
January 7, 2023
2 min read

Are you playing a finite or infinite game this year?

I was listening to an Instagram reel the other day from Sahil Bloom talking about finite v infinite games. If you're not familiar with the concept...

Finite games are games we play to win - finite players are 'in it to win it'

Infinite games are games we play for the love of playing - infinite players never want the game to stop.

Goal setting is typically a finite game. We set a goal to work towards and then work backwards to what we should do daily to reach that goal.

But what if we flipped it & started with the infinite game instead?

What if we designed our days around an infinite game (the game we don't want to stop EVER) and then projected that forward into goals?

Instead of striving and pushing towards goals we arbitrarily set (or worse... the ones the world imposes on us) goals become a natural outcome of the infinite games we play each day.

How To Play An Infinite Game Each Day:

Design Your Days. Infinite players optimise for the game to never end. So design your days around things you want to keep doing.

Optimise For Joy. Ultimately infinite players just get joy from playing. So optimise Marie Kondo your days... if it doesn't spark joy... you know the rest.

Play By Your Rules (not theirs). Infinite players have their own set of rules. They don't need approval or permission from others. They tap into their crazy wisdom & ignore what everyone else is telling them the 'right' thing to do is.

I have no idea if this kind of goal-setting will work. But I do know it's the kind of game I want to play & keep playing for a long time.

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