“俄羅斯方塊”人生

安然 馬玉芳

Your Life Is Tetris1. Stop Playing It like Chess

人生如戲，如果把這個“戲”解讀為“游戲”，你首先會想到哪種游戲？跳馬困住對方的象，殺卒削弱對手的右翼，把對手逼進死角……這是象棋，黑子與白子對弈，非贏即輸；重復下落的方塊，毫無贏的可能，唯一變化的是方塊出現和下落的速度……這是俄羅斯方塊。這兩種游戲到底哪種更像你的人生？

1. Tetris： 俄羅斯方塊。

2. perseverance： 耐性；critical thinking： 批判性思考；crucial： 關鍵性的；tackle： 處理。

3. wire： v. 把……聯入。

4. knight： （國際象棋中的）馬；bishop： （國際象棋中的）象。

5. pawn： （國際象棋中的）兵，卒。

6. checkmate： 將死。

7. introduce： 引進。

8. versus： 與……相對。

9. 每一局比賽都是零和博弈——總分只有一分，要么打平，要么獨吞。zero sum： 零和的，指一方得益與另一方受損相當。

10. 利益無法擴大。

11. utility： 效用。

12. flip phone： 翻蓋手機。

13. snapchat： “閱后即焚”，由斯坦福大學兩位學生開發的一款照片分享應用，用戶將照片發送給好友后，這些照片會根據用戶所預先設定的時間按時自動銷毀。

14. boredom： 無聊。

15. addicted： 上癮的。

16. incarnate： 化身的。

17. representation： 代表。

18. opponent： 對手。

19. mindset： 思維模式。

20. hold back： 阻止。

21. 這個游戲的思維模式是內在的意念集中——你在挑戰自己，把一連串隨機輸入正確轉變為有序的結構組成。internally： 內在地；manipulate： 操縱，控制；random： 隨機的；configuration： 結構，布局。

22. assign： 分配，把……歸咎于。

23. infinity： 無窮大。

24. stake： 賭注。

25. public rating： 公眾評級。

26. run out of： 用完。

27. fatigue： 疲憊。

28. algorithm： 算法；optimal： 最佳的。

29. simultaneously： 同時地。

30. compromised： 妥協的。

31. prescription： 對策，解決方法。

32. constraint： 限制；dumb luck： 不費多少心思和力氣得來的好運。

33. identical： 完全相同的。

34. fool into： 騙（某人）做……。

35. predetermined： 預先確定的。

36. hard-wired：（生理和心理特征）固有的，根深蒂固的；causality： 因果關系。

37. one in a billion： 極稀有的人或事。

38. predictable： 可預見的。

39. 我們的生命是個開放的系統，很多難以察覺的事物會改變我們的觀點和看法。any number of： 許多；unobservable： 難以察覺的；outlook： 人生觀； perspective： 觀點。

40. calculable： 可計算的。

41. tip over：（使）倒翻； resignation： 投降，其動詞原形為resign，意為“（象棋中的）投降”。

42. tournament： 錦標賽。

43. millennium： 一千年，復數為millennia。

44. void： 空白。

45. metric： 衡量標準。

46. uncompromising： 不妥協的。

47. set out to： 打算做。

48. persevere at： 鍥而不舍（做某事）。

From the age of seven， I played chess constantly and competitively. I played in school， online， at national competitions. Chess taught me patience， perseverance， critical thinking—crucial skills for tackling lifes hard problems and difficult situations.2

Chess wired3 me to think causally at a young age. Move your knight here； youll trap his bishop.4 Capture that pawn5； youll weaken his right side. Every correct move led me closer to a checkmate6； every false step brought me closer to defeat.Chess also introduced7 the idea of the “other”. Black versus8 white. Our school versus theirs. And every game was zero sum—there was only ever one point to score， either to be shared or taken in its entirety.9 No way to grow the pie.10

I played chess seriously until the age of 15， around the time I got my first cell phone. The cell phone was a significant mark of freedom for a teenager， even though it lacked real utility11. I remember it well—a small flip phone12 with a color screen. I carried it everywhere with me as a symbol of my independence. My phone couldnt access the internet or send a Snapchat13， but I found it could kill boredom14 with its one included game： Tetris. And I became addicted15.

