It's All Just Noise
For those of you who have ever attended a sporting event in the United States have undoubtedly heard the song Lose Yourself by Eminem. For those that are unfamiliar with the song, it tells the story of a young man who has ambitions of being a famous rapper and break out of poverty.
The message is one that we are all familiar with; work your butt off and you will achieve your dreams. However, if we move past the corniness of the message, I can’t help but land on the chorus of the song and how applicable it is to so many facets of our lives.
The chorus says:
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime
For me, these four lines portray the importance of each and every moment. Yes, of course, in the case of these lyrics, Eminem is talking about the moment when he steps on stage and performs (or rap battles). However, what stands out to me the most is the necessity to stay focused in each moment. This could mean the task at hand or being able to stay focused on the objective and path you’re on.
And when you’re on this path, there will inevitably be obstacles or factors that will distract you from your objective, your desired end result. Imagine walking through dense woods trying to stay on your path only to find that the path can become hidden through the thick foliage. You might lose your way and forget where you were going. Imagine sailing the seas, making your way back home to Ithaca as Odysseus did only to be enticed to your destruction by the irresistibly beautiful singing of the sirens.
These obstacles get in the way between us and our desired end goal.
It’s dizzying, debilitating, vertigo-inducing, misleading, noise. That’s all it is, noise that distracts us.
As a youth coach, we set off as an idealistic, wide-eyed, noble-minded young coach with the grand visions of what we will do for all our players and somewhere on our journey we lose our way. Some more than others.
The noise becomes too loud, and we forget about why we started coaching. We forget about the coach that we looked up to when we were younger and inspired us to want to coach. We are lured away by the dizzying calls of trophies, career moves, job titles, badges, wins, prestige, state championships, the rivalry between cross-town clubs, marketing ploys, ego, promotions, etc.
The noise becomes so loud that we no longer see the path forward. We longer see how our actions impact those impressionable people in our care. We fail to see those we have pushed down and trampled over in our pursuit of those calls. We don’t see the coach we became.
And…
CRASH.
You find yourself shipwrecked on a rocky coast.
So what can we do?
I go back to Eminem’s advice. Lose yourself but in your craft. Lose yourself in the moment you are out there with your players. Own it. Every time you are in front of your young players, it’s the most important moment you have. That moment comes once in a lifetime. Yes, there might be other moments like it, but you never know how your players will remember that moment. It’s the only one that matters.
I’m often guilty of overly idyllic and not enough practicality, and that’s not particularly practical advice. And to be honest, I am still learning as well. However, I am fortunate to have had some wise mentors. Todd Beane, of TOVO Academy, offers us some practical advice, regardless of your experience, education, position: Write your ‘Why’ and look at it every time moment you are going to be with your players.
What this means is think about the reason that you coach and that is your ‘Why’. For me, it’s to provide each individual I coach an opportunity to be the best version of themselves. This ‘Why’ is my north star to keep the ship on course. When my environment presents me with noise, I use my ‘Why’ to guide my actions.
Are my actions at this moment providing my players with an opportunity to be the best version of themselves?
As with everything else in life, there are times when it’s not so black and white as this, and in these moments, we trust that we have aligned our ‘Why’ with our actions. It will be difficult and the allure might be incredibly enticing but do as Odysseus did, tie yourself to the mast of your ship, stick some wax in your ears, and sail past the calls of the sirens with your ‘Why’ in mind.
If you are interested in learning more about this, I spoke with Todd Beane at length about this topic.
