Running a business is often described in terms of strategy, execution, and leadership. Less often discussed is the mental fitness required to do it well. Business owners and leaders are constantly planning ahead, weighing trade-offs, responding to uncertainty, and making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information.

These cognitive demands are strikingly similar to those found in strategic games such as chess and complex trading card games. So, keeping your brain sharp isn’t a distraction from running a business – it’s actually part of doing it effectively.

 

Business Fundamentals Are Thinking Fundamentals

At a basic level, running a business involves:

• Setting a clear direction and goals
• Allocating limited resources (time, money, people)
• Managing risk and uncertainty
• Responding to competitors and market changes
• Making decisions that balance short-term survival with long-term growth

These are not mechanical tasks. They rely on judgement, pattern recognition, and the ability to think several steps ahead. Strong business leaders develop these skills over time, but they can also be exercised deliberately outside the workplace. Because everyone needs an escape from their business from time-to-time.

 

Chess: Strategy, Trade-offs, and Competitive Awareness

Chess is all about strategic thinking that maps closely to business leadership.

In chess:

• You start with a plan, knowing it will need to change
• Every move involves a trade-off between opportunity and risk
• You must anticipate an opponent’s intentions
• Small advantages compound over time if managed well

In business:

• Strategy sets direction, but markets and competitors force adaptation
• Investments come with opportunity costs
• Competitor behaviour shapes your own options
• Marginal gains in efficiency, brand, or customer trust can create lasting advantage

Regularly playing chess strengthens the habit of thinking ahead while staying flexible, a mindset that helps business leaders avoid both impulsive decisions and rigid thinking.

 

Trading Card Games: Operating in Complexity and Uncertainty

Complex trading card games, such as Magic: The Gathering, add another layer of uncertainty. (My thanks to the fine folk at Axion Now for initiating me into the intricacies of trading card games).

Players must:

• Build systems within constraints (rules, budgets, available cards)
• Identify synergies and combinations
• Make decisions without knowing all future outcomes
• Adjust tactics as the game state evolves

This closely mirrors day-to-day business operations. Leaders rarely have perfect information. Customer needs change, costs fluctuate, and new competitors emerge. Success depends on recognising patterns early and reallocating resources quickly.

These games sharpen:

• Comfort with ambiguity
• Decision-making under pressure
• Systems thinking rather than linear thinking

All of which are essential when running a growing or changing business.

 

Mental Endurance and Decision Quality

Running a business places sustained cognitive strain on leaders. Over time, decision fatigue can lead to conservative thinking, delayed action, or avoidable mistakes.

Strategic games help counter this by:

• Training focus and concentration
• Encouraging reflection after wins and losses
• Providing low-risk environments to practice complex decision-making

They also reinforce the value of learning from failure, which is a critical skill in entrepreneurship, where not every initiative succeeds.

 

Bringing the Lessons Back Into Business Life

The value of these activities lies not in the games themselves, but in the habits they reinforce in those of us running our own businesses.

Business leaders can apply these lessons by:

• Regularly revisiting strategy rather than setting it once
• Thinking in scenarios rather than fixed forecasts
• Viewing competitors as dynamic, not static, threats
• Building time into the daily or weekly routine to challenge current thinking

Keeping your brain engaged outside of work strengthens the mental agility required inside it.

 

Final Thoughts

Running a business is a long-term strategic exercise played in an uncertain and competitive environment. Games like chess and complex trading card games are the same, and offer surprisingly effective (and enjoyable) ways to maintain and sharpen the cognitive skills that all good business leadership depends on.

Keeping your brain sharp is about investing in mental fitness – alongside other professional skills – so that we can all stay clear-headed, adaptable, and resilient as a business evolves.