Tetris， to some， is frustration incarnate16. Its repetitive！ Its impossible to win！ Its driven by luck！ But to me， it became the truest representation17 of life there is. In comparison， chess is just a silly war game. I dont play chess competitively anymore. But to this day， Tetris is the only game on my phone. It sits on the front page of my apps， a constant reminder that life is Tetris， not chess. Ill make this distinction clear in four simple points. Maybe youve been playing the game wrong too.

1. In life， your only opponent18 is yourself.

I grew up looking for opponents—people to fight， people to blame， people to prove wrong. I imagined enemies when there were none because fighting was easy. I treated everything like it was zero-sum when there was so much else to gain. Thats the chess mindset19. And it holds you back20.

In Tetris， youre only playing against time and the never-ending flow of pieces from top to bottom. The mindset is internally focused—you are challenging yourself to correctly manipulate a random stream of inputs into an orderly configuration.21 Theres no final boss. No blame to assign22.

The real game of life is completely internal. There really are no big， bad enemies who exist to make you suffer. There is no absolute right or wrong move that a certain opponent can punish. And your score can increase to infinity23， if you just push yourself harder. Your life score can increase slowly or quickly， depending on how hard you push yourself.

2. In life， things dont get harder—they just get faster.

Some games get harder the longer you play， including chess. Positions get more complicated， opponents become more challenging， the stakes24 increase. You have a public rating25， and thus more to lose when you play the same opponents.

Not Tetris. The game remains the same from Piece One until you run out of26 space on the screen. The only thing that changes is the speed. If you played Tetris at the slowest possible speed for the rest of your life， you could possibly never lose. The only enemy would be fatigue27. But the algorithm for beating Tetris is not complicated， and you have plenty of time to move the pieces to their optimal locations.28

In Tetris， more often than not， we challenge ourselves. We are not content with simply making one row at a time. We push ourselves to get a Tetris—four rows simultaneously29. Its the name of the game. Why bother playing if you dont go for it？

The only way to master life—like Tetris—is to learn to play with the same self-control at the highest speeds.You cant allow your goals to be compromised30， no matter the pace at which you move. You must control your own mind， your own behaviors， and your own time.

3. In life， you cant control the board.

As I mentioned earlier， chess is causal. There is a “best move” for any given position. You can force your opponent into a corner. You can see 20 moves into the future， if youre a supercomputer. Chess comes with a set of prescriptions31 and best practices. Thats because chess is a closed system. Theres no random constraints， no dumb luck.32 The pieces always move the same， and the starting position is always identical33.

Tetris？ You only know what the next piece is. You play for the present moment， trying to construct the best possible configuration of pieces， knowing that it is impossible to predict the situation even two pieces from now. You dont get fooled into34 thinking you can control the future.

I spent much of my life in that chess mindset， trying to find the best possible play or force my way toward a predetermined35 conclusion. I was hard-wired to see causality all around me and to seek control.36 But real life isnt causal. There is always a distribution of possible events. Things happen that are one in a billion37. There is no direct， predictable38 response to our actions. Our lives are open systems， where any number of unobservable events can change our outlooks and perspectives in moments.39 Even lifes biggest decisions are hardly calculable40—thats why lots of marriages end in divorce.

4. In life， no one tells you when youve won.

In chess， youll get to see your opponent tip over his king in resignation.41 Youll see the final tournament42 scores posted. Youll feel the satisfaction of victory—unless， one day， you dont. I remember the day I quit chess. I didnt get beaten and give up in frustration. In fact， I won a tournament. And afterwards， I felt nothing.

According to the millennia43-old rules of chess， theres only two ways to lose—get checkmated， or resign. The day I quit chess， I came up with another. If I wasnt learning， if I wasnt enjoying the struggles or victories， I had already lost.

Meanwhile， Tetris began to fill my gaming void44. I play Tetris every day， and every day I pick up the game knowing that I will lose. How long will I play before I lose？ How fast will the pieces go？ How much will I score？ Those are the metrics45 the game tracks. But I added a way to win—if I play Tetris every day.

I enjoy being uncompromising46 in setting goals for myself. I get great satisfaction from knowing that I can regularly set myself a personal challenge and attack it daily. Whether I accomplish what I set out to47 achieve， only I know. Playing Tetris every day builds my determination， my focus， my will to persevere at48 things I know have no conclusion. And I dont play to win—I play to play.

We should all be playing life to play. We shouldnt only see our enemies or seek to control. We must understand that this is simply a matter of perspective. Chess can be a lonely game—but so can Tetris. Both require patience and determination. Both require an open mind. You and you alone get to choose how you play your life. Try to play the right game.