'Snakes & Ladders' - The game of life

Have you ever played the game ‘Snakes & Ladders’

It’s a bit like life. Snakes take you down or backwards, and ladders take you up or forwards. In life, after you have experienced the exhilaration of a ladder, it is quite possible that you could bump into a snake. But on the flip-side, after experiencing the humbling emitted by an encounter with a snake, your next move could land you at the foot of a ladder.

However, at the end of the day, it’s not the number of ladders or snakes that you face in your life that will determine your fate.

I can still picture the particular snakes and ladders graphics on the version of the game I had as a kid and I’m sure you can with yours too. Why did we love that board game so much? After all, there really is no skill involved: your fate is governed entirely by the shake of a dice: Land on a good square and you go up, a bad square and you go down. But in fact, as you play it, you experience all sorts of useful emotions.

Your future in the game of life is determined by one thing, and one thing only – movement. Just keep moving ever forward. Don’t stop at the foot of a snake and throw away the dice. Just keep moving. Get up again, and keep moving.

Oh sure, you might like to pause for a moment to recharge the batteries, or even have a little cry, but then persist, persist, persist, and on the way learn, learn, learn from your mistakes or misfortunes – until you reach the finishing line as a seasoned victor.

Over-confidence creeps in as you get two or three ladders in a row, which then makes the next snake, seem a bigger blow. There’s complacency as you near the top, only to hit that long snake about 4 squares from the end. Petulance and a claim that things are ‘unfair’, when you hit snake after snake. Ruthless competitiveness creeps in, and also schadenfreude, that “mischievous delight in the misfortune of others”. It is this; let’s face it, which is at the heart of the game. It’s a guilty pleasure, but one that really must stay within the confines of the board.

I guess the single most refreshing and energising thing I have found with networking in particular, is an almost complete lack of schadenfreude, and in fact a feeling of its complete reverse: a willingness to share people’s pain, an eagerness to help people who’ve encountered a series of snakes. Fellow networkers rally round to not just find ladders, but often to provide them, in the form of advice and practical help. It is a genuine support network.

In self-employment, in my opinion, compared with making a living in the corporate world, there are far more rewarding ladders, but, let’s face it, there are also deadlier, more unpredictable snakes. So, it’s good to know that when the shake of the dice goes against you, that networking provides a great way of helping you get back into the game.