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- #102: The games we play.
#102: The games we play.
Shem Opolot
December 20, 2024
Hi! Welcome to The Friday Fix! You’re reading this because you probably stumbled upon this post somewhere on the internet instead of where it should be—in your inbox. But no worries; we can fix that.
Who am I? I’m Shem Opolot, a health professional turned content creator, passionate about helping people be their best selves in life and work.
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Hi! I'm Shem Opolot, and this is The Friday Fix, my weekly newsletter. If you've received it, you’re either subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If you fit into the latter (yes, I’m the kind of person who uses words like “latter”) camp and want to subscribe, then click on the shiny button below:
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Otherwise, grab a seat 🪑.
Happy Friday 🎉 Once we crossed the 100 mark, this newsletter became a professional platform. And as a professional, I must take vacation days. I plan to spend the rest of the year somewhere buried under a pile of children or bathing in the love of my loved ones, and I don’t plan to carry my laptop to this place. Plus, the readership plummets during this period, and I can take a hint.
Thank you for a great year. I enjoy doing this with you.
I hope you spend this period doing things you love with people you love.
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, God bless you and see you in the new year!
LIFE.
The games we play.
In January 2024, I wrote down 5 things I wanted to achieve, and I’ve achieved exactly zero.
I know all the tools, all the shortcuts, and all the tips and tricks, but I failed to productivity my way into reading at least 12 [non-academic] books. Into buying that house. Into selling at least 100 licenses of my first online course.
2024 hasn't gone as planned.
Sometimes you get tired of hoping and praying and toiling and wishing. Of dreaming that eventually, as you scrape through the dirt in the mines of your life, you’ll emerge in the cavity of the earth with shimmering gold around you. No. Sometimes you settle for putting one foot in front of the other and just surviving.
That’s what this year has felt like for me. Something to survive.
Every payment came late. Every rejection came early. Every sacrifice extracted a high price.
And often, after Facetiming my wife and kids or speaking to my parents, I asked myself what I was doing in D.C., far away from everyone I loved.
So, at the end of 2024, in the season where resolutions and regrets lock themselves in a room to cannabilize each other before somehow making more copies of themselves, I want to do two things.
The first thing comes from how James P. Carse uses the terms ‘finite and infinite games’ to talk about goal-setting.
“A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.”
Sometimes we need KPIs—measurable goals with specific timelines—to climb a mountain or ask someone out on a date. But other times, you need “endless” goals. Like being physically fit, being a good friend, or remaining teachable.
Both of these games are important, but you shouldn’t mix them up. It’s important to know which game you’re playing at any given moment. There’s no shame in wanting abs, but once you play that finite game and win, you realize abs require maintenance best supported by an infinite game bent towards a certain lifestyle.
The second thing is the idea I learned from David Cain about how everything must be paid for twice—the first price you pay to acquire the thing and the second price you pay to actually use the thing.
I will be more intentional about the first prices I pay and ensure that I pay the second prices as well. This could mean not buying things I don’t need or, more relevantly, not adding new things to my goals this year. No new books on my reading list. No new courses to take before I finish the pending ones. No new movies/TV shows on my watch list.
My goal is to go deeper, not wider.
And that’s my nudge to you as you contemplate starting anew:
Figure out what games you’re playing, and go deeper, not wider. (*whispers* that’s what she said.)
THINGS.
A quote
"Different methods, my dear. Men can't help in a job, you know. They can be induced to do it: not to help while you're doing it.
At least, it makes them grumpy." "The cardinal difficulty," said MacPhee, "in collaboration between the sexes is that women speak a language without nouns.
If two men are doing a bit of work, one will say to the other, 'Put this bowl inside the bigger bowl which you'll find on the top shelf of the green cupboard.'
The female for this is, 'Put that in the other one in there.' And then if you ask them, 'in where?' they say, 'in there, of course?'
A picture.
Zion has so many friends, and it’s a joy to watch.
In case you’re wondering, he’s the bright-eyed one in the middle, full of wonder.
WORK.
Another reason to table it.
Last week, I showed you how to use COUNT and COUNTA.
This week, we’ll use COUNTA while also illustrating why you should convert your data to table format in Excel/Google Sheets.
So…
You have data:
You want to tally how many people attended the event, so you use COUNTA.
This is fine, but the problem is we’d have to manually edit the formula every time we add names to the list of attendees.
But we can fix this by formatting the list of attendees as a table and editing our formula once.
1. Format the list of attendees as a table by selecting the list and pressing Ctrl + T on a PC or ⌘ + T on a Mac.
2. We retype our COUNTA fomula to ensure Excel counts the data in the table; even as it expands.
To include all the current and future attendees in the COUNTA formula, you hover the cursor near the top of the header until it turns into a downward-facing arrow.
Notice how the count increases automatically from 10 to 11 once Peter Parker is added.
FUN.
The Friday Fix Christmas playlist
Shem’s picks
✅ This guy plays one song on a hundred different instruments.
✅ Behind the magic: illusions explained.
✅ A cool website: A visual exploration of rhythm and grooves.
✅ CNN’s 50 best desserts from around the world.
✅ For the wine enthusiast.
Have a great weekend,
— Shem
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