You Asked

When asked I replied.

The subject matter was my college football team of choice and their chances against a top ten team today. As much pain as I knew my response would self inflict, I tried to find a sliver of hope and spin the reality into something possible. Almost instantly I recognized the solid ground beneath me begin to turn to mud. Slippery. Caution. Aviso cuidade piso mojado. 

“Unless a leader steps up and takes charge I am afraid we might not win another game this year.”

I said it. The dogs are out of the kennel as we close the gate. 

“But”, I continued totally unsatisfied with both the response and its intended impact, “this is college football and one of its endearing and defining characteristics is its frequent manipulation of the magical. Strange things happen, Hail Mary’s are answered, underdogs win, the impossible shows up and goats morph into heroes. So I am all in for some of that.” 

Suddenly the largess of what I was riffing came into crisp focus. This is exactly like everything else. This is a challenge. It takes hard work, and sometimes a little luck, to come out the sunny side of the tunnel. But it can be done! We can do this. 

I am now acting as my own coach. The game will begin in an hour and a half. What can we do to put ourselves in the best position to succeed? 

We can believe. We can trust our training. We can commit to our best efforts. We can take responsibility for ourselves and lead others out of the tunnel with a robust ‘follow me - I’ll go first.”  We can wear gumption, attitude, courage and enthusiasm as our game face. We can commit to doing what is necessary to play our part in the group effort. We can generate energy and emotion. We can remain focused and play with controlled fury. We can break the game down to minutes, where each play, every move is executed with maximal awareness and flow. We can appreciate the opportunity to compete. We can recognize that this is about building character, accepting challenge and the maturation of our spirit. We can accept that we are all in this together and vow our part to contribute to the dynamic. 

Lastly and perhaps most importantly, we can deeply accept that IF our effort is sincere and demonstrative of our best, that the final score is only two numbers separated by a hyphen. 

This holds true whether a game, a video project, a training session, washing the dishes or playing guitar. It is about the effort. What you put into the task. Our ability to persist, endure, compete, focus, relax and execute with graceful fluidity. 

Our practice is in the relentless refinement of these skills. There is a reason why we practice for six days and play on one. 

We should be happy when the opponents are legitimate. For it is only against the best that we have the magical opportunity to do our best. 

You asked.