Post date: Aug 15, 2011 1:00:36 PM
Introducing... Jeff, Jeanne, Teri, Kyle
Education: Progress, not perfection!
The following story is from our very own Lisa Morrell. She shares her POWERFUL approach to work, life and play via her personal story during the course of one of our weekly department "Quote & Question" activities.
Thank you for sharing, Lisa, this is great!
Question: Do you ever let "perfectionist thinking" stop you from attempting things in the first place or even enjoying progress?
At District Media Services (DMS), we go around the table and discuss the quote and question each week. By the time it gets to me I usually don't have anything different to add that has not been said before and we are not allowed to say "Ditto"-I tried it once! This week we did not have an opportunity to meet but something about this question struck a chord with me and I decided I would write my answer down on paper. I am certainly not a writer, and while this is more personal than work related, I really wanted to share this because I hope it may help someone think differently.
About 5 1/2 years ago my appendix encapsulated and I should have died according to my surgeon. I had to wait 6 weeks for the poison to leave my body before they could operate on me. 2 days after I got out of the hospital, on Thanksgiving morning, my very special brother in law died of lymphoma after a long 2 year battle with chemo and a bone marrow transplant. I found myself slipping into a terrible funk and not at all myself. A friend of mine happened to call one evening and ask if I wanted to play on her women's USTA tennis league in the spring. I had never had a lesson or a coach and had only played tennis in the park with friends, but hoping to change my outlook on life and get my spark back, I said "Yes."
My first season I had a lesson every Monday and I played a league match every Thursday. I played after school with whomever would play with me and I played with friends every Saturday morning. I practiced hitting the ball against our garage wall so many times, I drove my family insane. I learned how to hit a forehand, a backhand and to serve correctly and I LOST EVERY SINGLE MATCH.
The second year I learned all kinds of strategies - I didn't even know there were strategies. I learned how and where and why to place the ball and I LOST EVERY SINGLE MATCH.
The third season, I learned how to be a solid double’s players. I learned how to move with my partner, how to cover the court and how to read my opponents every stroke and I LOST EVERY SINGLE MATCH.
By the end of the season, with tears in my eyes, I went to my coach and told him I would not be back the next year. I had lost every match for 3 straight years, I was not an asset to the team and anyone who was stuck with me as a partner had an automatic loss. He sat me down and told me that I needed to change my negative thinking. He said, “I want you to go home and think of how far you have come in 3 years and why you started playing tennis in the first place. It was not to be perfect and win every match. Think back to that first year when you were at the net-you would scream and duck ever time someone hit a ball at you. Now you are the best net player we have on the team.” And he said, “I want you to come back with your old, positive attitude that makes your teammates call me and ask to be your partner. They tell me they don’t care whether they win or lose, they like playing with you because you give it 100% and you are fun to play with.” “That is what is important, Lisa, not your win-loss record.”
I had many talks with myself that winter. I came back out in March thinking about why I started playing tennis in the first place. It was not to WIN-it was to become the person I used to be. I remembered how many nice women I had met, how strong my heart had become, how many calories I was burning and how fortunate I was to live in such a beautiful state. And GUESS WHAT? I won a match, and another match and another match. I became addicted to tennis. So much so, that I was not going to apply for the DMS job because I could not bear the thought of giving up my summers and the 4 leagues I now played in.
I am so thankful that my coach did not let me focus on being perfect and made me look at how much progress I made. Unfortunately, I now need to have my hip replaced and can no longer play tennis, but I will never forget how those 4 years made me realize how very lucky I was to find my passion in life and how very close I had come to letting it slip away.
Lisa Morrell
District Media Services
ext. 57774
Community Activity: Talk about lessons learned from Lisa's story in a small group (2-3 people per group). Use this as a guiding question: "Discuss the relationship between a person's attitude and their skill level."
Recognition: Mary passed the Spring In Your Step award to Gary for his outstanding work this summer (5-digit, normal work, outages) but mostly because of his positive, never gripe attitude.