In the
early winter of the 1989 Pennsylvania deer hunting season, my grandpa and I
became disoriented in the mountains. I
was 14 years old and excited to be hunting alongside my grandpa. These mountains may be considered a joke when
compared to the ranges out West, but were impressive to Eastern standards. Darkness was quickly approaching and the snow
seemed to be falling larger and harder with each passing minute. I trusted my grandfather to get us off the
mountain safely considering his many years of being an avid outdoorsman. However, as a half hour of hiking in the snow
turned into an hour, some fear and a hint of panic began to creep in. I was a fairly soft spoken and timid
teenager; one who lacked a bit of confidence when I thought of sharing an idea
or suggestion. I was always afraid of
what people thought or of the possibility I may be ridiculed for voicing my
opinion. In this particular situation, I
was more nervous about having to spend the night in the mountains in the
freezing temperatures than what my grandpa thought of my opinion. I eventually suggested we head down the
mountain and when we find a creek we should follow it downstream. I knew there were many creeks in the
mountains and all of them eventually crossed a road. To my surprise my grandpa actually listened
to me and we did just as I had suggested.
My idea worked perfectly. Granted
it took another three hours to finally get our bearing on our location, but it
worked. In some ways, I think that
experience helped me realize there was nothing wrong with speaking my
mind. I view it as the beginning of a
growing confidence in myself. I believe
it also helped me in my career and organizational environments. Now, when I am presented an opportunity to
share my ideas I have no fears. Am I
right all the time? No. Do I always have the best ideas? Of course not. But now I realize that nobody is. So why not at least speak my mind and try to
be part of a solution instead of standing silently on the sidelines.
Another
example that had a formative impact on me was an event that occurred in the
summer of 1991. I was entering my
sophomore year in high school and we were a couple months into our summer
session football practices and camps.
This was our preseason equivalent to college football or the NFL. It was a time for the coaches to weed out the
kids who didn’t want to take practice seriously. I was not just an opportunity to improve our strength,
knowledge, and ability, but a chance to test the dedication and work ethic of
every member. If someone wanted to be on
our football team, they had no other choice but to be strong physically and
mentally. Let me just put it in
perspective. Air Force Basic training
was much easier because of the demanding workouts and screaming coaches I
endured during the four years playing football.
The Air Force Training Instructors (TI’s) had nothing on my head
football coach. We had many plays we had
to study and a very complicated system to learn. We finally had our first scrimmage against
another high school and I was playing the running back position. I remember the Quarterback calling the play
and the entire offense clapping in unison as we broke the huddle to line
up. I lined up in my position and my
mind went blank. I knew it was a matter
of seconds before the ball was snapped and I should be tracing the steps I have
done countless times in practice. My
mind was still blank. I quickly asked
myself, “What am I supposed to do?” and I
didn’t have the answer. The ball was snapped
and I improvised without success. I did
everything wrong and it was evident.
There was no hiding it from anyone, including my coaches. And of course I got an earful. The moment I received an intense tongue
lashing from my head coach I vowed to always be as prepared as humanly possible
going forward. I never made another
mistake running my plays the rest of my football career. I worked and studied hard so I was
prepared. This event caused me to apply
the same preparation techniques after high school and throughout my
professional career. I strive to always
be prepared for anything whether in an organizational or team-based
environment. Of course nobody can
prepare for the unknown, however, things are so much easier when we prepare for
what is known.
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