It wasn’t meant to be this way.

Waiting outside the hotel at 4.10am in the morning, and not having a ride to the airport isn’t ideal.

My wife and I stood there, looking for answers on our phones until the concierge finally decided to help us out and order a taxi.

Roaming was too expensive in Dubai, so we couldn’t resort to an Uber (I’m not a computer guy but I expected to rack up a few hundred $ for the trip). 

The Arabic concierge came walking out of the building, confirming he’d ordered a taxi, but he didn’t know how long it would take. 

So we waited. And I thought. Early in the morning my mind wasn’t chattering. Even though we had a flight to catch, I wasn’t really worried.

So I focused myself to enjoy the tranquility of huge empty parking lot and clear sky. I focused in on what today’s newsletter is gonna be about. 

Crypto. 

Lol. Just kidding. 

Today is about GAMES.

Money. Fitness. Relationships. All of these are multiplayer, external games. When we talk about these things, the word ‘should’ enters the conversation a lot. That’s because there’s pressure from outside. Expectations from people around us, what’s considered ‘normal’ for society, and a need to be like everyone else.

All of these games are easy to play. With enough focus over a year or two, you can ‘win’. 

You can win at all three. I think I have. But what happens AFTER that is more important. What happens after you win all three games is the hard truth swallow.

Nothing. You don’t WIN anything. You just keep playing at a different level. Which is kinda depressing.

So I’ve been looking for another game. And I found it. And it’s so much harder to play.

It’s the single-player, no dopamine, no immediate reward, intrinsic game.

The game between YOU and YOUR MIND.

Yes, they’re separate. You are NOT your mind. 

One talks too much, and the other doesn’t talk at all. And for most of us, the loudest voice in the room that takes over. 

And that’s a problem. We don’t have an ‘off’ switch for the inner monologue. It just. Doesn’t. Stop.

It’s like having a friend that’s always judging, always calling out the obvious, always finding the negative in things, and never focusing on the present. It lives in the past and the future. It doesn’t care about the present.

So on that cold morning waiting for the taxi, I was playing my inner game. I wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet of the early Dubai morning and take in the view of the beautiful city.

The voice in my head was starting to wake up and it was telling me I should worry. I should worry about the flight, if the bags that were already on the flight, and the costs to stay another night if there weren’t any other direct flights to Spain that day. 

But I kept fighting. I was happy, and I wanted to stay happy. But I need lots of practice. LOTS of practice. 

I’ve been learning how to play this game from few books I’ve been reading/listening:

The Almanac of Naval Ravikant (Section 2)

The Power of NOW

The Surrender Experiment

Not to be too ‘woo woo’, but the inner game is worth playing. The benefit is happiness. And that happiness will attract any success you wanna have in the external games too. 

So try it. Focus. Listen. Stop talking to yourself for a few moments. 

Here’s a quote from the book I really loved:

“Thinking and consciousness are not synonymous. Thinking is only a small aspect of consciousness. Thought cannot exist without consciousness, but consciousness does not need thought.”

- Ekhart Tolle, The Power of NOW

Have a great week. 

Buenos Noches. 

Harry 

P.S. I’m in Spain right now, indefinitely. If you have any travel recommendations for me, shoot them across!

P.P.S. Connect with me on LinkedIn here, if you haven’t already.