Episode 6: Head in the Game
I love a good football game.
We are just coming out of the college football coma that I end up in every year watching all the bowl games and I had some interesting thoughts as I watched the games this year.
For one Covid, injuries and other opt outs sure put some new faces on the starting line ups this year!
Can you imagine! Making your college football debut in the final game of the season that your team would play! In front of so many fans with big expectations! It was amazing to watch quarterbacks throw their first pass in an actual game and succeed in scoring against some pretty good teams.
There were a few that did just that this year. Some that literally stepped up to the plate. For sure we saw some individuals falter and get caught up in the emotion of the game but there were others who played like seasoned professionals.
Now of course, this just might have been the moment they were waiting for. The opportunity that just hadn’t come yet and what they had been practicing for all year but how do you keep your head in the game when the huge opportunity comes in such a public way?
Narrow the focus:
I find that whenever I am facing big changes or big opportunities one of the most powerful tools is to narrow the focus. In times of change I need less of a long-term plan and more of a short-term plan. So, in football, you see the players only focus on their role in the current play. Who cares about what happened in the last play – a fumble, a penalty, a missed ball, a perfect catch? None of it matters in the current moment. You just have to show up and do your assigned job. You can tell in football when players can do this. Sure, they may have a little dance party in the endzone for a touchdown but then they are completely back in the game. They also may shake their heads when they drop a perfect throw but the next play – their head is back in the game. Back focused on the task at hand.
This is a tremendously powerful tool when we face change at work, in our families, with friends, in relationships. As I often hear Dr. Jody Carrington say “What is the next, right, Kind thing.” We only have to do that one thing. It happens so often that we want to know the whole story. We want to know exactly how the changes are going to affect our job. Or we want to know exactly how our relationships are going to turn out. We want to know exactly how we will win the game. But having to control the future – is just creating overwhelm.
When we try to have a long-term plan in the midst of large amounts of change we will struggle because there are so many things that we just can’t plan or account for. But what about having a really stellar short-term plan.
What is the one thing I need to do today?
What is the one thing I need to do this hour?
What is the one thing I need to do right now?
And it's interesting, as we do the one next thing, then we move on to the next. Soon we have adjusted the plans to whatever has come up. We don’t need to spend our time or energy on the things that happened in the last play. Stay in the moment.
Also when we become really attached to a particular outcome we lose some of our ability to pivot and grow from the experience that we are given. We can be fully committed to our goals as well as not be worried about if we don’t reach them. This interesting paradox is freedom.
The football player that gives his all to make that catch but who can also shake it off and try again if it is ruled incomplete.
So, take a look at your life. Where are you facing a lot of unknowns, uncertainty or change. Where can you narrow the focus and just make the next play?
Don’t wait till you are comfortable - Do it scared!
So often we want to wait till we are prepared and we feel comfortable with the job before we want to give it our all. But this is where we just get ourselves stuck. Because if we never start then we are never going to get comfortable.
We have to play the first game to ever have a second one.
So, play the first game. Give it your all. Do it scared if you have to - but just go do it.
I am sure that there are a lot of us that have that one thing we really want to do but we are terrified to do it.
That just might be the thing that you need to do.
There are two things that my coaches often say about big goals that I think are fitting for this.
If it makes you want to barf, then you are exactly on the right track. I know this one is tough but it is also so true. Barf doesn’t mean it is bad! It just means you are not in your comfort zone any more!
Do the thing that scares you the most. This is where your biggest opportunities are! The big dreams, the big risks are often where we find the biggest growth and if we stick with it the biggest success.
Expect some discomfort! And do it with the discomfort.
So let’s play the game we have been preparing, planning and dreaming of playing. Step up when the opportunity comes or take the risk to create the opportunity for yourself.
It will be fun!
Have a wonderful week.