Many times in life, our perspective can become shortsighted, and we think the only thing that matters is what we do or accomplish within our lifetime. However, the truth is that this thinking is limited and causes further havoc than we may have intended, which is why I want to discuss the idea of the infinite game and why you should play it.
I’ve had a general idea of this concept for several years now, but it wasn’t until I read Simon Sinek’s book The Infinite Game that I began to fully encapsulate what this meant.
You can look at this as the infinite game or playing the long game; it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you begin to consider these ideas not for yourself but for future generations.
Looking at all the most significant achievements throughout history, you’ll see they revolve around the idea of playing the infinite game. The saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” is true to a degree, but somewhere, someone had a vision that became Rome, and that vision was aligned more within the timeline of a single day than the actual building of one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen. That vision long outlived its creator(s), serving as the foundation for what would become one of the most enduring civilizations in history, spanning a length of around 2,000 years.
The visionaries of this empire were playing an infinite game. You don’t create an empire by playing finite games. Those who do will eventually watch their empires collapse into rubble and dust.
Interestingly enough, within this game, some players embody the infinite game mentality, while others embody the finite game, and they both may lead at various times within the overall game.
For instance, Marcus Aurelius is hailed as one of Rome’s greatest Emperors. He envisioned Rome, established as a just society known for its wisdom and unity throughout its vast empire. He was playing the infinite game.
However, his son Commodus played the finite game. He was a self-glorifying, narcissistic, megalomaniac focused on coddling his ego, and he ended up sending the empire spiraling out of control.
Players in the Infinite Game
I asked ChatGPT to give me a timeline of some of the most significant Roman Emperors and some of the worst so you can see how the infinite game works:
1. Augustus (27 BCE – 14 CE)
One of the Greatest
- The first Roman emperor, Augustus, stabilized Rome after years of civil war and established the Pax Romana, a period of peace and prosperity.
2. Caligula (37 – 41 CE)
One of the Worst
- Known for his erratic and cruel behavior, including bizarre decrees and extreme decadence. Allegedly declared war on the sea.
3. Nero (54 – 68 CE)
One of the Worst
- Infamous for persecuting Christians and alleged negligence during the Great Fire of Rome. Known for self-indulgence and tyranny.
4. Trajan (98 – 117 CE)
One of the Greatest
- Expanded the empire to its greatest territorial extent and launched significant public works, including Trajan’s Forum and Market.
5. Hadrian (117 – 138 CE)
One of the Greatest
- Consolidated Rome’s borders and promoted cultural development. Focused on peace and internal stability.
6. Marcus Aurelius (161 – 180 CE)
One of the Greatest
- Known as the “Philosopher Emperor,” he led Rome through military challenges and wrote Meditations, promoting stoic values and wisdom.
7. Commodus (180 – 192 CE)
One of the Worst
- Marcus Aurelius’ son focused more on personal vanity and gladiatorial games than governance. His misrule accelerated Rome’s decline.
8. Caracalla (198 – 217 CE)
One of the Worst
- Remembered for his cruelty and the massacre at Alexandria. Despite extending Roman citizenship to all free men, his reign was marked by tyranny.
9. Elagabalus (218 – 222 CE)
One of the Worst
- Known for his eccentric and scandalous behavior, including the promotion of a foreign sun god, causing widespread discontent.
10. Constantine the Great (306 – 337 CE)
One of the Greatest
- The first Christian emperor, he founded Constantinople and helped establish Christianity as a dominant force in the empire.
What do they all have in common?
Those with an infinite game mentality promoted the expansion of individual freedoms, peace, and the growth of the empire to provide for its people. In other words, the leaders were inwardly driven to be outwardly focused. Their thoughts were on how to make Rome a lasting empire for generations to come—not just a lasting empire but one that served its citizens to enrich their lives.
Those with a finite game mentality ruled with an outward focus to serve internal satiation. They didn’t care about making Rome a better place for its citizens and creating a lasting empire. They focused on what they could get for themselves and how they could please themselves and their sycophants.
What Does It Mean to Play the Infinite Game?
It’s simple: You discard the ego’s desire or need to be the supreme entity in your life. Most people don’t think in these terms; instead, their thoughts tend to be me-driven rather than us- or you-driven.
Is this bad?
No.
Realistically speaking, how can we blame them? Look at society—not just our society but every society throughout the ages. Most societies promote a self-centered focus. It’s about what you can get from others rather than how you can contribute to others and the overall whole, knowing that in doing so, you are contributing to yourself. As a result, that contribution will come back to you a hundredfold.
“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered.”
– Proverbs 11:24-25
“The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own.”
– Lao Tzu
Every great teacher understood the infinite game. It’s about cultivating yourself inwardly to cultivate the surrounding culture for the betterment of all.
The great teachers and leaders didn’t measure their impact within the limits of their lifetime; they looked at their impact as if it would affect generations thousands of years from their time, which is why we still remember them thousands of years later.
If you go looking for quotes, you usually don’t find them from individuals such as Commodus or Nero. Why? History doesn’t remember those individuals for their contributions to society. We remember them as a reminder, a lesson in what not to do. Still, we don’t glorify their personas because we understand, from the perspective that hindsight is 20/20, that those individuals were careless, reckless, and egotistical leaders who brought corruption, pain, torture, and death to their societies.
