Are you in the game? Or are you on the sidelines?
My thirteen-year-old son will have a new football coach in the fall. Tonight I asked him,
“What happens if he puts you on the bench?”
“Then I guess I sit the bench.”
“Wrong answer. You never accept the bench.”
Now before you think I’m getting all Tiger Mom on the poor kid, nothing would make me happier than his precious growing brain being protected on the bench, or in a safer sport all together. But this is his passion. His DREAM. And, it’s my job to support him in any way I can.
How often do WE swallow someone else’s evaluation of us and sit the bench? Or worse, how often do we allow our own evaluation of being unworthy keep us out of the game?
PLAYING is the most important thing. Whatever your dream is, DOING is the key to turning it into a reality. And sitting on the bench is not going to get you there.
The suggestion I made to my son was to ask, “Coach, what do I need to do to get in the game?”
Evaluations are great opportunities for improvement, but we have to have the courage to ask that question,
What do I need to do to get in the game?
I am inspired by my son. He is tenacious, committed, ALL IN. He takes every suggestion at face value. He sees them as helpful and uses them to make adjustments, so that he can be his best. He will do anything to get in the game which is why he always gets to play.
So often, people get stuck in the evaluation. Instead of seeing it as an opportunity to make corrections, they take the suggestion and use it to judge themselves as not good enough. Not worthy of their dream.
We have to be brave enough to reject the idea that we are not good enough to play. We have to use evaluations as motivators, NOT game-stoppers or derailers.
What if we all started taking suggestions at face value?
What if we checked our ego at the door and started seeing evaluations as opportunities to make corrections?
What would happen if we started doing anything to get in the game?