Create a Game That Favors YouIf you can't find a game where the odds are stacked in your favor, create one.Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind Dilbert, says, " Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort.In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I'm hardly an artist.And I'm not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I'm funnier than most people.The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes.It's the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare.And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it."When you can't win by being better, you can win by being different.By combining your skills, you reduce the level of competition, which makes it easier to stand out.You can shortcut the need for a genetic advantage (or for years of practice) by rewriting the rules.A good player works hard to win the game everyone else is playing.A great player creates a new game that favors their strengths and avoids their weaknesses.In college, I designed my own major, biomechanics, which was a combination of physics, chemistry, biology, and anatomy.I wasn't smart enough to stand out among the top physics or biology majors, so I created my own game.And because it suited me—I was only taking the courses I was interested in—studying felt like less of a chore.It was also easier to avoid the trap of comparing myself to everyone else.After all, nobody else was taking the same combination of classes, so who could say if they were better or worse?