Everything we do in life, no matter how small, can be considered a transferable skill that could help us out in our careers. We might have experience mitigating arguments between our siblings, which could be considered skills in diplomacy. We might frequently get up late and have to condense our morning routine into a short time showing skills in prioritization and organization. Or we might enjoy playing video games and use the quick thinking necessary to evade defeat in a business setting.
Gambling is another seemingly unrelated activity that provides a surprising amount of transferable skills for improving our careers. So, what can we learn from this past-time?
Strategic Thinking
One of the main abilities that gambling teaches us that can then be used in a career setting is the ability to think strategically. For example, games such as poker and blackjack force players to use their wits to decide what move to make each turn, the latter of which has become increasingly popular worldwide. Through both online and live-streamed variants, players are accessing blackjack not only through European and US sites, but through widespread platforms that offer online casino in India and elsewhere as well. Having a true understanding of your own cards and the likelihood of what the next may bring is vital in this classic casino game.
Meanwhile, poker involves knowledge of the best hands you can make and an ability to identify what players may do based on the limited information such as the face-up cards on the table. The strategic thinking used in poker can be useful in a career to determine any number of things. These could be based on how to handle a prickly client to how to show a difficult boss that you deserve a promotion.
Taking Risks
Risk-taking is necessary in business, especially as you rise up the career ladder. It is often referred to as taking risks as big decisions are made based on having little to no knowledge of whether or not they will be successful. Roulette, for instance, has similar principles. You make a decision in roulette without the knowledge of what has gone before.
Learning to take risks in business is an innate skill that can prevent you from playing things too safe, which employers may look down upon, while ensuring that you aren’t too reckless. For example, in roulette, a safer risk would be choosing between red or black. A more reckless risk may be putting all your pot onto one single number. Business is much the same, with the level of risks that might need to be taken varying.
Interpersonal Skills
Most successful businesspeople have some degree of charisma that comes from high emotional intelligence and good people skills. Building these interpersonal skills may take time, but it can be done. Playing poker involves using people skills to determine whether or not your opponent might be bluffing.
Understanding your opponents is a key skill in poker as it is in business. Being able to read people, determine if they are exaggerating, or underplaying something could also be beneficial. As negotiation is a key skill in business, poker teaches skills that help you determine how a negotiation may be going.
Gambling might seem like a strange way to develop skills in business, but in fact, almost anything can help boost our transferable career skills. Whether we play poker for interpersonal skills and strategic thinking or roulette to help us feel more comfortable making decisions, our business skills are being improved.
