Content v ComplacentJimmy loves his job. He looks forward to virtually everything about his daily duties because no situation is ever exactly the same. There are a few aspects of his current role that he doesn’t enjoy, but he realizes they are necessary for him to perform at the level he aspires to. Jimmy doesn’t watch the clock. Overtime doesn’t exist. He works until the job is done - and done to the standard he expects of himself. Jimmy looks forward to seeing his team every day. Learning from them, helping them grow, and having people who fill in for his weaknesses allow Jimmy to perform at a higher level than he ever could on his own. He and his team are always looking for a new edge, or angle, to stretch themselves. He loves what he does and who he does it with.
Jimmy is content. Johnny loves his job too. He looks forward to his daily duties and enjoys almost all aspects of his role, mainly because he’s comfortable with them. The ones he doesn’t enjoy he does anyway, usually without complaint. Johnny checks the clock every now and then, but he’s not ruled by it. He works until the workday is done, performing at the standard expected of him. Overtime does exist and Johnny does it when he has to. Johnny likes his team but most of the relationships have run their course and are nothing more than coexisting work partnerships. Johnny and his team believe ‘if it ain’t broke, then don’t fix it’ so they stick religiously to the way they’ve always done things. He enjoys what he does and who he does it with. Johnny is complacent. Why Should We Care? As you read through those paragraphs, there are subtle differences in Jimmy and Johnny’s approach to their work. Let’s take a little closer look at the differences. Jimmy and Johnny both love their jobs, but for two different reasons. Jimmy because he is consistently being stretched and Johnny because he is comfortable. For Jimmy it’s not really work, it’s what he does. For Johnny, it’s most definitely work - he’s good at it, but it’s still work. Jimmy works to the standard he expects of himself. Johnny works to the standard others expect of him. Jimmy sees the differences and unique contributions of his team. Johnny sees the similarities and limitations of his team. Jimmy is constantly stretching. Johnny is constantly shrinking. Contentment is misunderstood. It’s happiness and satisfaction. It’s appreciation. Contentment recognizes the benefit of the work, the value in the struggle and embraces them as a vital part of the road towards excellence. Contentment doesn’t push us to tire of these things, but further validates them as foundational in our success. Complacency does none of this. It takes the work and struggle for granted, looking to minimize them while still maintaining an acceptable level of performance. It wants to avoid struggle yet maintain success. Complacency diminishes the process while still desiring the same outcome. REAL TALK - Action Steps Ah, to avoid complacency and find contentment - that would be the goal, wouldn’t it? Here are a few ideas to guide you on that walk. Growing Contentment
Reducing Complacency
Contentment is a critical part of excellence while complacency has no place in it. Complacency is a thief of the soul, and contentment Robin Hood. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here!
0 Comments
Owning ItAs a high school athletic director, I had to hire and fire several coaches over my five year tenure. Both are difficult and bring their own unique challenges, but I always felt hiring was the more difficult of the two to get right. Firing was usually pretty clear. Oddly enough, there is one characteristic that shines a bright light on both scenarios - ownership.
Hiring is more difficult because you don’t know. You ask questions, check references, and observe behaviors; but at the end of the day you’re guessing. Of course, you are trying to gather information on a number of factors like knowledge, character, humility, personality … but, if you’re wise, a willingness to own all aspects of the position should be of the highest priority. I don’t want to make it sound like firing someone is easy. It’s certainly not, but it is often more clear than hiring. Like hiring, there are a number of factors to be considered when dismissing someone. I’ve found many of those factors to be coachable and not a singular reason for termination. One consistent exception is the willingness to own the situation - and there is no guessing needed. Just ask questions. If you get excuses and blame, there’s a good chance they need to go. If you can’t own it, you can’t lead. Why Should We Care? Let’s focus on two critical aspects of ownership that are paramount to excellence - impact and agency. Impact is the degree to which you affect someone or something. All of our impact is dependent on us believing that we matter - our presence, our thoughts, and our actions. It all matters. It makes a difference. If we don’t believe that, then what’s the point? We must own our impact. This is where everyone’s impact starts Beyond that, leaders that own their impact are aware of how their actions affect others. It’s not random, happenstance, or luck. Leaders that own their impact are intentional with every interaction. They believe a life could change at any moment. Agency is a sense of control - of our thoughts and our actions. Agency is also a belief in yourself to be able to handle any situation. If we have agency, we believe we’re going to be okay regardless of what is thrown at us. The situation doesn’t matter to leaders with agency. They will own it no matter what. They make it happen. For clarity, the opposite of agency is victimhood. People with a victim mindset have no belief in themselves. They are always at the mercy of others or circumstances. They own nothing. They are indifferent about their impact and unaware of their agency. Victims are allergic to owning. REAL TALK - Action Steps We can take a huge step towards taking ownership simply by eliminating a victim mindset. Take a look at the list below to see if there are any actions you could stop doing in your life that are encouraging you to think like a victim.
