There are finite games - where you have a limited number of shots. And then there are infinite games - where you can have as many shots as you like.
(With thanks to James P. Carse for the distinction).
Cricket is a finite game. If you’re a batsman in a test match, you get two innings – two chances – to bat. It doesn’t matter how good you are or how quickly you run out to the middle, you still just get the two. Even if you work through the night, you’re never going to get more than two. Even the great Don Bradman only ever got two innings per test match.
So, success as a test batsman is all about your success rate per innings – how many runs you get per innings.
School is also a finite game. You get a certain number of assignments and tests, and how successful you are is a function of how you do in those finite opportunities. There is never going to be a kid who tops her school because she works out how to get ten times as many tests as everyone else.
But most of life – and definitely business – is an infinite game. There is no limit to the number of shots that you have. Which means more often than not, it's about speed. And giving yourself as many chances as you can.
Rather than trying to get each one perfect.
