This is the best framework for handling life's challenges I have ever come across. It is a mental model for grit and perseverance. Since we are in March Madness season, It is fitting that it came from Kara Lawson, the Duke Women's Basketball Head Coach.
It is March Madness for those fans who get excited this time of year. How's your bracket doing? Mine's already toast the first weekend. The reason this time of year is so exciting for college basketball fans is the storylines and upsets. Lots of exciting upsets happen every year where the underdog miraculously beats the one, two, or three seed. The media focuses on these great stories and the proverbial Cinderella's. But what about the high -seeded losers of those games. Well, they get the chance to learn from these losses and these lessons transcend the court. Sports can be one of life's best educators. It's not just the winning, the hard work and the commitment that is needed. It's the losing and dealing with the adversity that comes with it. ESPN ran a story on Duke women's basketball coach, Kara Lawson, that caught my attention. Coach Lawson gave an impromptu speech to her team that luckily, someone recorded it. It's a 3 minute master class on mental resilience. Take a listen to this short clip. We all wait in life for things to get easier. Think in your own life if you waited for something to get easier. I just gotta get through this and then it'll be easy. I just gotta get through preseason and then it'll be OK. I've just gotta get through my junior year high school and then the classes are going to get easier. I've just gotta get to my spring and my senior year college is going to be easier. It's what we do. We wait for stuff to get easier. It will never get easier. What happens is you handle hard better. That's what happens. Most people think that it's going to get easier. Life is going to get easier. Basketball is going to get easier. School is going to get easier. It never gets easier. What happens is you become someone that handles hard stuff better. So that's a mental shift that has to occur in each of your brains. It has to. Because if you go around waiting for stuff to get easier in life, it's never gonna happen. Coach Larson's message of you become someone that handles hard stuff better is key. It's a mental shift. Don't wait for stuff to get easier. Losing is part of business, sports, and life. The key is how you handle it. Handle hard better. I hope you enjoyed this Saturday Note.