Do Easter egg hunts count as sport?
For the sake of argument, let's just agree for the moment that they do.
And let's agree that the goal is to fill you basket with all the eggs you can find - (that is the goal, isn't it?)
I've seen some pretty goal oriented maybe-too-old-to-easter-egg-hunt-with-toddlers kids with a laser focus on that one goal - to grab all the eggs they can find.
Sportsmanship aside, these are not mean kids, these kids who heard the rules of the game and went for it.
As a strategy, is focusing on a single outcome a recipe for disappointment?
That was the conversation I had on Friday with my clients at our spring retreat.
During the retreat, one client told this story of her son's recent basket ball game where she observed having watched one boy fall down after being elbowed in the face.
Crying from the shock and pain of the impact, he quickly bounced back. "He actually came back stronger," she said, "He went right for the basket and and made it in. It was explosive!"
Her takeaway was this, "I could either curl up after an injury like that (which, If I was elbowed in the face, I am pretty sure I would do) or I could come back stronger.
It can feel great to focus our efforts on one goal and go for it unabashedly.
And if we get there, hurrah!
If you want to win that part, that grant, that talk, to finish your book - you have to give it all you've got.
But what if some bigger kid comes around and knocks your basket out of your hand; or you find out that your eggs only have pennies in them and not dollar bills; or you got only jelly beans instead of your favorite Hershey's kisses?
Will this be further evidence of your unworthiness? Will you focus only on the sting of having been elbowed in the face?
Or, as my client reflected, "Can I harness my fortitude?
Can I tolerate that it sucks to fall down for a second, but know that I can also come back stronger?"
My advice: set the rules before you play - and then go for it.
Remembering, whatever the prize, be it pennies or kisses, you can always choose to come back stronger.