The Tribe Gathering- Sunday Mindset For The Week Ahead

“The measure of a life, after all, is not its duration, but its donation.”

Corrie Ten Boom

As a coach, my team’s season has ended. As a person, my real work and the work of the people I lead has just begun. The lessons our season and the life lived throughout the season provided us must now be put to use in the way we live out our values, apply the wisdom we gained, and contribute to the lives of others.

The time we have to make a donation & contribution is limited. Such is both sport and life. In sport however, the time remaining is always visible and known. As you well know, that is not the case with life.

So what would the scoreboard of life provide us stats for since the time remaining isn’t even present? Goals, assists, fouls, or possession? Can we get into the bonus or foul out? That would make a great conversation starter for a coaching roundtable!

Goals/Points: Though in sport there are prolific point scoring phenoms, at the end of the game their name isn’t on the box score as the winner. The TEAM is. This is where sport and life are parallel. There will always be those that seem to make a larger donation to the world and contribute to more lives than others. Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Einstein, & Martin Luther King Jr. to name a few. But the contribution of one, regardless of the magnitude cannot be ignored. Any score is reflected right? If our team wins by 1 point, then at some point the most minute contribution of points made a difference. This is why your contribution to people’s lives matters, even if you only impact 1. Even if you only stand up for what’s right once, it matters. If you only coach 1 team in your life and impact 1 person to such a degree that their life is made better, it counts. In the corporate world if your design team only lands one client, it could change the path of 1 person and that matters. Everything we say and do matters every single day. If you’re not intentionally trying to make it count, your time to get on the board is running out.

Assists: As a coach this may be my favorite statistic. But it’s misunderstood and understated. The final pass is the only one counted, though the efforts to help the team within the same build up were just as valuable. Assisting is a matter of helping someone else reach the scoreboard. How are you as a person helping another reach what they aspire? How are you helping them grow as a person? The person, spouse, employee, parent, leader, Nobel peace prize winner within them could be dependent on you today to help shape them into the person they’ll be tomorrow. Make every pass count.

Possession: Having the ball in sport is cyclical and life is seasonal. Sometimes we have good “seasons,” and then there are the others. What you do when you don’t have possession will determine when, where, how, & how often you get it back and keep it. Possession is precious, so is the perspective and appreciation you gain when you don’t have it. What determines this is simply your attitude. If you aren’t “working to get the ball back,” you won’t and the “team” suffers with you. The people around you are depending on you to work to get possession back. You can’t do that if you sideline yourself.

Fouls, Fouling out, and The Bonus: If you foul out, get a yellow card, get penalty boxed, or are ejected, the moment can carry a lot of shame and blame. Or, it can be an opportunity. In life people are going to hurt us and you’re going to hurt them. You will make mistakes. If you’re waiting to make amends or hold yourself accountable, keep in mind the game clock is ticking, 5,4,3,2,1…..

It’s no surprise that there are higher scores in basketball games in which a team or both teams get into the bonus. Every once in a while life will throw you a bonus as well. Everything seems to be going great and it’s easy to pour into the lives of others. How you respond when you’re in foul trouble however is a better measure of our character. So, when you find yourself in the bonus, pour on the points. And when you find yourself in foul trouble, be intentional with your actions and attitude and encourage everyone around you.

Someday your game will come to an end. The clock will run out on us all. If you were blessed enough to wake up today, get your kit on and get in the game while you still have time to get on the board.

If you’d like to develop your leadership with us or know of a great newsletter that deserves to be “caught being great,” then email us at [email protected]

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