Consistency

Last weekend wasn't a particularly good weekend for my 9th grade boys basketball team in a lot of ways. In two games over a 24 hour period on Friday night and Saturday, we lost by a combined 120 points. That wasn't the worst part. Far worse, for me, was that I saw attitudes go south amongst my players for the first time this season. We haven't had a particularly successful season if success is defined by wins and losses; however, this has been a group whose demeanor and approach to the game has been one I've been pleased to work with. That demeanor was gone last weekend.

After the game, I spoke to the team for a good 10 minutes. My biggest message was that of consistency as a life skill. I told them they can't be part-time players or part-time people, that instead they needed to be "every-day" about the skills and attitudes they possess. If you're a rebounder, rebound every day. If you are a leader, lead every day. If have a desire to get better, bring that desire every day. I told them that they can't just do the things they say they do well when it's easy, that if they only do it part of the time, they should get used to feeling like victims (whose only comfort in life is the ability to complain).

When I look at some of my actions this week, I realize just how big of a task I'm asking from my players. I realize that I need the same speech. I've found that fatigue is the great killer of many good things in one's approach to life, and I've had fatigue this week. I spent 12 hours on a bus this week. Four out of 6 days were in a gym. During free moments, I tried to get some grad work done. Busyness (or the perception of it) is as toxic as fatigue. When I look back at the week, my patience was low. My mood was crabby and tense. I focused on myself. A lot. I forgot God at times. I was not an "every-day" person this week. At least not the person I want to be on an every day basis. Consistency is a hard master.

After last weekend I felt like I had to do something to reinforce my message of consistency with my team. I required each of the players to write down 3-4 skills/actions/attitudes they could be counted on for every day as a basketball player, and 3-4 skills/actions/attitudes they could be held accountable for as a person. They've had to post these "promises" and communicate them to teammates. I believe it's been positive for our group over the past week.

I'm challenging myself in the same way. And I'm challenging my readers in the same way as well. Tonight I list 3 actions/attitudes I want to display on a daily basis. I'm making them public here in order to increase my commitment to this approach.

Every day, I should:
1) Love my wife well, regardless of how my day is going.
2) Be mentally with other people when I'm physically with them, not be thinking about the next thing I should get done.
3) Ask God for help, if for no other reason than to remind myself of my place in the universe.

I encourage my readers to post 3-4 as well in the comment section. I believe statements lead to action much more quickly than intentions. If you're willing, I'd love to hear what you want your "every-day" actions to look like. A community of intentional people here could lead to great consistency in real life.