Seize the day like Mac did

Life is about opportunity. Opportunity may come in the way of a job promotion. Opportunity may come in the way of helping a friend or coworker on a day when they need your help. Opportunity may come in the way of being asked by your leader to do something you have never done before even if you are apprehensive about it for fear of failing. These things happen daily. We make the choice to take the promotion, help that person in need of help, or to try and execute that “thing” which you have never done before. Or, we make the choice to stay comfortable, go about our day as we normally do every day, and miss the opportunity to grow ourselves.

For Mac, our 13 year old daughter, an opportunity presented itself this last Saturday. She could have chosen to not accept the challenge and “fold” or step up to the plate, battle, and seize the day of the opportunity. For Mac, she is blessed with being vertically challenged through her genetic makeup, and she is also “attached to earth” much like her father, not allowing her feet to leave the planet with much height. Both of those blessed traits have challenged her ability to play on the front row of her volleyball team. As she plays the game, she plays the back row, and then rotates out as she is to go to the front row. This last Saturday, the teammate that typically rotates in with her to play the front row couldn’t play, so Mac was given the opportunity to play the front row because the team needed her to do so.

This was something she had never done. She has played with some absolute studs since she was pretty little, and in her eyes she likely felt physically undersized and athletically not able to do so. Mac’s strengths are that she is consistent, coachable, mentally even keeled, a positive attitude, and always gives good solid effort. Even though she is physically undersized and attached to earth, she used her other rock solid behavioral and mental traits, got to the front row, and just played. With each touch of the ball from the front row, she went from a likely nervous uncomfortable wreck to settling in and just having fun playing volleyball having some tremendous first time front row hits scoring a point with every single hit but one.

Mac did something we all should be doing as adults. She used her behavioral and mental traits to succeed in a very uncomfortable, unknown, position. Not only did she succeed but she proved to her leaders that she could “do it”, and that she belonged. She made herself irreplaceable with her attitude, effort, and being a positive influence on those around her on a day when her team needed her help. She stepped up to the plate and did something she had never done.

These are our opportunities as well. Given the “season” of our lives as parents of kids in the sport playing age and life coaching age, we often get caught up coaching our kids to “be the leader”, make yourself noticeable, make yourself a lynchpin on the team, make good decisions, surround yourself with winners not losers, and be the best you can be.

But are we coaching ourselves like we are our kids? Do we have a coach that is pushing on us to be better, to seize the opportunity, making ourselves a lynchpin on our team? Are we pursuing the daily opportunities presented to us or are we simply choosing to stay comfortable? Our kids face uncomfortable moments and situations daily, many times seizing opportunities. We know, because we have been there. As life progresses, our brain is telling us to “seek comfort”, stay in our routine, stick with what we know. This causes us to decline new opportunities presented that can make us a lynchpin on our team or push us to be a better leader. Making yourself more noticeable has the ability to fill your cup like it has never filled before. Which in turn can create a confidence, a pride, and a satisfaction yearning to seize more opportunities that are created from taking the first opportunity! You see, luck creates more luck. Opportunity creates more opportunity. And success breeds more success! Seize your next opportunity! Seize the day like Mac did! It will fuel your soul!!