6 Lessons From Card Games You Can Easily Apply in the Business Arena

Did it ever cross your mind how many things you’ve learned throughout time, and how you improved many skills by playing games that you never took so seriously? Even if on the surface playing games looks like you simply do it for fun or to relax, underneath it, there is a whole hidden world of strategy, observation, and decision-making that sharpens your mind. 

The most interesting aspect of this topic is that the moves someone makes at the card table reveal a great deal about how they approach challenges in business. It demonstrates how someone calculates risks, how calm they can remain under pressure, and their ability to learn from mistakes.

There are countless benefits of playing games, and in this article, we will take a closer look at how you can shape the way you grow, lead, and choose in your professional life, and how you can apply these lessons in the business world.

Every Move Tells You Something

In businesses, features such as strategy, patience, making quality decisions, and the ability to evaluate others are crucial and lead to success. 

Keep in mind that, in the same way that you evaluate others through the way of playing card games and studying their strategy, others also evaluate and analyse you. They study your reactions, body language, timing, and consistency throughout these games. That’s why your strategy is important, and you should work on improving it every day. It builds your reputation and your presence, which needs to be strong and reliable. Observant leaders spot hesitation, doubt, or interest before the word is even said.

Sharpening your instinct and learning to observe is something that you cannot learn overnight, but something that you need to practice and stay consistent with. Learning to read the room and master observation is where all the power lies.

Calculated Risks

Something familiar to both business leaders and card game players is that they make decisions with limited information, follow the dynamic of the entire event, and sometimes need to make bold moves even if they are unsure about the outcome. No matter what card game you choose to play, whether it's blackjack, rummy, bridge, or poker, every type of game comes down to risk and timing, and this is why lessons from card games are very beneficial for many entrepreneurs and executives. The abilities that you gain from card games will naturally transfer to your business negotiations and decisions, and you won’t even notice it at first, but you will surely see better results.

Thriving in Uncertainty 

One of the most challenging tasks that every businessperson needs to face is making decisions in uncertain situations. Playing card games can ease this struggle because the rules in these games are made up that way, and your every move and decision are based on your intuition, psychology, and probabilities. By being consistent in playing card games, you will naturally develop trust in yourself and your judgment and remain calm when the outcome is uncertain over time. 

^{Supplementary reading: Can We Get Better at Navigating Uncertainty?}

Let’s take startups, for example. They operate in highly uncertain environments. Making decisions about finances, employment, and market fit often feels like a thoughtful bet.

Every leader who develops such skills when they feel uncertainty will make faster and more efficient decisions in such situations, and that is another reason why you should work on improving and sharpening your mind by playing card games.

Emotional Control and Resilience

Leading with emotions is acceptable, but when it comes to business, maintaining emotional control is necessary, and leading with logic is sometimes more desirable. We have all seen someone who lost control and had a complete breakdown when faced with defeat in the game, or who let frustration get the better of them and lost control. This happens not only in games but also in business, and that’s why it is very important to learn to manage and deal with our emotions. This way, you will prevent yourself from making bad decisions.

^{Read more: How to Build Resilience in an Age of Instant Gratification}

Through card games, you will learn how to deal with defeat, stay calm and collected, and continue with a clear mind. You will learn that one bad round does not mean the end of the game, and you will continue to go on regardless. You will adopt one of the most important features, and that is resilience. Combined with thoughtfulness and precision, this feature is something that makes true leaders.

Trust Your Gut When Logic Isn’t Enough

Not every decision in life is based on logic, and neither is it in business or playing cards. In some situations, you can be left with nothing but a feeling, and that is when your intuition needs to take over. When you have enough experience, sometimes your gut will tell you that something isn’t right even if the numbers say that it should be. That’s the feeling you should never ignore because it is not just guesswork, but something that you subconsciously learned throughout time. With these kinds of games, you will learn to recognise subtle patterns, body language, and timing, and this will help you to sharpen your instincts, which is also a trait that many successful leaders rely on when there is no clear path forward. 

Strategic Withdrawal Matters

Sometimes, even if we don’t want to, the best move we can make is to fold. That’s not the situation where you decide to give up simply. It is the move you need to make to conserve energy, resources, and position yourself for better opportunities. 

The same thing is sometimes required in business. Not every project or client is worth chasing. Learning when to walk away to save your mental well-being and protect your bottom line is probably one of the most important lessons that you can learn.

In conclusion

Playing games may be a fun way to play with friends after a long and tiring day, but playing games can visibly improve the way you think and make better moves in the future. These acquired skills can be highly beneficial to anyone who runs a business and makes impactful and important decisions every day.

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