Welcome to The Subtle Shift, a weekly newsletter where I share small but powerful ideas to help you lead with clarity, inspire change, and create a lasting impact. This week’s issue is about shifting between the outer game and inner game. If someone forwarded this to you and you find it valuable, you can join the community here.
Do you focus on the outer game or the inner game?
Most people spend their lives focused on the outer game—what they accomplish, what they produce, and how they perform. They chase goals, track results, and measure their success by external achievements. They are conditioned to think that we create success through action, effort, and relentless execution, so they constantly chase external validation.
Others focus on the inner game—what they think and how they feel. They tune into the inner world and pay attention to the subtle effect of their energy on their productivity. They care more about their impact and less about the tangible output they create.
Whenever I work with clients, I wonder which game they are playing.
The Outer Game Trap
Last week, I was meeting with a new client who is a high achiever with an impressive career. By all outward measures, he is very successful—leading a large team, hitting ambitious targets, and earning the respect of his peers. But when we sat down to talk, he admitted something surprising.
“I feel like I’m constantly reacting,” he said. “I’m busy all the time, but I’m not sure I’m actually in control of where I’m going.”
This is the trap of the outer game. It keeps us in motion, always doing, always striving, always checking the next box. But without mastery of our inner game—our attention and assumptions—success starts to feel elusive. We begin to feel like a hamster on the hamster wheel – moving faster, pushing harder, and accomplishing more, yet somehow going nowhere.
The Problem with Focusing Only on the Outer Game
Life becomes a series of reactions when you focus solely on the outer game. You wake up and immediately dive into emails because a good leader does that. You say yes to more meetings because you don’t want to seem unavailable. You chase goals that once excited you, only to realize they no longer feel meaningful.
The problem isn’t the work itself. It’s that your attention is attached to external forces rather than an internal compass. And over time, this reactive way of operating pulls you away from what truly matters. You become efficient but not effective. You achieve more but feel less fulfilled. You’re busy but not necessarily in alignment with what you really want.
How to Make This Shift
The American dancer, anthropologist, and social activist Katherine Dunham once told us to “Go within every day and find the inner strength so that the world will not blow your candle out.“
If you feel like outside forces are trying to blow out your candle, the first step is to reclaim your attention. Before jumping into tasks, pause. Instead of reacting to what’s in front of you, ask yourself: What actually deserves my attention right now? Most people never stop to ask this question. They let their inbox, calendar, and other people’s expectations decide for them. But the best leaders take control of their attention before the world attempts to snatch it from under their noses.
The second step is to examine your assumptions. So much of our operating system is shaped by hidden beliefs we’ve never questioned. If you assume success means being constantly busy, you’ll always fill your time. If you assume leadership means having all the answers, you’ll never allow space for new insights to emerge. Shifting our assumptions away from certainty toward curiosity changes everything.
Finally, you need to create space to think. The outer game rewards speed, but the inner game honors space. The best decisions, the biggest breakthroughs, and the most meaningful work don’t come from running faster. They come from stepping back, creating room for reflection, and allowing clarity to emerge.
Master the Inner Game
There are obviously many things you can do to win the inner game, but I want to offer one simple but powerful suggestion.
Make time every day to ask yourself:
Am I living and leading from a place of intention, or am I just reacting to what’s in front of me?
This simple question changes everything because it helps you shift your focus from that which is external to that which is internal.
If this message resonates with you, please pass it along to someone who might need to hear it.
