The most important learning advice in Chess can be used almost anywhere.

Apparently, Chess is growing at five times the rate pre-lockdown in March and this is mainly thanks to the Queen's Gambit TV show on Netflix and the general growth of boardgames(see share prices of most game providers) during 2020.

In Chess when you win a game, the correct thing to do is to offer to go over your game with your opponent, to study it for mistakes, and what did your opponent spot or think that you did not. Most people like to go over their wins, celebrate the success, that is really nice but you learn far less from this than when you study a loss. A loss often shows you areas of growth, it shows you where you were outsmarted, outplayed, or outgunned.

I work in sales and my huge tip for anyone in the industry is to look at your losses, the same way chess players learn from their losses, study them more, understand them more. If you spend 80% of your reflection on improvement and 20% on self-gratification you will grow much more than doing it the other way around.

It sounds simple but one of the compelling parts of this new TV show is the push through frustration and pain of the lead character(as generic as possible to avoid any hint of spoilers), it is not nice seeing where you make mistakes, nor is it nice reminding yourself of what you have lost in any area, but in chess, sales or any area of life it's vital.

One of my favourite proverbs is this:

"Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped"

African Proverb

This famous proverb sums up perfectly what is amazing about Chess but is quite useful in the real world, learning from your mistakes and making sure you avoid them in the future. Sounds simple but most look where they fall.