No one could have predicted the heroine who would make her way into our hearts in 2020: A wide-eyed redhead with a gap in her teeth and a reliance on alcohol and drugs.
She also happened to be a chess genius.
Beth Harmon is the name on everyone’s lips, as Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit has become one of the most-watched series on the streaming platform.
An intuitive chess prodigy, entirely dedicated to the game, Beth becomes one of the greatest players in the world. But, while she is persistent and strong-willed, she is also deeply flawed.
From lonely orphan to chess genius
Chess becomes the focus of Beth’s life at an early age. She is entirely dedicated to it, and works hard. It dictates her relationships, and her determination to win is all-encompassing.
But when she’s unsure of her game, her focus wavers and she becomes erratic. Her reliance on harmful substances worsens; threatening to sabotage her success and her relationships.
How would Beth have benefited from coaching earlier on in her life? Would she have found deeper meaning in life – perhaps aside from chess?
Does success lead to happiness?
If her career had ended, who would Beth Harmon be without chess? What would be her life purpose? What would give her meaning?
Beth is one of those lucky people who gets to live her passion every day; it comes very easily to her. So, when she almost loses that, her future looks dark. It seems at times that her achievement in chess is the only thing that gives her joy, not the chess itself.
When this happens to us, we’re no longer in touch with our ikigai.
Is life the pursuit of happiness?
Or, is the happiness in the pursuit itself? I mean, it’s wonderful to have ambition for the future, but we also need affirmation in the present moment.
Finding our ikigai isn’t just about living our passion. It’s about having a purpose that is greater than ourselves. If we can find a way to give to the world and to others, we become truly in touch with our ‘WHY’.
If I coached Beth, I’d encourage her to find meaning in other things.
I would ask her:
- “What makes you feel useful?”
- “What do you want your impact to be?”
- “How would the world be better off thanks to your being on earth?”
Life can be a losing game
I love the concept of “Falling Forward”. This is when we learn from our mistakes. So I’d help Beth to see that, every time she loses, she learns something. She improves and becomes an even better player.
How you perceive losing, and the actions you take after that, determine who you will become. If Beth had accepted her defeat earlier, and learned from it, she might have avoided her addiction and the pain it caused, and experienced far more joy in living.
Your call
Which character from popular fiction do you think could benefit from coaching?
About the author
I’m Dorothée Oung, Neuroleader and coach to leading practitioners, motivational speakers, trainers, facilitators, coaches, and fellow leaders. My goal is to guide soon-to-be Neuroleaders through deliberate practices to achieve their professional goals.
