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It’s a very big question. And I may have misworded it. The last part at least. Maybe it’s not about fixing everything. Maybe it’s about making a big change – the one you most want to make. But I decided to go as big as I could with it. Mission accomplished I think.
What if you were just one decision away from fixing everything?
I’m somewhat obsessed with growth, improvement, and transformation. Mostly my own because I figure I’ve got so much room for it. It’s not a humblebrag. It’s reality. But I’m not alone. We’ve all got room for plenty of growth, improvement, and transformation.
It’s not easy stuff. Highly uncomfortable. But worth it. The pressure to improve is more attractive to some than others.
I live in Dallas/Ft. Worth, but I’m an avid OU Sooner fan. I was traveling back home from a Thanksgiving trip when social media began reporting that OU football coach Lincoln Riley might be leaving Norman, Oklahoma heading to the University of Southern California. Riley had been a fixture in Norman for about 7 years, 5 of them as the head coach.
A few days later Brian Kelly left South Bend and Notre Dame to become the head honcho in Baton Rouge at LSU.
A week passed as Sooner fans anxiously waited to see who the next football coach would be. In the meanwhile, we were all pleased that Bob Stoops agreed to be the interim coach, willing to take the team to play Oregon in the Alamo Bowl.
Saturday evening, following the conference championship games, news began to spread fast that Brent Venables, D coordinator for Clemson for the past decade, and previous member of Bob Stoops’ coaching staff, would be named the next OU football coach. Just about every fan suspected as much almost as soon as Lincoln Riley fled Norman.
You’re not alright as you are!
You can be better. So can I.
That doesn’t mean we berate ourselves. Or discount our value and worth. It just means we’ve still got work to do today. Then tomorrow, we’ll have yet more work to do. And the day after that, and after that. Until we die. Until we run out of days.
Until we run out of days why should we run out of hope?
The potential future is the hope or the despair that afflicts us all.
Reflexive empathy is when you see someone experiencing emotional or physical trauma and you ‘feel their pain’ and will have a desire to relieve their suffering. But you can’t help everybody. And you can’t help just anybody. Sometimes you’re just not the right person for the task. It takes experience and wisdom to figure that out.
I’ve gone on record that in my dozen years of professional coaching, I’ve had ONE person who I wasn’t able to help because he just wouldn’t let me. Closed off. Non-responsive. Non-communicative. Guarded. And over time I realized he was that way with everybody. Does that mean nobody can help him? I don’t know, but I know I couldn’t. Then again, life isn’t over so I may never know if I helped him or not. But I can now live with it because it’s not my life – it’s his.
I know this much…there is only one person I can help, guaranteed. Me! The man in the mirror must be the number one candidate I try to help improve.
What if we’re just one decision away from fixing everything?
What if we’re just one decision away from wrecking everything?
What if?