Leadership starts with owning your impact and agency. Unfortunately, for many, it ends there as well. It’s simple, not easy. Take full ownership of everything that happens in your life and things will stop happening to you and start happening for you. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Healthy DiscontentAccording to Mirriam-Webster, discontent is ‘the lack of satisfaction with one’s possessions, status, or situation; a lack of contentment’. While the definition suffices on the surface, I think it lacks some critical aspects when applied to leadership.
The three arms of discontentment mentioned are a little misguided. A lack of satisfaction with one’s possessions is frivolous, at best. You picked it or inherited or kept it. If you don’t like it, then get rid of it. It’s your possession. Why intentionally choose to be discontent around something you can literally rid yourself of? A lack of satisfaction with one’s status is simply a comparison with others. We need to eliminate any energy spent on concerning ourselves with other people’s opinion on our position or rank. Whatever you are, be a great one. A lack of satisfaction with one’s situation is ignorant. Your choices led you to the exact place you are right now. Being discontent with your situation is like eating Twinkies for breakfast and being upset about gaining weight. It’s not that complicated. Now, I get it. It’s not that you hate your possessions, you just want nicer ones. It’s not that you are completely disgruntled with your job, you would just like to be a little higher on the chain of command. It’s not that your situation is the worst in the world, you just wish it was better. It makes sense, but general discontentment isn’t going to help with that. We need healthy discontentment. Why Should We Care? Healthy discontent is centered on processes, not outcomes. Its disgust comes from the way something is done, not the result it produces. And, honestly, with the best in the world, it’s always present. It’s common for leaders, and people in general, to allow the results to be the trigger for creating discontent in the process. Unfortunately, the result is a lag measure … and lag measures make you late to the party. Lag measures are a measure of what has happened - past tense. Being discontent with lag measures is a waste of time. Instead, our attention needs to be directed to lead measures - those things we do that lead to the outcome we desire. It’s a measure of what is happening. Leaders on the path to excellence have mastered the dichotomy of healthy discontent. They are content with their possessions, yet striving to improve. They are not concerned with their status, but consumed with their impact. They are accepting of their circumstances, while owning the origin of them. Discontent is an unhealthy feeling tied to results that generates anxiety, frustration, and worry. Healthy discontent is a feeling married to the process that initiates reflection, evaluation, and constant change. REAL TALK - Action Steps Though I think we would benefit to consider applying the idea of healthy discontentment to most areas of our lives, here are a few areas outside the box to consider:
Discontent opposes all aspects of acceptance. Healthy discontent embraces acceptance of outcomes while challenging the process. Afterall, our lifestyle determines our life. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Being SoftNassim Taleb’s book Antifragile defines antifragility as becoming more robust when exposed to stressors, uncertainty, or risk. One of Taleb’s talking points in the book is the difference between fragile, resilient, and antifragile.
