#73: What Chess Taught Me About Making Smarter Life Moves – with Steve Gossett

Last January, I went to a party at a trailer park that featured a huge bonfire, a few llamas, and a member of Public Enemy.

(I realize that sounds like the setup to a joke. Welcome to my life.)

While I was there, I met a former competitive chess player named Steve Gossett. Steve is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker who creates Princess Rap Battle videos for a YouTube channel with more than 1 million subscribers.

But that’s not why I invited Steve onto the show.

I asked him to join me on the podcast to discuss the lessons that chess taught him about money, work and life.

On this fascinating episode, Steve and I discuss:

• Opening Theory: At the start of the game, you have a limited selection of moves. Yet you can quickly lose the game if you choose the wrong moves. Don’t lose at the outset.
• Muddled Midgame: While the first few moves are (relatively) simple, even the experts don’t quite understand the complexities of the mid-game.
• Gambit: Sometimes, you need to be willing to give up a piece on the board for the sake of getting another strategic win.
• Eliminate options: You’ll fatigue yourself if you try to consider every move. Learn how to quickly eliminate options so that you can focus on choosing between a small handful of optimal moves.
• Think ahead: Don’t just think about the consequences of the next move. Think many, many moves ahead on the board. Also, realize that every move carries an opportunity cost: once you move a piece on the board, it’s not in that same position anymore — for better or for worse.
• Study/practice/knowledge can reduce time pressure: Chess is a timed game with a ticking clock. You can make smarter, faster decisions through study and practice. Knowledge is your competitive advantage.

I hope you find this conversation as fascinating as I did. Enjoy!

– Paula

Resources Mentioned:

• SteveGossett.com
• Six Thinking Hats, by Edward De Bono
• What if We Quit Setting Goals? – Afford Anything Blog
• What Professional Poker Taught Me About Running a 7-Figure Business, with Billy Murphy – Podcast Interview
• Princess Rap Battle Videos
  • Katniss vs Hermione
• Steve’s Twitter
• How to Start a Blog in 5 Minutes

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Have you ever thought: “Gee, I’d like to listen to the Afford Anything podcast, but I’d REALLY prefer to hear it via YouTube?”

(Wait … no? You haven’t thought that? Well, just play along.)

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It’s audio-only. Which kinda defeats the purpose of YouTube, but whatevs. 🙂

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We even got a snazzy URL: https://youtube.com/affordanything

Oh yeah!

Hit the YouTube “subscribe” button at the top right to get loads of Afford Anything audio awesomeness. 🙂

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