#1904 The Excitement Engine

In our last handful of +1s, we’ve been chatting about my all-boys weekend trip to the 90th Annual Southwest Chess tournament with Emerson.

Today we’ll wrap up our discussion with a little update and a highlight of our 2.5-hour drive home from Houston to Austin after his last game of the day.

So…

Here’s the update…

After that CRAZY win on Sunday night and the loss the following morning, Emerson was 5-1 heading into the FINAL match of the tournament.

He was tied for second. He needed the guy who beat him to draw or lose to have a shot at winning the whole thing. As it turns out, the high school kid who beat him quickly beat his opponent in the final round to win, so Emerson needed a win to secure second place.

And…

After another FOUR hour+ match…

He won!

In chess tournaments, you get a point for each win and a 1/2 a point for each draw so, with six wins and one loss, Emerson had 6 points while the guy who won had 6 1/2 points. Awesome.

He got second place and his biggest check ever: $405.

HAH!

I always laugh when I think of the fact that he’s now a professional chess player with $1,500 of lifetime earnings. Too funny.

With his performance, he ALSO got enough rating points to put him into the (unofficial) Top 100 for his age group—which he’s really excited about. We’re really proud of him and we’ll be going out to dinner with Mommy and Eleanor tonight to celebrate. Exciting times.

And…

Now that we’re caught up on that…

Let’s get to work on some of the highlights of that drive home.

There’s a lot we can talk about but let’s focus on this…

I asked Emerson how he feels RIGHT BEFORE his chess matches begin and ESPECIALLY how he felt RIGHT BEFORE that FINAL match began.

He told me that his stomach starts moving all funny and his heart rate increases. Then he said it goes away after a couple of moves.

I said: “That’s amazing. And, that’s EXACTLY (!) how you SHOULD feel!”

Then I continued by saying: “You know how you and Eleanor like it when I push the gas pedal down when we’re driving on the freeway and the engine makes a loud noise and then accelerates REALLY FAST?!”

He said: “YAH!”

I said: “Well, me pushing the gas pedal down so the car VROOMS! is basically EXACTLY what YOUR body is doing for YOU when you sit down to play a big chess match.”

I continued by saying: “That funny feeling in your belly and your heart beating faster is basically your body’s engine getting ready to dominate!”

Then I pressed the gas pedal down and we heard the car VROOM as we rocketed forward as I said: “Just like THAT!”

So…

I said: “When you feel your body doing that right before you do something awesome, I want you to know that that’s EXACTLY what you SHOULD be feeling.”

He nods his head.

Then I said: “Then, when you feel that, just smile as you sit up nice and tall, take a nice, deep breath and thank your body for helping you crush it as you say: ‘I’M EXCITED!’ and ‘LET’S GO!’”

He smiled.

Then I asked him if he ever felt something similar in other situations—like when he’s at school or going to ask kids to play at the park or things like that.

He said he does a little and used to a lot more when he first started going to school but now he’s used to being there and all that.

Then I told him that I used to feel that ALL THE TIME and I used to think something was wrong with me but now I know it’s there to help me be my best.

And…

That’s Today’s +1.

The next time YOU (and your kids!) feel YOUR (and their!) engine revving, let’s remember that that’s EXACTLY how we SHOULD feel when we’re doing something we care about.

Then…

Let’s smile and say…

“I’M EXCITED!”

And…

“LET’S GOOOOO!!”

Then…

Let’s go have fun giving the world all we’ve got.

TODAY!