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The Score: How to Stop Playing Someone Else's Game by C. Thi Nguyen

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I came across this book on Instagram recently, and its core thesis hit really close to home. In a world full of social media follower counts, fitness streaks, and corporate metrics, it’s very easy to end up playing games designed by other people without even realising it.

1. Value Capture

  • What is it: Value capture happens when a rich, complex goal (like wanting to stay healthy, learn a skill, or build genuine connections) gets replaced by a simple, quantified metric (like hitting 10,000 steps, getting an ‘A’ grade, or racking up Instagram likes).
  • How is it used against us: Platforms and institutions love metrics because numbers are easy to track and display. But over time, we stop caring about the actual activity (the health or the learning) and focus entirely on maximising the score.
  • Example in daily life: You start going to the gym to feel energized and healthy. But after downloading a fitness app, you find yourself obsessed with closing your rings or hitting a specific streak. The moment you miss a day, you feel like a failure - even though your body actually needed rest.

2. Goals vs. Purposes

  • What is it: C. Thi Nguyen makes a clear distinction between a Goal and a Purpose.
    • The Goal: The specific, artificial target inside a game or system (e.g., scoring 100 points, getting 1,000 followers, or hitting a quarterly target).
    • The Purpose: The underlying human reason you decided to engage in the first place (e.g., having fun, building a business, or expressing yourself).
  • How we get trapped: We get trapped when the artificial goal completely takes over and destroys the original purpose.
  • How to counter it: Keep your goals as temporary tools to help you stay structured, but never let them override your real purpose.

3. Striving Play vs. Achievement Play

  • What is it:
    • Achievement Play: Playing solely to win, get the trophy, or max out the score. The value is strictly in the outcome.
    • Striving Play: Playing for the sake of the process and the challenge itself. The joy comes from the effort and engagement, not just winning.
  • Why it matters: Games are great because they allow us to try out temporary goals for fun. But when modern life gamifies work, education, and relationships, it turns everything into an endless grind for external points.

4. The Clarity Trap & Metric Myopia

  • What is it: Real life is complicated and messy. Deciding if you’re a good friend or if a piece of art is great requires subtle judgement. Metrics offer instant, unambiguous clarity, which makes them addicting.
  • How is it used in investing: Investors often get trapped by single metrics (like P/E ratios, stock price movements, or quarterly earnings beats) because they provide clean numbers. But relying solely on clean metrics can blind you to the qualitative reality of a business.

Key Takeaways

  1. Audit your metrics: Ask yourself if you’re doing something because you genuinely value it, or because you’re chasing a score.
  2. Protect your original purpose: Don’t let numerical targets rewrite what success looks like for you.
  3. Opt out of stupid games: If a game or platform doesn’t serve your growth, stop playing.



Disclaimer: The ideas presented in this post are solely my personal perspective and have not been substantiated by any verifiable evidence. Please form your own opinions on such matters. I’m merely reflecting on my current thought processes.

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