Perfection In A Box
The crowd went crazy. You would've thought we just won the World Cup! It was late in the season and I was now 100% in stopping penalty kicks as a goalie. Never before had it been achieved in the history of our school. Our entire team was actually given a warning by the referee because they ran out on the field celebrating this victorious occasion. But let's rewind.
We were late in the season. Our number one and number two goalies were both injured and we didn't have a third.
I never thought I would be in this situation. Never in a million years. With time running down on the clock, as captain of our high school soccer team I am now being put in as goalie for a penalty kick. To be clear, I have never, ever played goalie. I try to recall watching other goalies in the past. The crowd looks on as the other teams star player lines up for the shot. I prepare myself for failure.
As he begins his approach, I wonder if I should go left or right. As he strikes the ball I freeze. The ball comes to me almost in slow-motion, directly at me. Before I know what happened, I kneel down and catch the ball coming to me at the pace as though it was kicked by a toddler. As he prepared to kick the penalty, he kicked the ground as he made contact causing the ball to travel at only a couple miles an hour.
I was victorious.
For just a brief moment, I was Perfection In A Box
Today we talk about: Hype
I don't know about you but I feel a lot of pressure when I get on Instagram and Twitter and see all that everyone else is doing in leadership. They seem to be winning. Doing so much. Achieving so much, faster than I could possibly imagine. But here's the thing, their social media isn't the whole story. As an article in the Huffington Post proclaims: social media is the highlight reel.
I want to encourage you to not let a social media post get in your head and make you think less of yourself and what you're doing. It's fine if somehow it challenges you or inspires you, but don’t let it derail you. Every leader is struggling. Every leader is trying to figure it out.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting that you assume that everyone else is all messed up and they don't have anything going right and they’re living a fake life on social media but I am saying when you see those images, when you start to feel like you're failing, remember it's not the whole story.
So by all means, be inspired by social media. Be challenged by social media but don't be disappointed in yourself because of social media.
After all, we could all take a story and make it look like we're perfect. 100%. undefeated.
Today, stop worrying about updating your highlight reel. Figure out how you're going to win at the little things.
Keep investing in friendships.
Be faithful with the small responsibilities at work.
Find new ways to support and encourage your family.
Maybe the greatest thing you can achieve today is not pursuing perfection but fighting for relationships.
Bottom Line: Most of your greatest victories in life will come from consistency in day to day responsibilities.
I hope these posts are helpful. If they are, I'd love you to share it with a friend.
This podcast is brought to you by You Lead Coaching. Do Ministry Better. Find out more at ylcoaching.com
Don't miss a post by subscribing to the podcast here