Itâs Friday again, so apparently, weâre doing another Corporate Tarot Pull. Two weeks in a row. Yes, Iâm aware this looks like Iâm developing a routine, but please donât encourage it. It is a brief, mysterious alignment of mood, caffeine, and adult responsibilities. It will not last.
One card. For the collective. No incense. No dramatic whispering. Just workplace physics.
đ THE GAMEBOARD
Upright meaning: If you refuse to learn the game at work, you donât become enlightened, you become easy to move around.
Because âIâm not politicalâ doesnât stop politics, it just means youâre letting other people write the rules while youâre busy being morally hydrated. Now Iâm not saying you have to be fake. Iâm saying you have to be literate. Every workplace has a board with invisible rules:
-what gets rewarded vs. what gets praised
-what âalignmentâ means when priorities suddenly âshiftâ (magically, with no owner)
-who gets heard when the room goes quiet
-what âurgentâ means when itâs always urgent (so⌠nothing is)
You can dislike it. You can roll your eyes at it. You can have a group chat about it. But if you pretend youâre not in it, the game still plays⌠and you may end up in Free Parking but not with a seat at the table.
Reversed meaning: This is where âopting outâ starts masquerading as a personality, it sounds like:
âI donât network.â
âI donât self-promote.â
âIâm staying out of it.â
And sometimes thatâs integrity, sure, but sometimes itâs just choosing invisibility and calling it peace. But never forget, your work doesnât automatically speak for itself and if you allow it, it whispers… or mumbles, and it’s likely to get filed under âGreat ideaâ and promptly sent to the upside down.
And YES, this shows up IRL too. Obvi.
Families have gameboards. Friend groups have gameboards. Love, lust, and dating have an entire casino floor. Even your own habits have a scoreboard that tracks what you actually do (not what you meant to do after you âget through this week.â)
Refusing to name the rules doesnât make you above them. It just makes you surprised by outcomes that were⌠honestly pretty predictable.
Your one clean takeaway: Learn the rules without letting the rules own you.
If you want a simple compass, because again obvi, use the SNAK approach:
SKILLS: get undeniably good at something that matters
NETWORK: build real relationships, not transactional collecting
ACTIVITIES: choose work thatâs visible and valuable, not just heavy
KNOWLEDGE: understand how decisions, power, and priorities actually move
Thatâs how you stay honest and effective. Don’t just practice, become more adept at play.
So where have you seen someone âopt outâ at work and pay for it laterâand whatâs your best move for learning the game without losing yourself? Asking for a friend đ