A wine glass is an easy example of fragile. I don’t own any wine glasses, but when I pick one up I’m always worried about breaking it. In my mind, one mishap and the glass will shatter. I’m careful with them and, honestly, don’t really enjoy being around them because of it. A plastic cup, on the other hand, is more in my comfort zone. It’s a good example of resilience. If you drop a plastic cup, which makes up about ninety percent of our drinking containers, it will maintain its size and shape. The stressor of being dropped doesn’t have an ill effect on the cup itself. It remains pretty much the same. There isn’t an ideal example for something that is antifragile. Things that are antifragile do more than survive stressors, uncertainty, and risk. They are improved by them. Antifragility takes resilience to another level and is the antithesis of fragile. Identifying things into categories of fragile, resilient, or antifragile is fairly simple: expose them to stressors - like dropping them - and simply observe the results. The same is true for us and the people we lead. Why Should We Care? Fragile is the coaching equivalent to soft and, in the coaching world, we love to describe players and teams as soft. Unfortunately, most of the time the players don’t have a full understanding of what soft even means, let alone how to change it. It’s elementary coaching to simply call out what you observe - like riding in a car with someone reading every sign out loud. It doesn’t take long for us to block them out or tell them to ‘shut up’. Before we get to understanding and changing it, we should at least acknowledge the reality of the acceptance of being soft, because it is a thing. I don’t know that blame can be placed on any certain group or specific activity, but it is clear that leadership now must intentionally plan to confront this ever present drift towards fragility. Parenting is a good place to start. Helicopter parenting used to be the concern - hovering around the playground ready to snatch little Jenny off the ground the second she fell. By being close by helicopter parents could limit the time of distress and struggle, swooping in to save her. Parents rationalize this as good parenting by keeping the child safe in the moment. However, in an effort to help, they actually harm because while the child may be void of minor injury in the moment she is now also void of the skills required to manage the distress the injury would have provided. I would argue the latter is significantly more important. As if the helicopter parents weren’t enough, now we have snowplow parents that are the concern - they’re still parked close by but they’ve either decked Jenny out with a helmet and knee pads, forbidden her from playing on any equipment that has even a remote chance of causing harm, gone to the city council to have swing sets removed from the playground all together. Again, in an effort to help, they manage to do even more harm by handcuffing the child to fragility. Leadership, it seems, has followed suit. Helicopter leaders are nothing more than micro-managers. Their intent is good, but they always end up clipping the wings of those they lead. Snowplow leaders are most often exposed by the feedback they give - padded and vauge. By removing the hard truths we think we are softening the blow and protecting our people. When really we’re robbing them of the opportunity to become antifragile. REAL TALK - Action Steps Becoming antifragile should be a goal all leaders have for the people we lead. We should have it for our children (I mean, what’s more important!), as well as our employees. However, society is now structured to keep people fragile - much more money to be made there. Here are a few ways to move them towards becoming antifragile.
We have a choice in this matter of softness. The label, just or not, is a culmination of the actions we take. If fragility is a reflection of our choices, then so is antifragility. Choose wisely. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Opportunity CostI entered college undecided on what I wanted to major in. My family has always been in education - my dad, a lifelong high school science teacher, and my mom, a school bus driver. It’s the world I grew up in so I knew the ins and outs of what each aspect of the school year brought. I was well aware of the things that lifestyle afforded us - summers free, holidays off, and access to facilities. I was also well aware of what that lifestyle did not afford us - money to do anything on those free summers and holidays.
What I was fairly blind to was the things a non-teaching lifestyle affords. As I began considering the options for my future, the list quickly narrowed to two professions, both of which I could see myself doing, and enjoying, for the rest of my life: teaching and medicine. Not much difference there, right?! As a doctor, I loved the idea of helping people in their most vulnerable moments. I loved the idea of studying and becoming an expert on something that was difficult to understand. I loved the idea of providing a caring, personal touch to service that had been absent in many of my experiences. Many of those ideas which I appreciated paralleled with teaching. I knew what a life as a teacher would feel like. I had no idea about life as a doctor. First of all, I wasn’t in love with the years and years of schooling required to become a doctor. Not that I’m opposed to school, but much of that time would likely be spent void of patient interaction. I didn’t like the time I would need to spend away from my family in order to gain a position that afforded me the option to be with them. Eventually that balance would swing, but the sacrifice to get to that point was significant. And, I didn’t like the debt I would undoubtedly be in following all the necessary schooling. The problem, of course, is that I couldn’t have the things I loved without the things I didn’t like. Why Should We Care? Let’s think about an example everyone seems to struggle with: youth sports. When you attend a game you have three options: you can be a fan and cheer, you can be a coach and coach, or you can be an official and referee. You have to pick one. By choosing one, you are, by default, not choosing the other two. You can’t be a fan and referee. You can’t coach and be a fan. You can’t be a referee and coach. It doesn’t work. And, yes, I realize this fact escapes most. This is a simple reality in leadership as well. Every choice we make has a corresponding cost that we are choosing as well. The opportunity cost however is not just the immediate sacrifice. It includes the myriad of opportunities that making a different choice encompasses. Of course it’s impossible to anticipate every potential possibility, but it’s negligent to not explore it. Excellent leaders understand both what they are gaining, as well as giving up, with each choice. REAL TALK - Action Steps It’s easy to see the opportunity costs after the fact, but excellent leaders anticipate and plan for it. Here are a few areas to consider and standards to have in place in order to be best prepared for the pending opportunity cost.
