New trailer for Caveat, a movie from a friend of mine. Check it out.
Don’t find fault, find a remedy. Anybody can complain.
- Henry Ford
N P
After the last couple of weeks I’ve felt a bit beat-up. Well not so much beat-up, more like scrubbed with steel wool. Yeah I think it’s more like that, because just about when I forget about it, something reminds me that there was a scratch there. Kind of like when my grandmother insisted on putting Mercurochrome on my scratches when I was a kid. As much as it might be convenient to blame others for why I feel this way, the blame starts in my lap and it will do no good to point fingers. I screwed something up.
I’ve been trying to find the silver lining in the one big situation that has been “scrubbing” me. I wake in the morning with thoughts ranging from anger, to how I can use this experience to grow. Isn’t that what we are all supposed to do, grow? Aren’t we allowed to make mistakes and learn from them? I can probably site 100 different books, classes and articles that expound on this topic. But the hard part is convincing others that in this case, I just made a simple mistake while trying to do the right thing. I hope it is one mistake that I won’t make again.
This morning while getting ready for work, lamenting over what else I might hear about this situation, I remembered something that I saw a bit more than two years ago. My family and I have a cake making business on the side as a hobby. Mostly we make sculpture cakes for friends and family. While working on a cake for a friend’s 16 year old daughter, I noticed something on one of the reference pieces that I was working from. As this young lady was a basketball player, her cake was an eatable replica of her basketball shoes and basketball on a gym floor. While looking at the shoes, I noticed that there were letters on the tops of each toe. In Sharpie marker, there was a simple “N” on the left shoe, and a “P” on the right. Perplexed by what this could mean, I asked her mother what the heck the letters meant. She explained that while playing, her daughter could become frustrated by her own performance and that of others. As the game went on this frustration would grow, and as a result her performance suffered. So to help remind her while playing that the she could not go back and change her past performance, but that she could control her future performance, she put in place a reminder of what to focus on. For her, this was N and P. or “Next Play.” During rests in play or those moments standing waiting for a foul shot, she would see the N and P and be reminded of what she should do. I thought how simple and perfect a way to stay focused on what she can control.
It was not until this morning while getting ready for work that I had the epiphany of how to handle this situation in my head and what it could mean in the big picture. We really are limited to what can be done about past performance. With the exception of an apology or some type of act of contrition, the moment is gone never to be replayed. So what we really need to do is focus on what’s next. Or better put, “Next Play.”
It’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to concentrate on my next play, and how I’m going to perform. It’s really that simple.
So what’s your Next Play?
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Run your own race
The rear view mirror is one of the most effective motivational tools ever created.
There’s no doubt that many people speed up in the face of competition. We ask, “how’d the rest of the class do?” We listen for someone breathing down our necks. And we discover that competition sometimes brings out our best.
There’s a downside, though. Years ago, during my last long-distance swim (across Long Island Sound… cold water, jellyfish, the whole nine yards), the competitiveness was pretty thick. On the boat to the starting line, there were hundreds of swimmers, stretching, bragging, prancing and working themselves up. By the time we hit the water, everyone was swimming someone else’s race. The start was an explosion of ego and adrenaline. Twenty minutes later, half the field was exhausted, with three hours left to go.
If you’re going to count on the competition to bring out your best work, you’ve surrendered control over your most important asset. Real achievement comes from racing ahead when no one else sees a path—and holding back when the rush isn’t going where you want to go.
If you’re dependent on competition then you’re counting on the quality of those that show up to determine how well you’ll do. Worse, you’ve signed up for a career of faux death matches as the only way to do your best work.
Self motivation is and always will be the most important form of motivation. Driving with your eyes on the rear view mirror is exhausting. It’s easier than ever to measure your performance against others, but if it’s not helping you with your mission, stop.
"— Seth Godin
All this would fit in your pocket now
The photo shows the busy catalog card distribution office at the Library of Congress. There’s no date on the photographic print. Recently, we needed to determine when the photo was taken, so out came my magnifying glass. (LOC: Picture This blog)
(via fastcompany)
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