A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a post about what Fantasy Football is teaching me about business. The set-up was that I started the year 2-4, in 9th place, and was ready to write-off the season until my bro-in-law reminded me that in his championship season, he’d started 1-4-1 and in dead last.
With the lessons I learned since, which apply to business as much as they do to Fantasy Football, I made the playoffs. And now, I’m happy to report that, like my brother-in-law before me, I won the league this year. (That’s the screenshot of the league page with my team, “Zorak’s Swarm,” in 1st. If you look at the scores on the right, you’ll see how close it was – I won by just 4/10ths of a point. The Chicago/Green Bay game last week was a white-knuckle affair for me.)
In the grand scheme of things, Fantasy Football is a trifling thing. A multi-billion-dollar industry to be sure, but for people like me, really just a fun hobby for a few weeks out of the year.
What’s made it truly valuable for me, though, is not letting it be “just” a hobby. It’s mining the experience for the wisdom I can use in everyday life and business.
This is what I know for sure: If you listen, if you stay conscious and present, you will find the answers you need for any challenge you face, no matter what they may be, in the course of your daily life. The answers are there. Personally, I’ve had trouble with this concept in the past. And with the go-go-go world we live in constantly driving us to keep moving, get faster, don’t look back, and move on to the next thing, it can seem very hard to slow down and be receptive.
2008 has brought much bigger challenges than starting Fantasy Football with a losing record. And there have been more times than I care to admit when I’ve thought about giving up, or said as much out loud to Lani.
I can take my own advice, though, and not make things harder than they have to be. I can take Lani’s advice and not try to force things that haven’t been working. Instead, I can step back and listen. I can learn the truth about what works for me and what doesn’t. And I can own it and live it once and for all.
If that’s advice you can use, too, then I encourage you to join me in taking it to heart, and living it today.