Opportunity cost is something we must deal with as a leader. It’s more than the immediate loss of potential gain. Navigating it with intentionality is a symbol of clarity, self-awareness, and excellence. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Sweatpants & SermonsSeveral years ago we had a young player that was really struggling with performing under pressure. He was constantly comparing his stats to teammates and basing his evaluation of play on how many shots he made. Not only was his mood dependent on his performance, but his view of his worth to the team was as well.
Despite numerous conversations regarding his value to the team beyond scoring, his perspective didn’t change. And, despite numerous reminders of his incredible work ethic, commitment to his teammates, and willingness to play both ends of the floor; his confidence continued to fluctuate with each make or miss. The emotional roller coaster came to a screeching halt when, following a tournament that he failed to uphold his side of the comparison, with his head in his hands and tears rolling down his face he simply said, “I just want to be able to wear sweatpants to church again.” On the surface, that comment may not make sense so let me unpack it a little for you. “Wearing sweatpants to church” was his way of saying he wanted to be free from the shackles of attempting to please others. He felt like he was constantly being judged. And, he was, just not by the people he thought he was being judged by. In his mind he was letting other people down and not living up to the expectations they had for him. In reality, it was the judge within that he was failing. He was caught in the comparison trap. Why Should We Care? This player, twelve years old at the time, would go on to be the most decorated player in the history of our school. He would earn multiple Mr. Basketball awards, a scholarship to a tradition-rich college, and his high school’s only state championship. None of which were on his radar as a twelve year old. And, none would’ve been accomplished without embracing the need for mental, as well as physical growth. He’s also my son. So, when he was sitting in our living room crying, the matter quickly became urgent. Not the matter of basketball, but the matter of comparison. It was far more about life than basketball at that point. We wanted to provide him with the tools to become a faithful, confident person. The basketball would take care of itself - or it wouldn’t, it didn’t really matter. The fight against comparison is a fight we must be aware of. We’re all facing it daily. If we don’t intentionally fight the current of society, we will be swept away by it. It pollutes every aspect of life and injects one of the most common challenges we face: clearly defining success. Afterall, defining success is what comparison distills to, isn’t it? When we are caught up in the comparison trap we see success as gaining favor from those we believe are judging us, by the standards we believe they are using. Success is approval for most. When we escape the comparison trap we judge for ourselves, by the standards we believe in. REAL TALK - Action Steps Every person you are leading is drawn to comparison. It must be intentionally confronted or it will be unintentionally accepted. Here are a few ideas to fight the current of society.
As Jon Gordan stated, “leadership is influence”. Mere recognition of this fact is not sufficient. We should actively be considering where that influence is coming from and in what direction it is influencing for both ourselves and those we lead. No decision is a decision. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Are You Batman or Robin?In sports, everyone likes to talk about the Batmen and the Robbins.
Jordan needed Pippen, Montana needed Rice, and Seaver needed Bench. The best players in their respective sports are almost always tied to another very talented teammate. There is no question that the elevation of ‘Batman’ was aided by the pairing with ‘Robin’ and ‘Robin’ clearly benefited from siding with ‘Batman’. They’re symbiotic. From a performance standpoint, that is clear. And, since the performance was excellent in comparison to others at the time, we assume it was symbiotic in all other ways as well. The most significant consideration to examine is Robin’s feelings about his position. It’s not something we typically think about. Is it really beneficial to both if, deep down, Robin wants to be Batman? Of course, we would be naive to think envy and jealousy do not play a part at all. For every Robin that is content in his role, there are at least five that are longing, or worse yet, scheming to be Batman. Even Batman isn’t always happy - sometimes he wants to be Superman. Embracing a role is a real superpower. Why Should We Care? We all imagine ourselves as the center of everything that runs through our mind. We always see ourselves as the main character. And, that’s perfectly normal - I mean, why would you cast yourself as anyone else? But, step back and think about that for a minute. Although we see ourselves as the main character, others don’t share that perspective. As a matter of fact, they have the complete opposite perspective: they see themselves as the main character. This simple reality exposes a difference that every team, and leader, must deal with. After all, our perspective is our reality and for most of us that means … We think we are Batman. Contrary to most professional sports team’s approaches to roster construction, the best teams are not full of all Batmans. This turns out to be great news for those of us that come to the realization that we aren’t Batman, but not such good news for those of us charged with helping others realize they are not Batman. So, how do we help those in roles outside of Batman to not only accept their role, but to embrace it in such a way that they drive the culture and performance of the team upward regardless of their position, or role, on the team? How do we remove resentment? REAL TALK - Action Steps Commitment to one’s role is the most defining mark of a team member's commitment to the team. Here are a few simple ideas on helping your team members embrace the role you are asking them to play, even if it doesn’t involve a cape.
