February 03, 2004
Encouragement Helps Tenfold
It could even help 100-fold. It's pretty near impossible to measure these things.
Case in point: I played football in high school. I was not a standout player. I got my name in the paper a couple times for some good plays, but I certainly wasn't a star on our team by any stretch. Anyway, my senior year I had hurt my back (motocrossing in the desert the weekend between the first "hell week" -- meaning two-a-day practices -- of conditioning and the second "hell week" in pads. Real smart.), and I was in the locker room with our trainer during PE class. I was sitting in the whirlpool as our trainer, Orbin Love, Senior was applying that heat generating muscle relaxer jelly to my back (made me smell like Bengay the entire rest of the day!). I complained to him about my lack of size for my position. At linebacker, I was a small 5' 10" and 165 lb. slow guy (5.3 40 yard dash time). He replied, "that doesn't matter ... you can be a tiger out there." That little bit of encouragement gave me SO much confidence. It really meant the world to me that someone else could see me succeeding at my position, and he gave me a heck of a visual picture to motivate me.
Our coaches used to say, "In football, it's 90% confidence, and 10% talent." I so believe that at the high school level. If I was to somehow take my brain and put it in my young body through some sort of time travel, I believe I could be a standout player -- or at least make a lot of standout plays in the course of a game. I believe this foremost because I have the confidence now that I lacked as a timid 17-year old. It helps that I have a better understanding of the game.
This is true in so many areas beyond sports. Encouragement builds confidence and it also strokes us in a place that for some reason desperately needs it. I hope I can remember that so I can somehow help others in this way. Sometimes the right word of encouragement spoken at the right time can unleash or somehow boost or trigger someone's potential to go for it. And that is very cool.
PS> Oh yeah, we have a new Intern! And that means a new installment of "The Intern Diaries," found under "online exclusives" (Colin Hobbs is at the top of the list). Check it out.
