Life In 19x19

As a beginner it strikes me that there are a lot of life lessons in Go - tenuki can be sort of like not getting caught up in petty disagreements, maintaining perspective, etc. Just wondering what kind of impact the game has had on others, particularly those that have played for a while and are advanced - how would you say it has improved your general thinking or philosophy or behavior, on matters outside of Go? Any examples? What are some of the deeper life lessons that Go can teach you as you get into more advanced play?

Hi tunesmith,

You already mentioned a few things.

1. There are things you know and can't explain in words.
2. There are things you don't know but try to explain, and this is harmful to you.

Somewhere round about 40 years ago I noticed that I had become much more patient than I previously was. I attributed it to playing go.

Go has not changed my thinking at all (in any remarkable manner). Although there is much talk about go being good for enhancing mental skills or requirements to change one's thinking in order to become strong, I have experienced nothing of the kind. Regardless of how great a joy go is, go is just a special case of applying thinking, mathematics and philosophy - not vice versa. Go has changed what I think about (I think about the game at all) - not how I think.

I was doing a cross-stitch picture recently, and found great difficulty in working a group of three stitches in a row, completely surrounded by stitches of another colour. Not only would I be filling in the group's last liberty, it would be a dead group....

The solution is to avoid cross-stitch, of course. It's too restrictive.

I think what happened is that I integrated go into my worldview.

"I'm not touching that, not even with a ten foot pole" has become "tenuki".
If I cook something, doing everything in the correct order feels a bit like playing joseki.
When I have to get something replaced or repaired, instead of buying something new, "urgent moves before big moves"
When a rubber band assaults my fingers, "snapback"
When opening a box, or parting a cake, "CUT!"

I think it has also made me better at organizing units in cohesive formations, and adapting those formations on the fly. I'm not sure that's the sort of life skill everyone needs, but it's there anyway. It would feel more useful if I was a military officer of some sort.

There's a lot of things in go beside the above, which I don't honestly believe I got out of go. It's more that it matched my mentality, allowing me to love the game.

Self-discipline is a huge factor. You're the one person you can change the most. Analyze what you do and why, and if those actions match those reasons.
You must filter out emotional bias to objectively examine the game. No matter how much you want something to work, it won't if it's not possible.
People can't be fully predicted. No matter how much you want your opponent to play somewhere, they can and will disobey your wishes.
You must correctly assess priorities. Out of all the potential moves, you must accurately list them by their value, and then play the biggest value.
Taking profit is important, too. Once you're well and truly ahead, conserve the lead. Never do anything to endanger it.
You must accept failure and cut your losses as soon as possible. Accepting a small loss gracefully avoids a large, graceless loss.
Unless you have logical proof that everything will be perfect, be ready to suddenly come up with a backup plan. You can't count on being right every single time, but you can't count on being able to accept the loss either. When something starts to go wrong, assess carefully if you can't twist the outcome back to your own favor a little.
Temerity over timidity. Heedless folly will destroy you less often than never trying. Err on the side of daring. You can't realize a profit you don't work to obtain. However, repeating past mistakes isn't daring, it's just stupid. Once you know something has bad results, you should avoid doing it.
Don't give up until you tried everything you sincerely believe might work. If you don't actually believe something could work, but play it anyway, you're being quite graceless about losing.
If you rely on petty tricks, you'll forever be stuck slightly above the level you deserve. This is enormously unambitious compared to the effort you put into it.
If you let yourself be fooled by petty tricks, you'll forever be stuck slightly below the level you deserve. No matter how distasteful it is to you, learn to see through it and they will no longer be able to trick you.

I have not been playing Go long enough for it to affect my thinking massively (my dreams are maybe another matter), but: I've caught myself thinking in terms of miai outside Go, for sure.

I went through a phase where I felt like go was a powerful metaphor for life, and also everything else. I gradually realised that you can just generally map pursuits onto each other pretty well.


Tangibly though: Don't play too thin. Build thickness.

Go has improved the way I learn new things.

Especially new board games. Go tactics, strategies, and mindsets translate so well into other games.

When I started playing go, I learned new things about myself. When I started playing pair go, I again learned new things about myself.

I wouldn't say that go has changed my thinking much, but rather that it has helped make me aware of some of my mental tendencies. I am impatient, don't remember specifics easily, look for new methods before following conventional wisdom, get flustered under pressure, look for short-cuts and simple solutions, can't visualize well etc. Some of these are things I'd like to change, not just for my go, but none of them have visibly improved because of it. But as the psychologist Nathaniel Branden said: "The first step towards change is awareness, the second is acceptance," so there might still be some hope.

I now solve my problems by throwing stones at them, this unfortunately did not help fix a broken window

More seriously; I don't think it's changed my thinking at all, I'm just as pessimistic as always.

PeterN

It helps me appreciate the observation that every decision I make in life involves a trade-off.

Well … I think it has influenced my philosophy, or my thinking about life, but I believe only because I was ready to view it that way. I have definitely lived my first fifty years as fast as I could. Now I realize I’m a beginner at living. Before I was a bloody beginner (and thought I was an expert).