Do It Again
The benefit of discipline and pulling in the same direction
Coached by a great group of men, I was taught valuable life lessons as a young man. Those lessons were rarely delivered under Friday night lights. Instead, they dripped on my impressionable mind Monday through Thursday from about 3:30 until my tongue hung on the ground.
One valuable lesson may be more relevant today than in the 90s. I hated running after football practice. But, what I hated more than running after practice was hearing the booming voices of our coaches say, "DO IT AGAIN!!"
It didn't take long to understand that "DO IT AGAIN!!" meant that someone, or perhaps some group, wasn't giving their best effort. They weren't holding up their part of the implied agreement of being a team. The longer they chose to depart from their responsibilities of putting aside selfishness and entitlement, the longer we, the whole, got to, "DO IT AGAIN!!"
Eventually, everyone would give their total effort. Everyone would accept the brief time it took to be disciplined and pull in the same direction as a team. It was then, and only then, that the final whistle would blow, and we enjoyed relief.
The funny thing is, I didn't die from those runs. I grew in stamina and strength. More importantly, I grew as a man.
There's always someone watching and waiting to bark, "DO IT AGAIN!!" Maybe we need to pull in the same direction as a team for just a little while so we can all enjoy relief and grow as human beings.
I promise, just like everything else, we'll look back and realize in the grand scheme of time, the perceived struggle was all but a heartbeat.
