The expression “make your second move first” was a favorite used by one of my College Football coaches. He was our defensive coordinator and valued preparation, anticipation, and being proactive.
A rule of football is, ‘he who makes his second move first wins.’ The ball is snapped, the offense moves, the defense moves, and whichever side makes their second move first wins the play. An example is the running back runs, the linebacker hits him. If the running back gets his feet and pad level going, he runs over the linebacker. If the linebacker gets his hips and pad level going, he tackles the running back.
Healthy marriages often employ this mantra. A good marriage involves couples that know the right things to do. Thriving marriages build off the first move with impactful second moves. Turn date night into a lifelong memory. Turn a routine weekday dinner into a catered feast. The best way to learn how our partner thinks and acts is to be intentional and notice patterns and habits. Know what is going on, be aware.
In business it can be referred to as “staying ahead of the game.” Adapting quickly to market trends, meeting new government standards before they go into effect, and implementing technological advancements. Anticipation is the way to stand out. Customers remember those businesses that take care of them before the need even arises. Being able to offer a solution before a customer voices a concern or, better, before they even realize they have a problem. Businesses like Uber and Netflix have done this one better as they made “all their moves first” by building the category their companies compete in.
The saying can also imply that the first move should actually be what would be done second. Being one step ahead in our thinking. This is particularly effective in strategy games like Chess and Mancala. We are acting as opposed to reacting. We anticipate future events or needs by considering potential outcomes and plan accordingly. This is a tenet with workplace safety and risk-based thinking. Consider wood-working, is it better to wear safety glasses after getting a wood shaving in our eye, or wear eye protection from the start?
Louis Pasteur, a French microbiologist and chemist who is best known for discovering pasteurization, fermentation, and vaccination said it best, “Chance favors the prepared mind.” The better prepared and more knowledgeable we are, the more likely we are to take advantage of any chance opportunities or observations. A mindset of preparedness starts with continuous learning and curiosity.
Alexander Fleming saw a bit of mold in one of his bacteria-laden petri dishes. He noticed that all around the mold there were no bacteria. He could have shrugged it off or worse, blamed the mold for contaminating his petri dishes, but he had a prepared mind. As he stated in his Nobel Speech in 1945: “I might have claimed that I had come to the conclusion, as a result of serious study of the literature and deep thought, that valuable antibacterial substances were made by molds and that I set out to investigate the problem. That would have been untrue, and I preferred to tell the truth that penicillin started as a chance observation. My only merit is that I did not neglect the observation.”
God always sees things from the perspective of eternity. He sees all the steps at once and is always playing the long game. Things that seem accidental are actually part of His plan.
In 1 Kings Chapter 17, we hear the story of Elijah and the widow. The widow’s resources had run dry, and she was ready to give up. However, she feeds Elijah first based on her trust in God. This act to serve others ahead of ourselves, even in dire times, demonstrates God’s love. We need to trust in God (our second move first) to walk through doors that He is opening.
With God we are always making our second move first, as He has made the first move for us. God reaches out, we respond. Our act of prayer is in response to the call he laid upon our heart. We read in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.”
Malcolm Muggeridge, a British journalist and author said, “Every happening great and small is a parable by which God speaks to us and the art of life is to get the message.” Understanding the message and being grateful for the day upon awaking is making the second move first.
Thomas Merton, the famous Trappist monk, hit upon this idea when he drew a line between work with a “right intention” and work with “a pure intention.” All honorable work, he said, may be done with the right intention, that is, for an anticipated result. But the Christian aims to work with a pure intention; to forget about the result and live in the moment, absorbed in the task; that our work becomes a form of prayer.
We have salvation, so the final move has been declared for us if we chose to follow that path. If we choose to make this move the priority, all other moves come after it.
