Hey friends,
Quick thing before we start: Over the past few months, my team and I have been developing VoicePal, a ghostwriter app that helps you turn rambling thoughts spoken-out-loud into written first drafts. I’ve mentioned it a few times in this newsletter, and I’ve had various replies asking how I actually use the app myself, so I recorded a walkthrough of how I use Voicepal for brainstorming ideas and creating a v1 of this very newsletter. Side-note: we’ve released a bunch of cool updates in recent weeks, including the ability to record 50+ languages, fresh draft templates, and more. You can check it out on iOS and Android 🥳
Anyway, this week, I want to share some thoughts on finite and infinite games. A few weeks ago, we hit 6 million subscribers on YouTube. It’s a big milestone and me five years ago would be delighted to be here. But to be honest I couldn’t help but have a bit of an existential moment. even though we’ve hit this massive milestone, our views have actually dropped compared to last year (maybe I’ll write about this in an upcoming issue) which made me question what I’m trying to do as a creator.
In these existential moments, I find it helpful to think about the concept of “finite and infinite games”. This idea comes from James P. Carse, who wrote about it in the 1980s. Carse writes that there are two types of games in life:
- Finite games (where the goal is to win)
- Infinite games (where the goal is to keep playing).
Finite games have a clear endpoint and a measurable outcome whereas infinite games don’t have an endpoint at all and no clear sign of “success”. Here are some examples that come to mind as I write this:
▶️ YouTube
- Finite game: Get 1 million subscribers
- Infinite game: To keep teaching the stuff I’m interested in on the internet
❤️ Relationships
- Finite game: An incredible wedding where the guests are absolutely blown away
- Infinite game: A loving and healthy marriage
💪 Fitness
- Finite game: Getting six-pack abs
- Infinite game: Learning to enjoy exercise
💻 Career
- Finite game: Make enough money to retire by 40
- Infinite game: Find work that you’d continue doing even if you weren’t paid
Whenever I’m feeling a bit down about work (which seems to happen about every quarter for the past several years), I’ve started asking myself: “Am I feeling bad because I’m losing at a finite game? Or is it because I’ve lost sight of the infinite game I’m trying to play?”
We’re all human – it’s ridiculously easy to get sucked into playing finite games. They give us clear goals and that sweet dopamine hit of achievement. But I’m starting to recognise that true enjoyment comes from playing the infinite game, even if that means sometimes sacrificing short-term wins for long-term sustainability.
This doesn’t mean we should never play finite games (I still get excited about business milestones like hitting a certain profit target 😉). It’s more about being conscious of which game we’re playing at any given moment, and making sure we’re not sacrificing the infinite game just to win at the finite one.
Have a great week!
Ali xx
