The Chances we get and the Choices we make; Lessons from “Wordle”
My morning routine has been a bit altered with my joining the international membership of millions, for the refreshingly appetizing yet teasing word game, “Wordle.” The pithy brilliance of the puzzle has become my tryst in the dawn.
The first 15 mins as my day starts, is now devoted to Wordle.
The five-letter word to be deduced in six-attempts on a crossword puzzle-style grid that looks new yet familiar, has charmed its way to be my very first task of the day.
Today, was one of the rare days. I could deduce “Wordle 244”in three attempts. It was the first time since I joined the Global club of Wordlers around a fortnight ago.
The moment the third row of the grid turned green my elation knew no bounds. It was 5 AM in the morning and I had to celebrate my little victory with fellow Wordlers — a bonding ritual, notwithstanding it sounding as a humble brag; “I have completed in three attempts today, anyone else joining me? “
“Thumbs-up” emojis from fellow Wordlers streamed in and they made me smile. Starting the day with a mini win feels so good!
I sat back and wondered did I betray a child-like exuberance for a greying guy on the wrong side of fifty? It gave me a moment to ruminate. Wordle can sometimes be a difficult game. So, the sense of accomplishment is difficult to deny. I justified to myself: celebrating small stuff is good. One feels in these moments of joy, grateful for everything we have, and this brings in positivity all through.
I did a bit of contemplation.
The choices in front of us are the twenty-six letters of alphabet. We take our chance with the dreaded first five letter word. As the tiles tumble and show their colours the scare of being “greyed out” would wilt the strongest of minds. The good thing is that the keyboard tells us which choice of alphabet has been already used and the colours thereof.
How similar is it to one’s career? Education is complete, and we all head outside of our comfortable environs, for a job or to start as an entrepreneur. There is the fear of unknown. Yet we take our chances. Something works and somethings do not. Someone rightly said “Good decisions come from experience and experience comes from bad experiences. “
It is like the five tiles; some turn green, some orange and some grey. Like the keyboard providing the guiderails, early on we have our mentors and guides plus the derived experience to guide us to take the next steps. The game has the built-in constraint of six attempts for the divine cryptic five-letter word.
The typical life span of a career would be around 4 decades and that relates to the six attempts we have over the period of 24 hours. One could be a steady type who would prefer to commence with the same word every day and use up the entire day to fill in the maximum of six attempts. There could be some who would be the “get-it-off-my-back” kind, who would try with different words cautiously exploiting the vowel- strong words and, in a mood, to complete it before the business side of the day commences. I have seen people start their careers with whatever comes their way and then make good by staying steady in their jobs. There are folks who could be restless and be in a mood to look at assorted options which life offers and look to retiring early and rich. Do these approaches look like the riveting word puzzle, which has enthralled us?
Getting to the divine five-letter word is how life turns out to be for each one of us. If one hits the jackpot with the correct word in two attempts, it could be his/her smartness and/or providence. Three and four attempts are gratifying too. Five and six attempts would mean that a few wrong steps could have derailed us from our goal, but we quickly recover, dust ourselves off and get back to reaching the goal. Have we not seen this game “play” among our friends, colleagues, and relatives and in our own lives?
The beauty of this twisty and teasy premise is that it comes with a puzzle a day reminding folks that good or bad days are not for ever, there is always a tomorrow. Tomorrow is a new day and let us get on with the world and not sweat on the small stuff. While doing so, we are creating a meaningful community on this in the social media.
I hope the game does not shrivel and lose the fan base like the popular logic-based combinatorial number-placement puzzle — a craze in the mid-2000s. I do not hope so, as the ingredients for its longevity are all there.
Somjit Amrit , a fellow Wordler
