HOW TO LONG GAME (revisited)

Exactly a year ago I was struggling with doubt about the path ahead. I had concerns about where Metalabel was going and how we were working as a team. The path in front ahead felt uncertain and not easy. I spent most of a week in a hotel room in LA trying to sort out what to do. That's when a mantra emerged in a single take, aided by a choice to write in all-caps. That day I wrote the following:

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HOW TO LONG GAME

1. THERE IS NO SHORT GAME, ONLY LONG GAME. SHORT GAME IS TOURISM. LONG GAME IS LIVING THERE.

2. THE LONG GAME IS ABOUT BUILDING YOUR OWN GAME. ANY PRIZES THAT ALREADY EXIST ARE SHORT GAME CROWNS. WIN BY BUILDING YOUR OWN GAME.

3. THE LONG GAME IS LONG. YOU WILL BE TEMPTED TO ACCELERATE THE LONG GAME WITH MORE RESOURCES. THIS IS MIXING SHORT GAME THINKING WITH LONG GAME GOALS. BEWARE.

4. THE LONG GAME IS NOT FOR EVERYONE. IT’S THE GROWN UP VERSION OF THE MARSHMALLOW TEST. YOU NEED THE RIGHT MENTALITY AND APPROACH TO PLAY.

5. THE LONG GAME IS ABOUT CONFIDENCE. YOU HAVE TO WILLINGLY LIVE IN A TRUTH THAT’S NOT CERTAIN, YET OPERATE WITH THE FAITH THAT IT WILL BE. THIS WILL BE A CONSTANT PRESSURE YOU MUST BEFRIEND/TOLERATE.

6. THE LONG GAME = THESIS + MINDSET. LONG GAMING WITH A RIGID PLAN IS DIFFICULT BECAUSE THERE ARE TOO MANY VARIABLES. A THESIS (SOMETHING YOU UNIQUELY BELIEVE TO BE TRUE) PLUS A LONG-TERM MINDSET (DETERMINATION TO WILL SOMETHING INTO EXISTENCE) IS REQUIRED.

7. THE DESTINATION MUST BE WORTH THE JOURNEY. THERE WILL BE LONG PERIODS WITHOUT FEEDBACK, AND, IN FACT, NEGATIVE FEEDBACK (THINK CHRISTIAN BALE IN “THE BIG SHORT”). THE LONG GAME OUTCOME MUST BE WORTH THE SHORT TERM CHALLENGE AND PAIN.

8. THERE IS ONLY LONG GAME. REAL CHANGE, REAL INFLUENCE, REAL IMPACT ONLY HAPPEN OVER TIME. THE LONG GAME IS THE ONLY GAME WORTH PLAYING.

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This post had slipped my mind. Then this morning, someone on Substack shared it, saying it was helping put them in the right mindset. As I re-read it, I realized it was doing the same for me.

What we're trying to do here with DFOS and with A-Corps is extremely ambitious. I look at what we're doing on both fronts and sometimes feel overwhelmed by it all. But when I think about the long game, when I think about how the pieces come together over time, and when I think about how far we've come even in the year since I wrote this, I can see that nothing is impossible, life is ever-changing, and being dedicated to a singular focus and goal really is a cheat code in such a short-term world.

The long game is the only game. Grateful to be playing it here with you.