“It Sucks Not Being Good!” #1957

I’m typing this on a flight from Austin to the east coast to train some Heroic leaders.

I’ve been reading Joe De Sena’s new book: Extreme Balance: Paradoxical Principles That Make You a Champion.

Joe wrote it with Ben Askren (a former 2x NCAA Championship wrestler and UFC fighter who now runs a world-class training facility) and a guy named David Sacks, Ph.D. (a clinical and sports psychologist who has trained thousands of people).

The book is REALLY good.

Joe and Co. walk us through how to dissolve eight dichotomies to create what they call EXTREME BALANCE.

We’ll chat more about what that means soon.

For now…

I grabbed my phone from my backpack and started typing this +1 because I was reminded of Emerson throwing axes last weekend and a comment he made.

Yes.

We went axe throwing.

😆

It was the fun group outing for our second cohort of Heroic Workshop Instructors at our training event in Arizona. In Austin, we all played laser tag.

Emerson LOVES playing laser tag and especially enjoyed the time with our Heroic crew because he got to play with a couple former Navy SEALs who gave him some pro tips. 🤓

Now…

Emerson had never thrown an axe before.

(Nor had I. Have you?)

He was throwing and throwing and throwing and MISSED EVERY SINGLE TIME.

After I don’t know how many throws (it was a lot!) he said to his Mom: “It SUCKS to be so bad!!”

To which she reminded him that you’ve got to be willing to suck if you want to get good!

Then she grabbed a guy who worked there and asked him for some coaching.

Pretty soon Emerson was CRUSHING it.

And…

So was Eleanor.

She threw AT LEAST as many as he did (which was hundreds of throws!) and only made 20 (she counted!) but she won the award for most joyful hustle.

Now…

I started writing this because Joe talks about the growth mindset in his book.

The quick recap…

The fixed mindset person is so afraid of looking bad that they DON’T EVEN TRY to do something new… like throw an axe!!

The growth mindset person, on the other hand, takes the most pride in getting good at something that they initially sucked at.

That’s Today’s +1

How about YOU?

P.S. I KNEW I would suck when I started. I also knew I’d be pretty good by the time the night was over. 😉 Laughing. True story. 😆 🤓 🎯