When the rules change
So many parts of life are a game. You can look at the rules and contours of the game. You set your personal win conditions. Then, you do your best to devise and execute strategies to the best of your ability.
But then, sometimes the game changes.
Whether it's becoming more fun, or more bleak and disheartening, it changes.
We may not want the change, or resist it. We try to play the game the way we used to, back when it was how we enjoyed it. When we thought we had it figured out. But that's not up to us.
We can't control the games, only how we play them
Some win conditions may change, while others are immutable. Strong bonds with family, friends and community are always a solid play strategy. Before it may have been about thriving, and now it may be pivoting to surviving or merely existing.
## Adapting with OODA Loops
Strategies have to change. Military strategist and former Air Force colonel John Boyd came up with the OODA loop model for making high-stakes decisions under duress: Observe, orient, decide, then act.
The faster you can complete these loops, the better your chances of success.
Observe: collect data. Get the best information you can and try to get to the most accurate interpretation of it. Understand the rules, constraints, and contours of the situation.
Orient: understand your position. Where are you at in all of this? What options are available to you?
Decide: form a new strategy. A hypothesis on how you can move towards your win conditions. What gives you the best chance of success?
Act: Test your strategy by taking action. Action provides information, usually the best information for you in your current situation and orientation. Observe. Now we're back to the beginning.
Sometimes OODA loops are small, sometimes they are large. They take the form of annual reflections, quarterly business reviews, or split-second decisions in a match of a Street Fighter 3 tournament.
It’s your move. Move forward
When the rules change, it's time to scrap or adjust old ideas. You may be frustrated or terrified into paralysis.
But that is never a winning strategy.
When the rules change, you may not like the new system but you may not have a choice in whether or not you play.
In these cases, the only was forward is to observe, orient, decide, act.
Especially act.