Roles are empowering. They provide you with a clear path to contributing the most you possibly can to the team. No role is more important than the other. There are no MVPs on real teams. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Waiter - Rocket - GooseIt’s camp season for most high school basketball coaches right now. While it’s fun to provide young players with opportunities to have fun around the game, it’s equally exhausting. Bloody noses, phantom injuries, and restroom breaks litter every day of youth camp. Then, of course, there is the actual teaching of basketball fundamentals.
If you are running a basketball camp, one fundamental that must be taught is shooting. Although there isn’t enough time to make a significant improvement over the course of a few days of the summer, you still have to address the most valuable skill in the sport. In an effort to simplify for our campers of all different skill levels, we break shooting down into three parts that focus on the top half of the mechanics: waiter, rocket, goose. Waiter refers to the player keeping their wrist flexed and elbow under the ball. Rocket addresses the need to shoot the ball up rather than out. And, goose emphasizes the need to flip the wrist and keep the shooting arm high. While talking through it at camp this week I realized this simple three word reminder applies just as well to leadership. Why Should We Care? The Waiter We’ve all had waiters, or waitresses, that turn a simple meal into an unforgettable experience. They are kind, thoughtful, understanding and anticipate your needs even before you realize them. First and foremost, waiters serve. The best are proactive in creating a relationship, regardless of how seemingly insignificant, with you. Although it’s a tiny slice of both of your lives, it’s not a stretch to say the best servers in the world are able to transform in that minimal time frame. The best leaders do the same. Regardless of time, regardless of obstacles, regardless of available excuses - they serve and they transform … in spite of (shout out to Mike and his R2O team). The Rocket Rockets go up. They elevate those with them. They don’t push out, they push up. Isn’t this the mission of every leader - to be a lifter? Ask any leader what the most fulfilling aspect of the calling is and some version of helping people go places they didn’t know they could go. Notice it’s not taking them where they want to go. They will always shoot too low if the choice is left to them. It’s the leader’s job to press the edges of what is comfortable and raise them to what they are capable of, not what they desire. The Goose If you’re leading, you have to finish. Most people are ok being done. Leaders know being done is incomplete. It lacks follow through. From a tough conversation to a big time project, the difference is often in the follow through. After the project is complete, and most have moved on, the excellent leader circles back to reaffirm the deal. Following a tough conversation that same leader will reconnect to be sure the other person knows they are still valued. They hand write thank you notes. They call. While most think these things are ‘extras’, excellent leaders simply view them as part of the process. It’s less what they do and more who they are. REAL TALK - Action Steps All three of the items above are important parts of leading effectively, with excellence. And, I’m sure you probably have many things you do that fall into each bucket, but here are a few ideas that you may not have consider:
Waiter - Rocket - Goose: as good for those aspiring to become better shooters as it is for those seeking excellence in leadership. Serving, lifting up, and following through … if only the execution were as simple as the verbiage. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! Victims: Start Your Engines“I hear almost every argument is a race for the victim spot.” - Andrea Gibson
Read that again, it’s really good. I recently had an incident with a parent that was unhappy with his son’s playing time. He requested a meeting to discuss his concerns regarding the situation, to which I obliged. Nothing unordinary was presented from his lens - he felt his son deserved more playing time, was better than the player that was given his playing time, and expressed the possibility of a personal agenda as being the only rational reason for the discrepancy. On the other side of this argument was the coaches’ perspective. We felt like we played the guys in that game that gave the team the best chance to win. During that game, at that time, it just happened to not include his son. We did not feel like we were operating by an agenda within the game other than trying to win. So, there we were, both in a race we weren’t aware we were running. He presented stats, examples, and opinions mixed with facts to justify his son’s position as the victim. Meanwhile, though I didn’t voice these thoughts, I countered with rational reasons to justify why we played other players more throughout the game. I was validating my position as the victim in my head while being confronted by this father. We both think we won the race, but really we both lost. Why Should We Care? In twenty-five years of coaching, I’ve had my fair share of arguments. Some with parents, some with players, and some with those pesky gentlemen in striped shirts. Regardless, as I look back, I can clearly see my desire to be the victim. Being the