A Patzer's Journey Applying The Rules From A Patzer's Story
A Patzer's Journey: Applying The Rules From A Patzer's Story is my "no hiding" book.
In A Patzer's Story, I laid out 22 rules that helped me crawl out of depression using the framework of chess. After that book, I could have stopped and let those rules sit on the page. Instead, I decided to do something more uncomfortable: track what actually happens when I try to live by them day after day.
This book follows that process-23 rules now, adjusted and expanded once real life started poking holes in my neat plans. You'll see the wins, but you'll also see the ugly middle: the relapses into old habits, the games I blundered away, the mornings when the "right move" and the "easy move" weren't the same.
Each chapter starts with a concrete, chess-inspired principle-how I handle openings, middle games, and endgames in both life and on the board. Then I walk you through where I failed it, where I managed to hold the position, and what finally clicked. Think of it as sitting across the table from me while I go over my own game with brutal honesty.
You don't have to know chess notation or theory to get something out of this. If you understand that life feels like a series of moves where you're trying not to mess up the position, you're already in the right place. My goal is that you finish each chapter with one or two ideas you can actually try this week-small habit shifts, new ways of thinking about setbacks, and a clearer sense of what "playing for the long game" really looks like.
If you're tired of self-help that sounds perfect on paper but never shows you the messy follow-through, A Patzer's Journey invites you into the real, imperfect experiment.
In A Patzer's Story, I laid out 22 rules that helped me crawl out of depression using the framework of chess. After that book, I could have stopped and let those rules sit on the page. Instead, I decided to do something more uncomfortable: track what actually happens when I try to live by them day after day.
This book follows that process-23 rules now, adjusted and expanded once real life started poking holes in my neat plans. You'll see the wins, but you'll also see the ugly middle: the relapses into old habits, the games I blundered away, the mornings when the "right move" and the "easy move" weren't the same.
Each chapter starts with a concrete, chess-inspired principle-how I handle openings, middle games, and endgames in both life and on the board. Then I walk you through where I failed it, where I managed to hold the position, and what finally clicked. Think of it as sitting across the table from me while I go over my own game with brutal honesty.
You don't have to know chess notation or theory to get something out of this. If you understand that life feels like a series of moves where you're trying not to mess up the position, you're already in the right place. My goal is that you finish each chapter with one or two ideas you can actually try this week-small habit shifts, new ways of thinking about setbacks, and a clearer sense of what "playing for the long game" really looks like.
If you're tired of self-help that sounds perfect on paper but never shows you the messy follow-through, A Patzer's Journey invites you into the real, imperfect experiment.
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