Growing The Biz

There was an epic thunder and lightning storm here last night. I love thunder storms just like a lot of people do. However, not only do I enjoy watching and listening to them, but I take the opportunity to learn things from the storm. Last night was the first really good storm we’ve had in a while and here is what I picked up on.

1. Patience – A lot of people when watching a lightning storm will try to look for each bolt of lightning that occurs. You might get lucky every once and a while, but typically once you look to where the lightning occurred, it’s gone and you’ve missed it. Then another happens and you have to whip your head around and then you’ve missed that one.  The trick is to leave your eyes focused in one place and ignore the other bolts around you. By doing this, you are more likely to catch multiple bolts of lightning. Think about a camera taking pictures of a storm. It sits in one place and is able to capture the bolts. If the photographer was trying to whip around to wherever the next bolt was, s/he would never catch one. You’re eyes are the camera: stay focused in one place in the sky if you want to see the bolts.

Be patient and stay focused on one goal/objective to help you achieve success.

2. Power – Every time I see lightning, I cannot help but think about the amazing power it has. From hearing trees splitting in two after a bolt, or just the CRACK of the bolt itself, it constantly reminds me that it is not something to mess around with. There is no way to beat lightning unless you are grounded or in  a safe place. Sometimes it’s OK to retreat to safety if you know that you are weaker than you’re opponent. In this case, lightning is about 54,000 °F hotter and about 140,000 mph faster than I am, not to mention it carries 30,000 amps of current and 500 megajoules of energy. I know when I’m outnumbered and this is definitely one of those times.

Know your power and know the power of others around you to make informed, smart decisions.

3. Calmness: Even though storms have awesome power and are often loud, somehow they always bring a calmness over me. Just sitting and watching the storm from underneath a shelter is an amazing experience for me. To be calm in the middle of a storm is not the easiest thing though. Loud crashes and bright, quick light can often raise anxiety. I have learned through many storms how to maintain my calmness through them as I used to get scared when I was younger. Once you are able to stay calm through the storm, you can truly appreciate what it has to offer.

Stay calm during the scary, tough parts and you will be able to appreciate the ride and the end more.

I love thunderstorms and subsequently learned some great qualities from them that I can use throughout my life and in my work. I love learning little things from seemingly nothing like a thunder and lightning storm.

In soccer, just like almost ever other sport, there are referees that help keep the game safe and fair. Each sport has different ways of ranking and developing their referees, umpires,  etc. In soccer when you start, you are ranked as a grade 8. This is someone who has just completed their introductory course. A grade 1 or 2 is a FIFA referee or FIFA assistant referee.

To move up to a 7, you have to meet a few requirements such as age and number of games completed as well as get what is called an assessment. An assessment is when a senior referee comes to a game and critiques how the referee does, or doesn’t do.

I recently received my assessments for upgrade to a grade 6 referee (this actually requires three assessments). I was privileged to pass all three of my games and received some great feedback from all three of my assessors. But the one comment that truly stuck out in my mind was that during my games, I need to manage the whole situation. If there is an injury, I need to not only deal with that, but also recognize if there are substitutions that need to enter the field, or maybe a player that I need to talk to for game management purposes.

After I received this feedback, I started working on this aspect of my game. I ran into some additional situations in future games where I was able to use this feedback.

After a few days, I realized that this is great advice for me off the soccer field as well. I am generally aware of my surroundings and observant. However, I feel that I can always improve in this area. The better I am at knowing what’s going on around me and actively managing everything successfully, the more successful I feel I can be.

How I plan to improve in this area:

Step 1(est. 2 weeks) – In “off the field” situations, take note of multiple situations/circumstances/people/items at once. Start by saying them out loud or quietly to yourself and move to just noticing them in your head.

Step 2 – (est. 4 weeks) Manage one of the situations/circumstances/people/items as you would normally, but also mentally figure out how you would deal with the second. Afterward, review what you would have done and criticize if it would have been most effective.

Step 3 (est. 8 weeks)- Try to physically manage both situations/circumstances/people/items at the same time. Again afterward, critically think about how you could improve your management of the situation after the fact – use friends to talk to about it if necessary.

After 3 and a half months, I will by no means be a master or able to handle every situation thrown at me. However, I believe I will have an even better understanding of how to Manage the Whole Situation. And if I ever get into a spot where I am having trouble, I can fall back on these techniques to help me.