BOOK OF THE WEEK: "The Garden" by Jon Gordon

We really need this book right now. 2020 has taken an emotional and physical toll on us and if it were a rollercoaster, the ride would begin go with multiple drops, but then just as it is appearing to come to end, it has a mind of its own and picks up pace and continue with even bigger loops. "The Garden" helps us all deal with that second coaster surge. 

If there is one thing that 2020 is attempting to throw at us it's the five D's - doubt, distort, discourage, distract and divide. Flashing back to Coach Orion's confidence speech from the mid-90s movie D3: The Mighty Ducks, "it is easy to be confident when you have control of the puck, it very very difficult to keep that confidence when you have to take whatever strange bounces life throws your way." 

Today, we don't have control of the puck, we are on defense, but that does not mean we have to sit back and take whatever 2020 wants to bring next. Murder hornets? Triple E? Second wave of coronavirus? Or maybe now the zombie apocalypse? Whatever it is we can't be afraid to lose, because we really don't have anything to lose. We're playing with house money as long as we utilized the kryptonite to combat the enemy's five D's - trust, speaking the truth, encouragement, focus and unity. 

Everything comes full circle late in the book when the the twins' bring their older brother, who recently was released from rehab after a relapse of his drug addiction. See the big issue here is for both the twins - Jay and Kay - to overcome their struggles and insecurities, they had had to help someone else or they would relapse. 

As Simon Sinek mentioned in one of his great speeches, it is why in the 12-step program of alcoholic anonymous everyone says if you don't reach the last step - the 12th step - a person will always relapse. What is the 12th step? The 12th step is helping someone overcome their battle. That will almost guarantee a person that they will not relapse. We are a social society, it is about helping others, not just ourselves. We feel good when we help one another. 

Additional key points: 

• BEING AUTHENTIC: "It turns out when you know who you truly are, others are more drawn to you and want to know you." 
• "DON'T LISTEN TO PEOPLE:"There are going to come times where you will revisit a past unpleasant experience and those doubts and negative thoughts will come back, but identity shouldn't be defined by others words and actions. 
• IGNORE THE NOISE: Distractions are the enemy of greatness and a distraction is anything that keeps you from what matters most. 

BLOG: "Floor Is Lava"

There is a new game show series on Netflix - The Floor Is Lava. Named after the game 90s kids played on

the playground at recess where they had to traverse the playground structure without touching the ground. It saw a resurgence last year when YouTubers and social media influencers used the phrase in random places, such as Target and Walmart, to their friends to create popular videos. 

Far from a YouTube skit, three teams of 2-3 people compete to make their way across a kitchen, bedroom, office, or basketball where the floor is a covered with red liquid. The team who has the most people finish in the shortest amount of time is the winner. 

The most successful teams have been the ones that collaborated and communicated as a team. Those were the ones that were standing all together at the end. 

It reminded me of the past semester, where communication and collaboration was key - especially late in the semester, the former being extra important. Early in the semester, I was with our intern / men's volleyball contact at a match. Everything was going smoothly until it wasn't. The first set went great, the second set, I witnessed something that I have never witnessed at any event: the laptop decided it wanted to re-start in the middle of the set. 

I could see anxiety beginning to set in on her face. It was exactly like the show The Floor Is Lava when one of the three players slips and falls into the "magma." It was something that I never experienced prior so it was new to me as well, but I realized I couldn't waste time panicking. If I panicked it would increase the intern's stress and anxiety and that was the last thing I wanted. So, I put my quick thinking to work and told her "grab a pen and start writing down everything happening on the court. I'll restart the computer and we'll plug in all the information in between sets." 

Sure we had to inform the coaches of our little computer trouble and why they would not be receiving statistics between sets two and three, but both coaches were appreciative of the communication and acknowledging that stuff happens. 

On a team, everyone has role to play. My role this past semester was the versatile player, being able slide in and provide assistance wherever it was needed. Every Tuesday, I would go over with a colleague where help was needed - whether it was basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, hockey - for the upcoming week. It was the reason I was at the men's volleyball match that night. 

Later on in the semester, when it seemed as though Harvard was hosting everything under the sun with a pair of lacrosse contests, men's ice hockey's ECAC quarterfinal second game and men's basketball's final regular season game of the year against Yale. All four were big games and we were short on staff with our men's lacrosse contact who is also the women's basketball contact with basketball on the road at Yale. But jumping in there assisting on two lacrosse games, then sprinting over to watch the men big up a big win over Yale while writing a wrestling recap in between turned out to be be one the greatest days. (And on a side note, it also turned out to be the last day of athletic events for 2020 - it was right before the COVID-19 outbreak shutdown sports and the country for two months.) 

It's all about the team and your role on the team. Successful teams have great leaders who explain each player's role to them so they understand and get them to buy in.