Don't-ing

So I was thinking on some of the gems my football coaches in high school used to tell us. I would like to share some of the all-time classics with everyone.

- “Line up in a circle”
- “Pair up in threes”
- “Gentlemen, allow me to iterate this for y’all”
- “We are gonna have an hour and a half practice…45 minutes on offense…45 minutes on defense…and 45 minutes on special teams”
- “Boys remember there are 5 ‘S’s of defensive football: Stance, Stalemate, Separate, ‘ccelerate and Tackle!”
- Player looking at a lake with the team””Sure is a lot of water out there right coach?” Coach: “yup, and that’s only on the top”

And yes… these are all true (you cannot make these things up).

But there was one comment that stood out that seemed meaningful. Especially as we are beginning the year and begin to move from thinking about goals and objectives to executing on these goals. During practice one coach used to tell us:

“Son, if you are going to make a mistake, make a mistake by doing instead of don’t-ing”

Grammar aside this one always struck a chord in me. It speaks to the power of being active. In trying to achieve any goal, big or small, you have to actively pursue that goal. And the active pursuit of a goal brings something into play that we all are concerned about. Failure. But what we should remember is that if something does not work out but we are actively trying to hit the objective – that is not failure – that is called trying or learning.

Frankly, if you try something and you see it won’t work and you say we cannot achieve the objective but that is learned from action and learning – that is not failure either that is called experience.

So the only thing to worry about is if you have an objective and you refuse to try to achieve it. That is the only failure, or as my coach used to call it “don’t-ing”.

A mistake from an action is much better than one from inaction – that is where learning and experience come from. Anything that we can actively do can make us better and grow and therefore we should not fear it or avoid it, but search it out and embrace it.

Intention and action are the fuel for our success and anything that comes from that we can make into something positive and something great. Even things that people may label with that word “failure”. So the only thing we have to avoid is being passive. If you have a choice and one involves taking action and one involves sitting back – I suggest we always look at the active step as our default choice. Yes there may be times where waiting back and not taking action makes sense but it should be the exception after thought (an action) and careful consideration because remember what the coach said:

“Son, if you are going to make a mistake, make a mistake by doing instead of don’t-ing”

That one made sense to me.