Georgi Girev, Optionality, and the what next plan.

If you're world champion at sixteen, what will you do with the rest of your life?

Hello guys,

Hope you are doing well. I'm doing okay, Alhamdulillah.

Mehn, I can't believe Monday is here already. This break just sped by. While I was struggling to enter a 'resting mode’ for the first half, the second half was just cruise. With calendar mostly empty, very few alarms x reminders of things to do and being able to sleep anyhow? Omoest omo.

I just need a few more days. With fried rice and chicken. And asaro. And pounded yam. And efo riro. And ewa agayin. And dodo. Ahh dodo, my sweet sweet dodo. Kai, maybe I should turn this into a food newsletter. Whenever next I enter a bukka, things go shele gaan. 😂 

See ehn, I don lose focus. Writing is hard. I still haven't finished Queen's Gambit. I'm stuck in the middle of two good books. And for whatever reason, I haven't been able to get Adam Driver's being alive scene in The Marriage Story out of my head.

So what now?

I shall walk you through the most impactful scene (yet) for me in Beth Harmon's story, and hopefully you derive some benefit as well. And then, we shall both chill and catch as much cruise as possible before tomorrow arrives.

Good?

Leggo.

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After Beth defeated 13-year old Georgi Girev at the Mexico City tournament in episode 4 of the Queen's Gambit, they had an interesting conversation.

Beth: How old were you when you started playing?

Georgi: Four. I was district champion at seven.

Georgi: I will be world champion one day.

Beth: When?

Georgi: In three years.

Beth: You'll be sixteen in three years. If you win, what would you do next?

Georgi: *pauses.

Georgi: I don't understand

Beth: If you're world champion at sixteen, what will you do with the rest of your life?

Georgi: *looks super confused.

Georgi: I don't understand

I paused after this scene because I needed to process it. You see, Georgi had spent his whole life training to be the world chess champion. Let's assume for a moment that he achieved his dream at 16, what then?

Dominate chess tournaments forever? Write books and become a trainer x teacher? Move to some other sport?

He hadn't contemplated it. His entire life had been fixated on becoming the world champion.

Let's pause here for a moment. When we think about creating optionality for ourselves, it is usually about creating a backup plan. What do I mean?

If you asked a young football player about his plans, his option A would be to become a star. To win the Champions League and or World Cup. If that did not work out maybe due to an injury, his option B would probably be to take UEFA training and become a coach. His Option C might be to join Gary Neville and John Barnes as a pundit.

And this would be a sensible answer. The problem is that we tend to create these other options assuming we are no longer able to achieve the first one.

The Georgi Girev scenario happened to me quite recently as well (which was perhaps why it was personally noteworthy). On a phone call with one of my mentors last week, he said, ‘AbdulHameed have you thought about what next if you achieve all your dreams early?’

‘Achieve all my dreams early?’

'Yes. Let's assume you achieve everything you want in your career and life at 35 or 40. You may still have only lived for half of your life. So what will you do with the rest?'

I didn't have a clear answer. I did have general ideas of things I could do, but they were not structured and it was clear I had not spent much time thinking about this.

I still don't have a clear answer, and that is absolutely fine. If you remember from this newsletter, we don't need to always have an answer to these questions.

But it is something we should probably pay a bit more attention to.

With 2021 upon us, it is only natural that many individuals and companies return to the drawing board in an attempt to redefine our short and long term goals. This time, let's take it a step further.

As we create Plan B & C as alternate or backup plans in case Plan A does not work out, we should also think a bit more about Plan A+ & A* as what next plans should A's success be guaranteed.

If you're world champion at sixteen, what will you do with the rest of your life?

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If you found this newsletter useful, please share it with your friends. Have them read it and subscribe. I like to share personal stories and life lessons I am learning. They will be super random, but common themes will include business, personal development, human relationships, and Islam.

Gracias, and see you around.

Hameed

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Thank you! 😀

** Jara content (because I'm nice):

In preparing this newsletter, I came across a video where a young girl asked Muhammad Ali 'What are you gonna do when you retire from boxing?’

It was a powerful speech, and I ended up spending about an hour on Obasanjo's internet watching a number of Ali videos. I watched Billy Crystal's speech at Ali's funeral. I watched Mike Tyson cry on radio while remembering Ali. I watched Ali on Oprah, telling Will Smith he was ‘almost pretty enough to play him'. I watched a handful of other videos that weren't quite as memorable.

Long before we began to ascribe GOAT to Ronaldo and Messi, Ali was 'the greatest'. And he didn't wait for the rest of the world to say it, he called himself the greatest from the very beginning.

But like the rest of us, Ali was ultimately human. He returned to his creator some 4 years ago, but not before leaving behind a lifetime of positive impact.

Allahuma igfirlahu wa irahumu. May Allah forgive him and be merciful to him.

Have a good week. ✨