#1974 What Do YOU Do…

In our last +1, we chatted about what to do after you go off the rails a bit and pay the price for your mediocrity.

Here’s the Pro Tip…

Drop the shame, use the data as antifragile fuel to get better and…

GET BACK ON TRACK.

Now…

Let’s go back about a week to Emerson’s last big tournament at the Austin Grandmaster Chess Academy.

On our drive out, we did our thing.

I quizzed him on what he wants and how he plans to get it.

He wants to be a good person. And he wants to be a chess Grandmaster.

Awesome.

Big Goals for the win.

Now…

These tournaments are incredible for a number of reasons including the fact that the kids he plays against are REALLY (!!!) good—some of the best in the country.

I got goosebumps typing that as Emerson entered the tournament #71 in the country for 12 year olds. He played against three kids better than him.

And…

He went 3-1.

That performance was enough to effectively bump him up from #71 in the country to #52.

😳 🤯

Yes…

I’m a proud and fascinated dad—marveling at his passion for the game and commitment to consistently training and then showing up with competitive greatness.

But…

That’s not quite what I want to chat about Today.

This is…

His third match of the day was one of his all-time best. It was against a higher rated/ranked kid who is REALLY good.

They were playing on a top board so I could watch the game via livestream. When he’s on a top board that is live-streamed, I watch the game on my main phone then enter each move into chess.com on my batphone which immediately tells me whether it was a good move, a great move or a bad move. Then, the engine tells you the odds of who will win. It’s fascinating to see.

As I told Mommy, my heart skips a beat every time he moves and right before I enter it into the system to see if it was a good move.

Now…

These kids are playing one GREAT (!) move after another.

To be clear: GREAT moves are very rare.

Usually the system tells you it was a “good” move or a “best” move OR a “miss” or a “blunder.”

But these guys were CRUSHING IT.

Emerson would make a GREAT move.

Bam.

Then the other kid would make a GREAT move.

Bam.

Back and forth.

GREAT move after GREAT move!

It was awesome.

I was sweating just watching it.

😆

True story.

😅

Then Emerson made a mistake and the engine said he was almost certainly going to lose the game.

But…

He held in there.

And…

He made a comeback when the OTHER kid made a big mistake and…

He won.

It was incredible.

Then…

They had a quick turnaround between the third and fourth match.

We did what we ALWAYS (!!!) do: a quick 1-2-3 of the match, a quick bite to eat, then a quick workout (33 burpees and some sprints) then he was back at it.

Now…

In that fourth and final match, the kid he just played lost really quickly.

I asked Emerson why he thinks that was.

He astutely pointed out that he lost that match quickly because he was probably still thinking about his prior match and was bummed about it and not focusing.

I said: “I think that’s EXACTLY right.”

Then I asked him what he thought the kid did after the tough match.

Emerson said he wasn’t sure but it probably wasn’t helpful.

I asked him what HE would have done after the match if he lost.

He paused for a moment.

Then I answered for him: “We would have done the EXACT (!!!) same thing we do after EVERY match!!!”

Now…

That might not sound like a big deal, but it was one of those moments when you could FEEL that he REALLY (!!) (goosebumps!) GOT IT.

And…

That’s Today’s +1.

Spotlight where it belongs…

On YOU. 🔦

What do YOU (!!!) do after a tough match/day/whatever?!?

It’s not possible for me to say this with any more intensity…

I HIGHLY recommend you DOMINATE your protocol.

Remember…

The WORSE we feel, the MORE committed we are to our protocols.

If there was ONE thing I wish I could directly implant into your brain, it’s THIS.

When you inevitably (!!!) get knocked around by life and/or go off the rails a bit…

MAKE IT A GAME TO SEE HOW FAST YOU CAN GET BACK ON TRACK.

Remember, as my Yoda says and we’ve adapted for our Heroic purposes…

Speed is a force.

And there is no greater creative act in the universe than the speed with which you can reconnect to your best self after you lose that connection.

And…

THAT’s Today’s +1.

Here’s to using ALL of life’s challenges as fuel for our antifragile growth.

All day.

Every day.

Especially…

TODAY.