victim justifies us. It wasn’t our fault, there’s nothing we could’ve done about it, the other person is clearly the problem … No matter what explanation we cling to, the reason behind it is always the same: to escape responsibility. Owning responsibility means admitting mistakes or, worse yet, accepting mistakes that truly weren’t your fault. If that doesn’t seem right you’re looking at it through the wrong lens - try the eyes of leadership. From a leadership perspective, fault is irrelevant. It’s always everyone’s fault and spending time attempting to pin it to any one person is a futile waste of precious time. The only way to live in this fault-free space is to eliminate arguments, and with it, the pursuit of victimhood. I mentioned those guys in stripes earlier. One of the best examples of this came from an official I had complained to in a game regarding a call that I thought he had missed. Rather than telling me I was wrong or doubling down on how right he was, he simply said “Yea, that’s what I thought I saw, but I could’ve missed it.” He stepped out of the race to be the victim and there I was, left standing there racing myself. With no one else in the argument, I accepted the victim spot but with no fanfare or satisfaction accompanying it. REAL TALK - Action Steps Whether we vocalize our race to the victim spot or not is irrelevant. We know if we’re in the race and our actions will quickly tell everyone else. Here are two ideas for stepping out of the race before you get too far in.
The problem with arguments is they push both parties in different corners to the point that we can no longer see the other person’s perspective. We are left with racing to be the victim, but the bigger issue is that they block the free exchange of love. And, love is the life-blood of all teams. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! The Consistency CrucibleIn science, consistency is the way in which a substance holds together, its thickness.
In life, consistency is behaving or performing in the same way. In science, a crucible is a container in which materials are heated to a very high temperature. In life, a crucible is a very significant, or difficult, challenge, test, or trial. Since we’re living lives, not science experiments, we’ll focus on the life side of things. Awareness of the difficulty in being consistent is not a secret. We don’t need to look any further than the dismal follow through on New Year’s resolutions to recognize the challenge of maintaining the simplest of behaviors for more than a week. We set reminders, lineup accountability partners, and create benchmarks to reward ourselves all in an effort to simply establish a hint of consistency. Likewise, awareness of the value and power in being consistent is not a secret. Excellence in any field is always traced back to performing a few simple actions day after day. As alluring as talent is, as much as it draws us to it, talent always fails to deliver at some point. Unfortunately, we aren’t privy to that timetable. Those that find excellence all start with the same basic action - they just keep showing up. Why Should We Care? However, showing up is simply the entry price of consistency. It’s required, but never enough. Life will flush out what is required. It is the crucible of consistency. Life is going to test and challenge our commitment to consistency dozens of times each day. Busy schedules, uncontrollable events, and obligations to others will undoubtedly create roadblocks in our ability to stay consistent. ‘Ability’ isn’t the right word. ‘Desire’ is probably a better choice. There will be people to blame, justifications to claim, and responsibility to avoid which all will hamper our desire to remain consistent. Though it seems more complex, consistency is nothing more than a choice we make from one moment to another. There are, however, a lot of those choices to make every single day. Most of the time it’s the choice to disregard an excuse - maybe a perfectly reasonable, valid excuse that still must be ignored. Of course, some choices are more difficult to make than others, but if consistency is going to continue, only one choice is acceptable. Adversity is the heat that distills our consistency to character and marks our path between excellence and mediocrity. Handled well consistently well, adversity convicts, emboldens, and elevates our life. It is the shortcut many are seeking but only a few are willing to accept. Consistency is the running mate of desire. What we truly want, we are willing to consistently work towards. When we are lukewarm our consistency will be the first thing we compromise. REAL TALK - Action Steps The ability to stay consistent is a superpower. It demonstrates an ability to prioritize a previous commitment over a current, often more appealing, option. Here are a few foundational pieces that will help drive consistency in all aspects of your life.
Excellence is a funny process. I don’t know everything about it, but from my experience it seems like it looks a lot like this: Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop Chop … poof - excellence. Give or take a few chops. Checkout Surrender the Outcome on Amazon and order The Score That Matters with Ryan Hawk & Brook Cupps. The latest blog from Blue Collar Grit can be found here! |
About bcI'm a teacher, coach, and parent seeking excellence while defining success on my own terms. Archives
July 2024
Categories |