Playing the infinite game means you are looking out for the best interest of not only yourself but for future generations, not only the generation to come but also the ones that come thousands of years later.
One of the issues in America today is that we’ve lost sight of this. We’ve become so tunnel-visioned that we don’t think about the country’s future in terms of thousands of years. Many countries don’t do this.
Imagine what our world would be like if all countries could adopt the mentality of playing the infinite game. What type of world could we create?
It shouldn’t be about our individual countries outperforming one another. It should be, how can we make this world a better place for our children, and their children, and their children’s children for the next ten thousand years, for the next fifty thousand years, dare I say the next million years?
Understanding this concept is difficult because you struggle to imagine life that far into the future. You can’t imagine what the world will be like in ten thousand years, let alone a million, but that doesn’t matter.
You don’t have to know the future or what it may hold; all you have to do is work now to do the things that will make the world better for future generations.
What Does It Mean to Play A Finite Game?
The current state of corporations and governments generally don’t have the infinite game goal in mind. Instead, they are currently playing the finite game. The Bible states that the love of money is the root of all evil—not money itself, but the love of money, and we live in a society that LOVES money.
Lord Acton wrote:
“Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
– Lord Acton
We live in a society that LOVES power.
The Bible also states pride comes before the fall. We live in a society dominated by pride. It’s not the kind that promotes self-love, stating how proud you are of yourself for overcoming a difficult obstacle or being proud of someone for working to overcome something themselves; it’s the pride that states I’m better than you in some way, shape, or form.
These ideals represent the finite game. They’re the ideals of our current healthcare system, the food industry, and many other corporations.
Are there individuals and companies playing the infinite game within this system? Absolutely!
Unfortunately, many larger corporations are more focused on shareholder profits than on delivering health or providing healthy food.
How do we know this? The EU has banned many of the chemicals found in American food and beauty products. You can search online to find people reading ingredients from grocery items bought in Europe compared to those bought in America. There are blog posts and articles on the topic, podcasts, and a multitude of other forms of information. Lawsuits have been filed for years against corporations for indulging in less-than-savory business practices. Why is this?
The answer: Profits. Power.
It’s the desire for individuals to maximize their present capacity for excess and grandeurizing themselves above others, forgetting that one day they will be dead, and everything they’ve accumulated will remain while they rot in a grave somewhere.
I don’t believe making money is bad, that creating a world-leading organization is wrong, or that people shouldn’t shoot for the stars and attempt to live a life larger than they could have ever imagined.
If that’s you, if you dream of being one of those individuals, I applaud you. You are needed in this world because people like this drive innovation. People who desire these things help make the world go round. They help iterate our current construct into one more magnificent than the one before.
However, this requires a greater degree of responsibility.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
– Voltaire (Not Uncle Ben from Spiderman)
Many individuals have excelled at taking on the responsibility of such a large endeavor, but they walk a razor’s edge between self-gratification and keeping their looming vision of a better world for future generations in mind.
How Can You Play This Game?
It’s about learning how to become selfless instead of selfish. You have to put yourself in the vein of creating forward-thinking thoughts.
Considering how your actions impact generations to come is how you play the game, which can be difficult because it’s hard to see how our actions will affect future generations.
Look at it this way: My father came from an abusive household. He didn’t bear the brunt of it; his older brother did, but he still got his fair share and felt estranged from his father to the point of both their passing.
However, the way he parented us was drastically different than the upbringing he had received, which has had a ripple effect that is now cascading throughout time.
Even with my experience of a better upbringing than what he experienced, I’m striving to do things differently than he did in the hopes that I can give my children a better upbringing than I received, which will ripple throughout time as well.
These days, I’m beginning to look at a larger picture than just my children. It’s how I can have a positive effect on others who are not necessarily in my direct sphere of influence.
Why?
Because I know if I can get people to consider these ideas, begin to lean into them, and attempt to live them out in their own lives, then maybe, hopefully, the collective can generate a forward-thinking society that projects the best version of itself into the future.
Not for our sake!
For the sake of those yet to come.
We look around at the world today and wonder why there are still people starving or who don’t have clean water, clothes to wear, or a shelter to live in when we have generated the most money ever conceived in human history.
Why are people limited in their capacity to receive medical treatment, food, or education? Why are we merely teaching facts and figures rather than teaching children the basics of life, emotional regulation, and fiscal and social responsibility, among others?
Each of us gets to decide which game we’re going to play. That game is either the infinite game or the finite game.
One leads to a better future for everyone involved; the other leads to self-gratification that will end in dust, ashes, turmoil, war, and an overall unfulfilled life.
Keep this idea in mind as you go through your days, weeks, months, and the rest of your years. Ask yourself regularly which game you’re playing.
At moments, it will be infinite; during others, it will be finite. There’s no helping that, but can you teach yourself to live in the infinite model overall because, in the grand scheme of things, it’s the only one that matters?
Please be sure to share this with others. If you want to effect change in the world, we must come to this understanding collectively. There will be ups and downs, but we can make a difference. It’s not just one person doing something that changes the world; it’s all of us coming together to enact a change for the better, as a collective, for the future collective.
Josiah
