Paul Batura: "Jeopardy!" The secret of the success of star James Holzhauer is a plan to earn a living



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"Peril!" The competitor James Holzhauer is the new champion of the program, but he is not your stereotypical competitor in a game show.

At the age of 35, Holzhauer started his career as a professional gambler, residing in Las Vegas with his wife and daughter and making the TV quiz circuit a hobby. The University of Illinois Mathematics Major had some success in two other game shows prior to his 14-episode series on "Jeopardy !," which earned him a remarkable $ 1,061,554.

Fans of America's favorite television series will remember that Holzhauer's monetary success was second only to legendary program star Ken Jennings. During his unprecedented episode of 74 episodes aired in 2007, the computer scientist from Washington State harvested more than $ 2.5 million in prizes.

PERIL! FIELD TAKES A RECORD EXCEEDING $ 1 MILLION

Yet even one of Brigham Young's students was fascinated by the fervor and ferocity of Holzhauer's style of play, telling Wired he was "stunned" by his success.

"It maximizes money," Jennings said. "It can do two or three times what any other player ever has with the same level of play, which is once again prime. He is as good as anybody.

Asked about his style of play, James Holzhauer told the press that he was "selectively aggressive" – ​​a strategy that literally paid off, helping the "Jeopardy!" The champion earns an average of nearly $ 76,000 in earnings per episode.

In short, with the exception of Cliff Clave's fictional character of "Cheers" ("someone who has never been in my kitchen"), Holzhauer was willing to risk more than your usual competitor. He is also inclined to browse topics and answers, thwarting the efforts of his competitor to settle into a rhythm.

The success of Holzhauer has become a kind of cultural sensation, with national and even international media following this story. As the series is recorded well in advance, its fate, though already determined, is a secret well-known secrets of programming and those who are fortunate enough to be part of the audience of the studio.

But whatever the distance traveled by the "Jeopardy!" his style and approach demonstrate that success is often the product of taking risks in life. Not necessarily dangerous risks, such as walking a tightrope between skyscrapers – but rather taking informed, calculated risks and, of course, from time to time.

"If you do not want to risk," says Brown, the famous motivational speaker, "So you can not grow in life!"

"Selectively aggressive" risks come in all shapes and sizes, and many of them have more to do with moments than with money.

When my wife Julie and I were trying to adopt a second child in the summer of 2010, we were delighted to be paired with a birth mother and accompanied her all over the place. during the third trimester of pregnancy. Her baby boy was born, perfect and pink, but we soon learned that she had chosen to be the parent of the child. There would be no adoption. We were happy for her but still sorry.

However, in a few days, the adoption agency called to let us know that another baby was born of a woman who did not even know she was pregnant. Shocked and unprepared for the parent, she developed an adoption plan and chose our profile. But the birth father still had to approve adoption – and no one knew where he was nor what he would think of the situation if he found out.

It would be a "risky" placement, which means that if the biological father resurfaces in a few months, he would have legal rights over his son. Since I just had a failed adoption, I was not in the mood to accept the risk of another. Instead, I was looking for the safe and sure thing.

Fortunately, Julie's mood was more like "Jeopardy!" The star James Holzhauer, and she reminded me that we had prayed for a situation almost identical to this one: a late-night call about a baby who needed love and from a home. "Let's face it," she reminded me. "There is no guarantee in life if it 's the fact that none of us pulls it alive."

Encourage James Holzhauer – but do not forget to pursue your own dream and be selectively aggressive while accomplishing it.

Will is now 8 years old and he is very amusing, a remarkable boy who became our son only because we assumed the risk of having to return him if his father was one day challenging the adoption, what He never did.

If we are honest with ourselves, risk aversion is a common disease, whether in a romantic relationship, a job that requires a move, a search for the entrepreneurial spirit, the book you threatened to write – or an adoption that has the potential. break your heart.

So, instead of being "selectively aggressive" in our own lives, maybe we turn on "Jeopardy!" And live vicariously through James Holzhauer and his competitors who may be bothered to pursue their dream.

It's fun to watch and encourage others, but it's even more satisfying to live the life you were supposed to live.

"If you never take risks, you can never accomplish great things," wrote C.S. Lewis, a writer whose works and life were presented as answers and questions about "Jeopardy!"

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"Everyone dies," he observed, "but not everyone has lived."

Well done to James Holzhauer – but do not forget to pursue your own dream and be selectively aggressive while accomplishing it.

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