Robin Moriarty - What Game Are You Playing?

This book is perfect for anyone seeking to take control of how they play the game at work. Its honest and accessible approach will guide you to achieve the success that you desire!

GAIL EVANS, former EVP, CNN Newsgroup and author of Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman

Compelling, refreshing, honest, and inspiring. What Game Are You Playing? reminds us that its never too late to design your own life game, fearlessly act on it, and actually enjoy playing it!

ERIKA MEDINA-VECCHINI, Managing Director, Endeavor Puerto Rico

Are you grinding through life? Then hit the reset button, and wipe your slate clean! This book helps you redefine success so that you can pursue what is important to you. Stop trying to live up to others expectations, and start playing your game, by your rules, today!

DON W. QUIGLEY JR., retired Fortune 100 President

As an entrepreneur, I know that work is a huge part of life. This book helps you figure out how to insure that your life and your work are fulfilling your needs. It is a must-read for young people entering the workforce and for moms going back to work!

SHAYNE WALSEY, President, Urban Enterprises

This is a guidebook for the dreamers, the artists, the hustlers, and the individuals. The people who have realized their lives are theirs to live and the people who want to find that realization. In other words, this is for all of us.

JEREMY PETRANKA, PhD, Assistant Dean and Associate Professor of the Practice, The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher and author are not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. Nothing herein shall create an attorney-client relationship, and nothing herein shall constitute legal advice or a solicitation to offer legal advice. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press

Austin, Texas

www.gbgpress.com

Copyright 2019 Happy Happy LLC

All rights reserved.

Thank you for purchasing an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright law. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the copyright holder.

Distributed by Greenleaf Book Group

For ordering information or special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Greenleaf Book Group at PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709, 512.891.6100.

Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group and Kim Lance

Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group and Kim Lance

Cover Illustration: Copyright by Reinekke, 2019. Used under license from Shutterstock.com

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

Print ISBN: 978-1-62634-653-6

eBook ISBN: 978-1-62634-654-3

Part of the Tree Neutral program, which offsets the number of trees consumed in the production and printing of this book by taking proactive steps, such as planting trees in direct proportion to the number of trees used: www.treeneutral.com

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

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First Edition

Thank you to Paul for bursting into my office that day.
And to Gail Evans for her book Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman, which helped me realize early on that this is all just a big game anyway.

Table of Contents

PREFACE:
What Game Are You Playing?

INTRODUCTION:
Redefining Success

CHAPTER 1:
Its All a Game, and Everybody Is Playing

CHAPTER 2:
Are You Playing Your Own Game or Someone Elses?

CHAPTER 3:
Its All in Your Head

CHAPTER 4:
Spending the Most Amount of Time in the Coolest Places

CHAPTER 5:
What Game Are You Playing Today?

CHAPTER 6:
Designing a New Game

CHAPTER 7:
Making It Happen

CHAPTER 8:
Playing Games, Big and Small

CHAPTER 9:
What Games Are Other People Playing?

CHAPTER 10:
What Are You Waiting For?

O ne November afternoon, I was in my office, sitting in the chair behind my desk, drinking a cup of coffee, and typing away at emails on my computer.

I was pretty relaxed and plugging along at my work when all of a sudden, one of my favorite colleagues burst into the room. He was noticeably ticked off about something. Because hes a pretty big person, he really filled up the space in the office and was huffing and puffing and pacing back and forth and waving his arms around.

In between huffs and puffs, he let on that he was upset because our CEOs new compensation package had just been announced and... well... lets just say that our CEO was earning significantly more than either one of us. And my colleague was furious.

He said, Hes winning! That guy! Hes winning! And were losing!

I looked up from my computer, smiled at him, and replied matter-of-factly, Well, I dont know what youre talking about because Im winning.

He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to me with confusion on his facelike, How could you be winning? I know youre not making as much money as our CEO!

So I continued, Im playing the game of Spending the Most Amount of Time in the Coolest Places. And Im winning! And I proudly pointed to a huge calendar hanging on my wall. You know those calendars. You can see all 12 months of the year at once, and you can write on them with dry-erase markers in different colors. On the calendar, in large blue, orange, pink, and purple letters, I had written all the places I had gone over the course of the year for work and for play.

With a look that was somewhere between bewilderment and skepticism, he turned and looked at my calendar. He saw that I had been to Berlin and London and Hong Kong and Buenos Aires and Sydney and Shanghai and Toronto and a few other places over the course of the year.

And he paused to consider. He knew I was losing the game of Who Makes the Most Money in the Company. But he also knew that I was definitely winning the Spending the Most Time in the Coolest Places game.

I told him that there was more than one game to play and that maybe he needed to think about which game he was choosing to play. I reminded him that its important to play your own gamenot the game that other people are playing or the game that they want you to play, but the game that you want to play. And I reminded him that its more important to win at your own game than to try to win at someone elses. And he said that I was brilliant and that I should write a book about it.

So for Paul, here it is.

And for everybody else, I ask: What game are you playing?

A s long as I can remember, I have felt the weight of others expectations on meabout how I should behave, choices I should make, and what being successful should look like. I believed all I had been taught about what I should seek in my lifedegrees from prestigious universities, a high-powered career, promotions and impressive titles, a big house in the best neighborhood, a brilliant spouse, children who are super smart and natural athletes, fancy cars, a stylish wardrobe, a fit body with six-pack abs, a face without wrinkles, good hair, white teeth, a healthy glow (but not from too much sun), luxury watches and accessories, vacations to wine country, early retirement, keeping up with the Joneses (or better yet, beating them), and ultimately, external applause and admiration from neighbors, colleagues, friends, and followers.