Why A Moral Victory Can Be Better Than A Win

wipeoutIt’s raining in California and that means only one thing – ski season is on its way. And it was on a ski slope where I earned a moral victory and learned that losing can be better than winning.

I was living in Tahoe when my friend Pat asked if I was going to the ski instructor tryouts. Still snowplowing down slopes, I’d never considered it. But she convinced me that they weren’t looking for great skiers, they were looking for great instructors. If you were good at teaching they would teach you the skiing part. Okay, I’m in!

So there we were with 30 other wannabe ski instructors when Don, the head of the ski school at Sierra Ski Ranch, assembled us at the foot of the mountain. It was early November, there was little snow on the ground and the lifts weren’t running.

I should have known something bad was about to happen. Continue reading Why A Moral Victory Can Be Better Than A Win

How To Build Confidence With Foundational Wins

Foundational Wins
The Proof of my Foundational Wins

Self confidence is something we all need to compete in the world. One of the best ways to build your confidence is through what I call Foundational Wins. The type of success that lays the foundation for confident feelings throughout your life.

Foundational Wins often come in early school years, when we achieve something in academics, sports or music, and receive accolades from our teachers and peers.

How does this help? Throughout our lives we’re going to face challenges, tough times, tough competition. At these times we need to reach back into our memories and find a time when we were strong. Without this turbo boost of confidence, we’re likely to give in to self-doubt at the worst possible times. When we most need to believe in our abilities. When something’s on the line and we need to perform.

Like in job interviews and auditions. Or when your job interview is an audition.

If you work in training as I do, you often have to audition for a job. I’ve auditioned at least a dozen times, and each time, while I was prepping and just before I went on, I was able to reach back to that reservoir of personal strength that came from Foundational Wins.

My first one came in 4th grade. I was brought up in front of the entire school at an assembly to receive a blue ribbon. My first chess tournament win. Again in 5th grade and 6th grade I stood in front of the entire school and received a blue ribbon. School Chess Champ.

The entire school clapped and cheered for me.

Sure, it was a geeky award. But it was also respect. I was the best. I’d beaten all comers and came out on top. Even the jocks and the cool kids had to admit that in that one little area, I was a badass. Continue reading How To Build Confidence With Foundational Wins

Why You Should Be Like Christopher Columbus

cc At the tender age of 17, Marco Polo, intrepid Italian adventurer and backyard swimming pool icon, left Italy and traveled with his father and uncle throughout the Orient.  After an epic 24-year journey he returned home with exotic treasures and amazing tales of adventure.

200 hundred years later, inspired by Marco’s adventures, another young Italian set out on a quest for fame and fortune in the Orient. Or as they called it at the time, the East Indies.

To finance his project, he approached the kings of England, France, Portugal and Spain, and got blown off by them all. They thought his calculations were way off and his plan wouldn’t work.

And for good reason, because Christopher Columbus was a nut. Instead of taking the direct route, sailing up the Mediterranean, hanging a right through the Suez Canal and bang, there you are, Chris figured he’d go West to travel East and sail all the way around the globe to get there.

On one hand, he was embracing the idea that the world was not flat. He got the possibilities of a round planet. On the other hand,  his calculations turned out to be off by about 17,000 miles. Oops!

Somehow he got a third chance in the Spanish Court.  And somehow, whether it was all the practice from his earlier pitches or that Queen Isabella just liked the cut of his jib, Columbus got King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to greenlight his project.

So on August 2nd of 1492, Columbus sailed west from Spain with his three ships, the Nina, the Pinta and his flagship the Santa Maria.

Sure enough, on October 12 , 524 years ago yesterday, Columbus did it. He landed on an island in the East Indies just off the coast of China, and declared all he surveyed to be under the domain of the King and Queen of Spain.

At least that’s what he thought he’d done. Continue reading Why You Should Be Like Christopher Columbus

From Goat To Hero in 5 Innings Or Less…

sfworldseriesringcpIt’s the MLB playoffs and I have to give a shout-out to my SF Giants. They beat the NY Mets last night in a one-game wild card playoff, their first step to getting back to the World Series. Madison Bumgarner pitched a complete game shut-out and Conor Gillaspie hit a 3-run homer to win it in the 9th. It was a very exciting finish.

I write this mainly to get a rise out of my cousin, a die-hard Mets fan. But I also write this because of a Manic Impressive baseball moment I witnessed 30 years ago.

On September 14th, 1986, San Francisco Giants’ manager Roger Craig made a fateful decision. He asked his catcher, Bob Brenly, to cover third base for an injured player in a game against the Braves. This set the stage for one of most stunning personal performances in Major League Baseball history.

To that point in the season, Bob led the National League with only 3 errors in 101 games as a catcher. But in the fourth inning, Brenly tied a Major League record. He committed four errors on just three plays, allowing the Braves to score 4 unearned runs. It was the lowest point in his 871-game MLB career.

Back in the dugout Bob did not hang his head. Nor did he lose his temper like his teammates expected. “I was known to take my anger out on the bat rack,” Brenly said with a laugh. “I think they were expecting a snap.”

What happened next was pretty strange. Continue reading From Goat To Hero in 5 Innings Or Less…