A card from the business game Gold of the Desert Kings reads,
Maximize … don’t compromise. There’s a big difference between playing to win and playing not to lose!
I think about risk often. And I think about ambition and winning and losing. Is there nothing in between those extremes? It sounds like that middle ground is compromise and that compromise is never a good thing.
Then I reread the card and realize this is a comment about attitude. Compromise is not the middle ground. Mutually beneficial is. Play big or don’t play at all. Be overly enthusiastic, overly generous, overly helpful, overly productive and enjoy every minute of it.