Episode #233 Triumph and Disaster

🎙️ Episode Title: Treat Triumph and Disaster the Same Let me take you back to a football film session in college. These were not always the easiest meetings, but they were definitely fundamental to our progress. We were reviewing a 3rd-and-5 play. I threw the ball. Receiver catches it. Converts the first down. He stands up and pounds his chest a few times toward the crowd. Click. Coach Uperesa freezes the film. He points. “What is that?” A few guys chuckle. Until we saw his eyes. “What… is… that?” Silence. Then he lit into us. “You’re gonna pound your chest for doing what you’re supposed to do? You’re gonna bring attention to yourself because you executed your job?” And then came the line that changed me: “This team has never been, isn’t now, and never will be about you.” That moment hit me like a freight train. Because the truth is, most of us—athletes, professionals, parents—we want credit. We want to show people what we’re doing. It’s part of the reason we love a crowd. The praise of men can be a drug if we aren’t careful. But Coach taught me something that day: 👉 The need to play for something bigger than yourself. He didn’t want me to be the best player on the team. He wanted me to be the best player for the team. There’s a massive difference. 💭 Pause and Reflect for a second. • When was the last time you pounded your chest—literally or metaphorically—for just doing your job? • Are you playing for the people around you—or just trying to stand above them? Now fast forward to one of my favorite poems of all time: “If” by Rudyard Kipling. One line always sticks with me: “If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same…” What does that mean exactly? I think it means you don’t get too high when things go right. And you don’t lose your mind when things go wrong. Both are temporary. Both are liars. Both will pass. If you score a touchdown in the first quarter, do you coast for the rest of the game? Of course not. So why would you coast after a big win in life? And why would you collapse after a loss? 🛠️ Try This: 1. Embrace the suck don’t stay in the suck. 2. Embrace your wins, don’t stay in that moment too long. 3. Celebrate or mourn your situation—but set a timer. 4. Give yourself 5 minutes, 5 hours, maybe 5 days to feel it fully. Then get back to the work. 5. Use both moments—triumph and disaster—as teachers. What can I learn from this? What’s the next right thing? 6. Ask: Who am I becoming in the peaks and the valleys? That answer reveals your character. I’ll end with this: Success and failure don’t define you. Your response to both does. So the next time you win big—or fail hard—remember what my college Coach Uperesa would say: “This isn’t about you. It never was.” Finally let’s do quick 🧠 Challenge: Before the day ends, take inventory to yourself: • Are you lingering too long in a win? • Are you still dragging around a loss? Set the timer. Acknowledge it. And then, let’s get back to work.