Everything has a cost

Speaker

And so I see that, you know, Gotham Chess gets to meet, Harry Kane and Michael Olise, and it's kind of the second-best player on the team or the second most exciting player on the team at the moment because they are both quite into chess, and they played a few chess games. And this happened just after Harry Kane won this award for Best Player of the Year, the Ballon d'Or. And so for a moment, I had this kind of feeling of jealousy and thinking like, "Oh my God, I wanna do that. You know, I wanna have the same thing. Why not me? I even played for them. I'm a grandmaster. Well, obviously, why not me? He is by far the biggest chess creator on the planet, and I'm just a, you know, a little very, very, very small, , creator compared to Levy

But then I was very happy how I managed to switch focus quickly and see the real picture, and that's actually really the lesson from today because it applies to you guys as well Because I asked myself one question that helped me get out of this state quickly and then just, you know, move on with my day and my life.

The question is

Would you take the whole package? Because when we think about a big achievement... Well, I will say this is a big achievement for me. Maybe you think I'm weird. That's all right. Or a rare opportunity, we often tend to think about it in a vacuum. Like, I wanna have my exact same life, but just have this opportunity, right? Instead of Levy being there, it should be me And that's just not how life works Instead, there often are huge trade-offs that lead to such big achievements and opportunities And when I ask the questions, would I take the whole package? It just forces me to see all of these trade-offs, and very often I can get back to a state of like, "Oh, no, I'm just very happy with the life I'm living right now," and kind of the jealousy goes away

Because I don't want to upload daily videos on YouTube. I don't wanna basically have to work with the biggest site in the world, chess.com. I don't wanna be at my computer the moment Magnus Carlsen finishes a game to upload a video and maximize views. And those, I'm sure, are only a fraction of the trade-offs that Levy, you know, chooses or just generally does, um, to have the kind of success that he has.

And when I see it this way, when I look at the whole package, I'm like, "Nope, thank you. I'm not interested So in other words, when you catch yourself thinking like, "Oh, I would want this," and I'm sure that you've looked at stronger chess players and thought, "Wow, I'd love to have this rating or opportunity," right? So when you catch yourself having this thought, well, it can be very useful to ask yourself, would you still want it with all the trade-offs?

Or as I mentioned it before, would you take the whole package? Because as a grandmaster, I can tell you, the trade-offs are not always worth it, or it's not as clear-cut as it might seem from the outside. What you don't see is the hours spent at a chessboard instead of hanging out with friends, the annoying travels, the horrible hotels we usually stay in, at least that's when I was active player, the hours spent away from loved ones.

I traveled, you know, anywhere between 110 and 150 days, including training camps, when I was an active chess player. That's a lot Not to speak of the pressure we put on ourselves, the slowly diminishing love for the game because it becomes more like a job than a hobby And even if it isn't the GM title, but something smaller like winning a few hundred points, there always are trade-offs And if you look at the whole package, right, and you're asking yourself, "Would I take the whole package? Am I taking all of these trade-offs that are necessary to achieve the thing that I saw somebody else achieve?" If the answer is yes, well then evaluate if it is likely at all, right? And if it is, go for it while accepting the trade-offs

And if the answer is no, I'm fine, I don't take the whole package, then you can just enjoy your current chess level with less remorse Because I, for one, you know, thinking about this and talking about it out loud, I'm very grateful to be able to, , record, , this podcast episode on a Friday morning, no travels for work planned. I don't have a YouTube video that I have to record and get out today or tomorrow or next week Because I get the freedom to do what I want, to talk about what I want, to help you in the way that I see is good And I get to do it when I choose to do it, and not because, you know, if you wanna be the biggest YouTuber, you gotta, , continuously upload and reinvent yourself and clickbait and all of that stuff

And the trade-offs that I really want to accept even more so that this maybe, you know, comes up even less is I did not reach 2,600 ELO, right? I stopped when I was like 2,580. That's fine. I have less reach, less fame, less money, and I'm not going to meet Harry Kane, but that's totally fine And this might be a weird kind of lesson or thought from someone creating content on chess improvement, but I really think it's so important for you guys to fully understand, like, okay, improving at chess, you know, there are trade-offs. And if you're not ready for these trade-offs at the moment, then that's totally fine

And even if you wanna improve, it's still nice to see, hey, somebody way stronger than me that a level I will maybe never reach. It's not just everything is rosy and perfect on this level, right? Grandmasters are not these, you know, eternally happy people because they reached a grandmaster title. And maybe that's a little bit a strange or unexpected lesson to hear from someone, actually, you know, having a chess improvement business. But I really believe this is super important that you guys see the trade-offs of even improving a few hundred points, right? Trying to get better at chess. There are always trade-offs, and it's just so much nicer, no matter if the answer is yes, I wanna do it, or no, if we really see the trade-offs and we accept them.

And then we can choose, okay, I'm just happy at the rating I am. I just don't wanna invest the time and energy right now. That's totally fine. Or I would like to get better, and I accept that, you know, it can take time, that I will lose games, that all of these things that will inevitably happen when we see them clearly, when we see the trade-offs, uh, life can be so much better. That's it for this one. See you next week Hey, guys, just two quick things before you take off. If you enjoyed this episode and want more structured chess improvement tips from myself, check out my newsletter at nextlevelchess.com/newsletter. It's totally free. It will always remain free, and it goes out every single Friday with the best, latest chess improvement tips that I have.

Most of the podcast episodes that I record are based on a previous newsletter, so getting the newsletter, you'll get the advice earlier, and you'll get it directly into your inbox every single Friday. It's totally free, as I mentioned, and you can unsubscribe any time. So go to nextlevelchess.com/newsletter to sign up. And one last thing, if you enjoyed this episode and if it helped you, then please take a few seconds and review this podcast. This helps a ton. It helps other people see, oh, yeah, many, many people profit from the advice given in this podcast. Let's give this podcast a try. And if you can, if you know anyone in the chess world that would profit from this episode or any other episode, make sure to share it with your friends, with your people online.

That's super helpful. Podcast growth is really just working through mouth by mouth recommendations. So thank you, thank you so much for listening, and thank you for spreading the word about the Next Level Chess Podcast. Now, that's all from me. Thank you for listening, and see you next time.