Book of the Week: "The Shark and Goldfish" by Jon Gordon

Are you a shark or are you a goldfish?

Confused? I'll back up. *Beep beep beep* Earlier last week I stopped by the office of a softball coach I worked with when I was at Newbury. She had on her desk two books: Simon Sinek's "Leaders Eat Last" and Jon Gordon's "The Shark and Goldfish." It's totally appropriate for a multitude of reasons, but mainly because Simmons' school nickname is the sharks. Another reason is it fits the coach's personality perfectly!

The end of the 2018-19 year was her fourth - third full - year at Simmons and she took the Sharks to conference title game and earn the GNAC coach of the year this spring. Although I'm apparently the president of her fan club, her success doesn't surprise me. Four years ago when she first accepted the job, I remember telling a fellow colleague "you guys just got one of the best softball coaches, I guarantee in four years she will have Simmons playing in the championship game and win coach of the year!"

Three years later ... I was right. (I'm really getting tired of hearing those words "I was right" ... uh, nah not really.)

Before I get into "The Shark and Goldfish" let me preface that Jon Gordon was also the author of "The Hard Hat," the story about former Cornell lacrosse player George Boiardi. It was the "Book of the Week" for the week of January 27 - go check it out. But I digress, now back to sharks and goldfish.

The book begins with this lovely little goldfish, Gordy. Gordy starts out living in the ocean before he is caught by young boy with plastic bag. The boy takes Gordy back to the upper part of the beach. He and his father build a little bowl in the sand, and fill it with water for Gordy. They do everything you'd do if you had a pet fish. They feed him and take care of him.

But then all of sudden a big wave rolls in, destroying what the boy and his father built and sweeping Gordy out to sea. Of course the young boy is devastated and so, too, is Gordy. Prior to returning to the ocean, Gordy was taken care of. He was fed and taken care off, now he is alone. This is where he runs into a shark named Sammy.

Despite Gordy's physical limitation of being a goldfish and the negative reactions from other goldfish, Sammy teaches him how to be shark.

Now what's the big deal about this story, you ask?

What exactly is the difference between a shark and a goldfish? Well, let's take a closer look. Typically, a goldfish lives in a fish bowl. The bowl is clean, they are fed regularly and everything is taken care of for them. They live the good life. But sharks, they are hunters. They are grinders. If they want to eat, no one is coming to give them food, they have to go out and find it themselves. That's the difference.

Life is no different. You can be a goldfish and life be easy, simple. Knowing everything is being taken care of. Knowing when you're going to eat and what it is. It's easy. But being a shark is way harder. It's not easy, you're constantly fighting and battling, it's not for the faint of heart.

Sharks believe there is always an abundance of whatever they want and they go out and get it; goldfish, on the other hand, think small - there is only so much to go around. One has faith, the other is fearful.

Faith and fear have two things in common. The first one is obvious and quite sophomoric, they both start with the letter "f." However, the second thing in common is a bit more philosophical. Both are terms for the future. Faith is having a positive outlook of the future, while fear is portraying a negative future. It all boils down to this, why would you ever want portray something negative and have fear?

So here's the question again: are you a shark or are you a goldfish?