Hey, good to see you again. Sit back, kick your shoes off and enjoy the story.

Jim B L

I had just finished my last appointment and it was late. Evening was already falling crisply as I left the building and walked to my car. A light breeze caught in my hair as I went, ruffling my bangs with the cool scent of humus. It was only February and we still had snow, but there was a definite tinge of spring in the air. I smiled, thinking of all the wonderful garden things soon coming my way.

The afternoon had been long and I was looking forward to getting home and  spending the evening with some friends. We were meeting for our semi-regular Gin Rummy evening and it was my turn to be host. I’d need to hurry, if I were to get everything ready in time. I threw my car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot, into the darkening street.

I drove through the dimly lit city onto the highway and thought back on my day. My client was the very capable leader of a large development team within an international company. She had worked her way up in a male dominated technical world to reach the position she now had – and it hadn’t always been easy. But her ambition and ability to set and achieve goals had given her the edge over her colleagues and added to her technical knowledge, this had allowed her to become a future minded leader, capable of reaching the objectives the company set for her and her team.

Now, however, things had begun to seem hard for her. She had suffered the loss of several key team-members and this, coupled with various technological challenges, had led to the failure to meet several important customer project deadlines. She was beginning to get frustrated and was having difficulty finding her usual confident attitude. The certainty that once marked her manner, had turned to uncertainty. Decisions had become difficult to make and the problems, it seemed, were coming at her quicker than she could deal with.

‘It’s so hard’, she told me. ‘Everything seems to be going wrong. I’m seriously considering quitting and doing something else. Maybe I’m just not cut out for this after all.’  She was so caught up in the problems that life was handing her that it was becoming more and more difficult for her to look beyond and develop a strategy.

I drove down the dusky highway towards home and thought about the upcoming evening. We had a fairly long tradition of Gin Rummy and every couple of months or so we would meet to play, chat and have a good time. We didn’t take it all very seriously, but it was a great way to spend the evening in good company. We always were careful to keep score though, because at the end of the Gin Rummy year (midsummer) the player with the least amount of points would take the others out for dinner.

This year I was probably safe. I had been having a good year, so the chances of me landing at the bottom of the list were slim at best. Nevertheless, you never knew, so I was already planning my tactics for the evening as I drove and dreamt of the steak I would eat around mid-summer.

Playing cards is a game of chance and strategy. Cards are dealt to you and then you play. Sometimes you’ve got good cards, and sometimes you don’t. But ask any good Gin Rummy player, it’s not the cards you’re dealt that matters, it’s the way you play them that makes or breaks the game. Even if you don’t have perfect cards, you can make the best out of the hand you have and look forward to the next deal.

Life and work are much the same. Sometimes you’re holding aces and sometimes you’re not, but you’re already sitting at the table so you might as well play. And even if the cards you’re holding seem rotten at best, take comfort in the fact that in life as in Gin Rummy, you’re always dealt new cards and new chances.

So remember, it’s not the cards you’ve got in your hand that make you successful, but instead it’s what you do with them that counts.

Happy Shuffling,
Lisa

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