*This was supposed to be a LinkedIn post, but I crossed the character limit with more than 700 characters and I had even more things to say, so I decided to publish it here. It’s definitely a longer read than your average LinkedIn post, but I’m sure it’s worth it. Enjoy!
Last week I asked you guys what I should write about. And you answered!
Within a few days, we had an overwhelming victory (a three-crown if you will) for “A Clash Royale lesson for life”, which absolutely crushed the competition with an astonishing 4 votes (I’ll try not to let the fame go to my head). So, today, I am writing about just that, a piece of Clash Royale advice that might just change your life.
But before we get into it, there is something we have to address. Not everyone on LinkedIn knows about Clash Royale, and certainly not everyone has played it. (I guess some people just only play LinkedIn games… 😜)
So, for the LinkedIn veterans who didn’t grow up with Clash Royale, here is a small summary. In Clash Royale, players battle each other using decks of cards. Each card represents a troop, spell, or building. During a match, players automatically generate ‘elixir’, which they spend to play cards onto the battlefield. The goal is to destroy your opponent’s towers—especially the central “King Tower”—while defending your own.
Or how you would say it in LinkedIn language: leveraging strategic resource management to disrupt and dismantle your competitors’ core infrastructure, while safeguarding your own.
I hope that clears things up.
But now, you are probably still wondering: Wessel, what did this game teach you about life and success? Well, let me tell you.
Formerly, I thought the game was all about attacking. I needed to destroy my opponent’s tower(s), and if I did, I would win. So, a focus on the attack seemed like a logical approach, but I was wrong. Constantly attacking also meant constantly being on the opponent’s side of the playing field, where I was at a disadvantage.
On the opponent’s side of the playing field, I would not only have to deal with their troops, but also with the arrows and cannonballs from their towers. This way, my opponent did more damage without spending more elixir. Giving them the time to save up, while I was using everything I had to keep the attack going. Eventually, I would run out of elixir, my attack would be knocked down, and they would have a shitload of elixir to start a new attack (while still having troops on their side that were used for the defense that were now heading to my towers).
Oopsie… it seems like we are facing near bankruptcy, while the competitor is stacked with liquidity. We have to assemble all our resources to get new products, and they are still profiting from their existing stock… Sounds like a pretty shitty position to be in, but I never realised.
Until one day, one of my try-hard friends was bragging about his deck. He told me that it was ‘one of the best defensive decks’. This shocked me. How could he destroy someone’s tower when he was only defending? He answered: ‘I don’t have to’. He would just make sure his towers stayed intact while playing on his half, where he had the advantage. Eventually, the opponent would leave a gap they couldn’t fill because they were spending more elixir than my friend, giving him enough room to do (just) enough damage to win.
Only a few weeks later, I realised this didn’t only apply to Clash Royale. This applied to everything in life.
If you play your advantages long enough you will win.
And believe me, you have more of them than you think. Just the fact that you are able to read (and understand) this already gives you an advantage. Just knowing English and having access to the internet opens near limitless opportunities, especially with AI around. And these seemingly small things are just the tip of the iceberg. Most of you are reading this from a Western country, you have some basic knowledge and you aren’t stupid (only judging by the fact that you’re reading WWI, which is certainly a sign of genius…😝). Yeah, I could go on and on with all the advantages that you probably have, but I think it’s more interesting (and rewarding) to look at the advantages that only you have.
Take a look at your experiences, your talents and interests. What do you like, when do you lose track of time, what are you good at and what are you proud of. Do those things, do the things you like, because those are the things that you can stay consistent with the longest. And if you play your advantages long enough… you will win.
So, let me ask you. What is your side of the playing field? In what areas do you have the advantage? And are you going to use these advantages in this game, called life?