Are you an entrepreneur who enjoys playing blackjack in your spare time? Perhaps you deem this hobby a ‘guilty pleasure’, but the reality is that blackjack and business have a wealth of similarities.
In fact, there are many experts out there who believe that playing blackjack can make you more adept in the corporate world. Here are just four lessons that this popular casino game can teach you about business.
How to make data-driven decisions
Decision-making is a big part of running and nurturing a successful business. Unfortunately, the ability to accurately weigh up pros and cons and to know when it is the right time to act does not come naturally to some. Luckily, blackjack can help to improve judgment and decisiveness because it forces players to make data-driven decisions. Most blackjack beginners will simply follow their ‘gut’ when first starting to play; however, as time goes on, it quickly becomes obvious that keeping track of data is what truly sets their strategy apart.
It is impossible to win 100% of the time
Blackjack is one of the world’s Top Casino Games because it is impossible to ‘master’. No matter how long you have been playing it and how many times you have won in the past, you will always have your ‘bad’ days where you lose more than you intended. The business world is very much the same.
A successful business owner knows that it is impossible to obtain a win in every aspect of the enterprise all of the time. Some actions and decisions just won’t work out no matter how positive the original risk assessment looked at first. You have to learn to be alright with this, to learn from your mistakes, and to move on to make decisions in the future.
Risks are part of the journey
Speaking of risks, blackjack teaches you that they are unavoidable. You have to take risks to win – the secret is knowing how to figure out which risks are worth it, and which are not.
Risk-taking is also a huge part of the entrepreneurial journey. You cannot ensure that your business reaches its full potential without taking at least some of them along the way!
Never allow success to leave you feeling invincible
Success is not something that you obtain once and then revel in for the rest of your working life. Success needs to be maintained and, if you let it get to your head, it can be pulled out from underneath you faster than you can blink! Blackjack reinforces this lesson.
One minute you can be celebrating an epic winning streak, only to lose every last cent of your winnings the next. Never become cocky or complacent no matter how well they play (or your business) seems to be going!
It is obvious that blackjack can give you the upper hand in the business world if you take the game’s many lessons to heart. Just remember to play safely and responsibly! Enjoy.