Lacrosse, and life.

I recently had a chance to watch my 14 year old nephew play goalie in a lacrosse game for his High School Junior Varsity team. Let me start by saying my nephew is am amazing athlete. He has natural talent and no fear - which makes him wonderful to watch. He is also fiercely competitive, so he plays to the top of his game when he is on the field.

One thing I learned from watching the game,  in Lacrosse, you WILL get scored on. There is nothing you can do. It's a tiny baseball sized ball, moving at flaming speeds whipped out of the Lacrosse Stick. It is impossible to stop every shot - so you have to accept that you WILL get scored on.

Once you accept that, the game takes on a new meaning. The game becomes about how you bounce back from being scored on. That's what makes or breaks the game. It is how you deal with mistakes and set backs, and still strive to play the best you can. 

In our everyday work - we all make mistakes, or have set-backs. It's a part of life. And we have a choice; we can beat ourselves up over these gaffs, or we can move forward learning something. 

Think about a time when you last bounced back, and then moved forward. That is what makes the difference. There are will always be times when the other team gets a goal. How you deal with that, and if you give up or keep playing is the difference.

BTW - my nephew's team team won.

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Play.