Kids are getting soft.
I was soft, and in many ways I’m still trying to toughen up.
I had an awesome conversation with half a dozen teens after a great training session the other day where they told me how their peers are afraid to lose, and the current state of coaching teaching and mentoring is basically all about not hurting anyone’s ego and feelings.
These kids get it. They come in and work hard, they know that failure is imminent, and that all it does is expose an area where they need to work harder, and new goals are created.
Kids should fail, teams should lose, there should be disappointment and sadness. The difference though is that it shouldn’t be turned into a sense of shame about their self worth, it should be turned into FIRE that makes them want to try HARDER.
One young woman who had been training with me for quite some time tried out for a position on varsity, and she failed.
This was the best thing for her, because it brought out a SAVAGE in her that was willing to go to new limits to work hard and TAKE what she wanted in life, and while she was always a hard worker, she like a new athlete in the weight room, running circles around her old self, and continues to be one of the most fired up athletes in the gym.
If you’re not failing, you’re not setting you’re expectations high enough, and you’re falling short of your capabilities. Aim big, expect to lose here and there, and learn from it, and move on.
Life is the Labyrinth, when you find a path that doesn’t work, you learn from it and keep trying to find your way, you don’t sit down and wait for the minotaur.
