My freshmen year of college was a challenging time for me. The unfamiliarity of new surroundings, new teammates, and new coaches unsettled me badly. I guess this is the result of being in the same town and same school that your parents both worked at for my entire 18 years of life to that point. The fall of 1997, my sophomore year, was different. I was fired up. I was returning to a campus I was familiar with, teammates who I cared about, and a coach who I had great respect for. Early in that fall semester, I was walking down the long stairwell of an academic building with some teammates. My college basketball coach came zipping past us going up the stairs. He was moving up the steps as fast as he could. His head was down and he was obviously trying to land each foot on each step as quickly as possible. What made it even weirder was that he was dressed for his day job in the admissions office wearing a jacket an tie. The following exchange took place.
‘Coach?!?! What are you doing??’
‘I’m too slow up these steps, Chris. I need to get faster.’
And he resumed his frantic sprint up the steps. I could give lots of other examples of these types of interactions with my college coach. It was one of the reasons he had such a big impact on my life and the lives of so many of his players. He was a psycho, but in all the right ways. One of his insanities was the way he attacked every day. He brought competitive fire to each situation. The passion to do his best put lightning in my veins.
The days are long and tasks are hard for everyone, everywhere. A difficult challenge for many is to take responsibility for the energy that is brought to the 'everyday'. It doesn't take me long to connect the most influential people in my life over the years with their unique ability to bring an electricity, a self-generated momentum, a fire that is usually associated with competition to their everyday responsibilities. Coaches can easily identify athletes that seem to love it more and longer, and want it more and longer than anyone else. The way they attack every single second is inspiring. Those that work in athletics have a unique advantage...the scoreboard. The scoreboard has a way of evaluating our efforts and holding us accountable to do what's necessary to win. It is hard to find such an impartial evaluator in many other areas of our lives. But, the impact of those that bring competitive fire to the everyday is worth the effort. These people are not immune to bad days or low energy, they just seem to be able to rev themselves up in spite of it. This is where we can find common ground and should consider how we can put lightning in the veins of the people around us.
Over the years, I've tried to emulate this competitive fire for the everyday...taking pride in my ability to bring energy, enthusiasm, and fire when it would be easier not to. As you read these recommendations, remember the often quoted mantra by Franciscan Friars. 'Emotions make excellent servants, but terrible masters.’ - or ‘emotions make great cheerleaders, but terrible leaders.’ Bringing competitive fire to the everyday is a choice. Here's are some ways that you can bring competitive fire that is contagious to your everyday work.
CREATE A ROUTINE THAT INCORPORATES COMPETITIVE FIRE. At certain points in my career, I have walking into the office and high fives my administrative assistant to signify we have to get after it today! Sometimes, I walk in and announce to my office mates that ‘Friday is for finishers!’ *I only do this on Friday’s obviously* I fist bump, back slap, and high five the people I'm responsible to lead. I'll approach people clapping, almost giving an introductory applause to the interaction that we are about to have. These things are not part of my personality per say. These are simple routine acts that I've made a conscious decision to make part of my daily routine. I believe they remind me and those around me that today matters.
TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE THE MUNDANE. Books and article abound on how important the daily mundane task of each day contribute to the excellence. I'd strongly suggest you read the article 'The Mundanity of Excellence'. As you are about to tackle the mundane or are putting off the mundane, take 30 seconds to remind yourself that the mundane, done well, is actually an important demonstration of how bad you want to do your job well. At times in my coaching career, I have reminded student-athletes that ‘getting good at something is boring, but being good is not.’ This reminder to them helps them embrace the value of the routine and apply their competitive fire to it. After that, go attack the mundane!
There are two other areas that you can demonstrate competitive fire everyday...read about them here!
Over the years, I've tried to emulate this competitive fire for the everyday...taking pride in my ability to bring energy, enthusiasm, and fire when it would be easier not to. As you read these recommendations, remember the often quoted mantra by Franciscan Friars. 'Emotions make excellent servants, but terrible masters.’ - or ‘emotions make great cheerleaders, but terrible leaders.’ Bringing competitive fire to the everyday is a choice. Here's are some ways that you can bring competitive fire that is contagious to your everyday work.
CREATE A ROUTINE THAT INCORPORATES COMPETITIVE FIRE. At certain points in my career, I have walking into the office and high fives my administrative assistant to signify we have to get after it today! Sometimes, I walk in and announce to my office mates that ‘Friday is for finishers!’ *I only do this on Friday’s obviously* I fist bump, back slap, and high five the people I'm responsible to lead. I'll approach people clapping, almost giving an introductory applause to the interaction that we are about to have. These things are not part of my personality per say. These are simple routine acts that I've made a conscious decision to make part of my daily routine. I believe they remind me and those around me that today matters.
TAKE A MOMENT TO APPRECIATE THE MUNDANE. Books and article abound on how important the daily mundane task of each day contribute to the excellence. I'd strongly suggest you read the article 'The Mundanity of Excellence'. As you are about to tackle the mundane or are putting off the mundane, take 30 seconds to remind yourself that the mundane, done well, is actually an important demonstration of how bad you want to do your job well. At times in my coaching career, I have reminded student-athletes that ‘getting good at something is boring, but being good is not.’ This reminder to them helps them embrace the value of the routine and apply their competitive fire to it. After that, go attack the mundane!
There are two other areas that you can demonstrate competitive fire everyday...read about them here!
Keep on keepin’ on, friends!
Bonus content: Here are some resources to dig deeper on this topic - ‘Training Camp’ by Jon Gordon, ‘Compound Effect’ by Darren Hardy, and ‘What’s Best Next’ by Matt Perman
‘Bite Down and Don’t Let Go’ is a collection of writings on relentlessly leading yourself and others well. Read about it more here.
Dr. Chris Hobbs is an educational leader with more than two decades of experience. He’s earned a few degrees and won some awards. He’s happily married to his high school sweetheart and they have three teen age children. Life is messy and complicated most of the time. You can follow him on Twitter for all sorts of inspirational thoughts and good laughs.
Comments
Post a Comment