Success Changes the Game

Whoever designed Mahjong apps understands human psychology far better than they should.

Win a few games and you're rewarded with another level. Reach that level and another one appears just out of reach.

Although I originally downloaded the app because I'd read Mahjong helps exercise critical thinking, pattern recognition and working memory (all good things as we get older) somewhere along the way, it stopped being brain exercise and became...well...something else.

Somewhere along the way, I became a Grand Master. And that's when the game changed.

Until then, every game had been about discovery. Learning new strategies. Figuring out what worked. Every win felt like progress because every game taught me something.

Then, almost overnight, the goal shifted. I wasn't trying to get better anymore. I wasn't even trying to win.

I was trying to stay a Grand Master.

One bad streak and my ranking dropped. A few good games and I'd earn it back. Before I knew it, I found myself checking my ranking before I was enjoying the game.

And that made me wonder if success has a funny way of changing the rules.

Whether it's making it to the C-suite, a restaurant earning its Michelin star, an athlete winning a championship, or an author making the bestseller list, we spend years focused on getting there.

Yet, we talk a lot less about what happens after we arrive.

The excitement of possibility quietly gives way to the responsibility of maintaining what we've achieved. And instead of asking, "What's possible?" we begin asking, "How do I hold onto this?"

Before success, every step forward feels like growth.

After success, every step backward feels like loss.

Before success, curiosity is the engine.

After success, protecting what we've achieved can quietly become the mission.

It's a very different way to live.

The people who seem to navigate success best aren't necessarily the most talented. They're the ones who never stop being students. They continue to experiment, remain curious and resist defining themselves by yesterday's accomplishments.

Maybe that's because they understand something the rest of us sometimes forget.

Success isn't the end of the journey…it's simply where a different one begins.

As for me?

I eventually downloaded a different Mahjong app. Back to square one. No ranking to defend. No title to protect. Just another puzzle to figure out.

It reminded me how much more fun it is to learn than to maintain.

Which made me wonder...

How often do we stop enjoying something the moment we become more interested in keeping it, than discovering where it might take us?

What do you think?