What a College Football Sideline Taught Me About Leadership

If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like standing on the sideline
of a big-time college football game, I’ll tell you:

It’s mostly an exercise in watching grown men wrestle with reality.
And they tend to fall into one of two camps.

In one camp:
The coach who’s constantly unraveling.
Anger. Profanity.
Yelling at the play, the athlete–reality itself.
Nearly all his energy is spent resisting what’s happening.
And honestly?
No one’s better for it.

In the other camp:
It’s like watching a seasoned sailor in a storm.
Same wind. Same waves.
But instead of fighting the weather, this coach adjusts the sail.
He sees the play. Calls the next one.
Coaches the athlete.
Stays present with what is.

The same energy the first coach wastes on resisting what just happened,
This coach channels into creating what happens next.

Watching this play out–hour after hour, game after game,
twelve Saturdays a year for more than a decade,
Has left a lasting impression.

In the form of two questions:

How much energy do I want to waste resisting what is?
And how might I shift from what just happened to what I’ll do next?

The future isn’t resisted into existence.
It’s created, by people who know when to adjust the sail.