Sometimes, you do your best and things don’t work out.
That’s when you look around and say,
- “I got hosed!”
- “I got screwed by The Man!”
- “The sun was in my eyes!”
- “Management didn’t give me the budget I needed!”
- “I was having a bad day!”
- “The incentive structure doesn’t motivate me to do what I’m supposed to!”
Or something else, equally as lame.
Look, not every risk pays off. There are times when you are going to lose, or get hurt. Even if you do everything right, you’re still going to have days when everything goes wrong.
Why be in such a hurry to blame someone?
Why not just accept that you won’t always win… and move on?
If you’re looking to blame someone for the outcome, then you’re looking backward, and if you’re looking backward, you’re not looking where you want to go.
Really. Pull it together. Eyes forward.
But as a practical matter, how?
Here’s Elle, after her last soccer game. The girl took a tumble… and blames no one. Part of the game is that sometimes when you go for the ball, you end up on crutches. At which point, your job becomes to show up to the next game and cheer your team on from the sidelines!
Lesson to learn here?
Blame yourself.
“I tripped over the ball,” she said.
I saw the play. I’ve seen it before. And I’ve heard people in similar positions say, “The defender rushed me!” “There was a divot in the grass!” “He tripped me!” “I got distracted by my teammate calling!”
Or whatever.
I’ve even been in similar positions myself.
Welcome to life… where your actions are sometimes disassociated from the outcomes that follow, and where you have to pretend like you don’t notice in order to stay ready for those times when outcomes are very much linked to the actions that precede them.
I bet you have a story when your best didn’t result in a “win.” How did you respond? Did you react with as much poise as you would have liked?
How will you maintain your composure next time, so that the moment doesn’t get the best of you again?
You have to put yourself out there to get what you want. How do you keep yourself going when your best doesn’t seem enough?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }