Choosing Life’s Playing Field
f I were to weave a tale of a coach who took his team to a championship game, never having created the proper mindset for guiding his players to victory, would you think it odd? Would you expect this lack of mental preparation would impact the final result? Maybe. Maybe not. After all, talent usually wins out. Right? Words can’t score points. They can’t win races. They don’t turn back shots at the most critical of times.
But, the arena of life is far different than the world of sports. Mental preparation far exceeds talent when it comes to the former. The preparation I’m speaking of begins far before you even engage the outside world. It begins with putting yourself on the right “playing field”, before you even consider the challenges and opportunities before you.
If I were to tell a tale of two arenas, one filled with friendly fans ready to cheer you forward, the other a hostile climate, with spectators doing all possible to assure your demise, would you want to play in front of the first crowd or the second? The first, of course! Every day, and twice on holidays!
Well, we get to choose our field every day. Yet, in most cases, we unknowingly allow ourselves to be pulled in front of opposing fans. Not me, right? Well, it’s happening to all of us, each and every day.
So, how do we gain this life-control? How do we determine where we’ll play this “game” of life. Will it be played on my own turf? Or, will it be contested in an environment where the fan base has no regard for my well-being? Great question.
Pursuing this further, we each have our own life patterns. They include opening our ears to all the world has to offer, with no filter for all that comes our way. On television, the news channels are many. And, these channels are driven by the need to not only communicate life’s events, but to sensationalize the facts for the purposes of increasing viewership. They are, after all, in business to maximize profits, usually by almost any means possible. How the content of the information impacts their viewership if of minimal importance.
So, we are left to absorb the overwhelming flow of far-too-often misleading, damaging, and frightening information. Perhaps you watch the news in the morning? Maybe on your way to work or school, or possibly during the day on your laptop, then again when you sit to relax around the dinner hour or later at night? Each time you open yourself to this input, you are allowing yourself to be guided into the opposing arena. And, once in, the odds of your taking positive steps forward are decreased.
We need to gain control of all the content we absorb. Beyond the news, we should carefully manage our choices in music — inspirational vs “dark”, the speakers we listen to — motivating vs dispirited, the movies and shows we watch — upbeat vs downcast, and how we spend our extra time — energizing environments vs deflating. Each and every choice impacts our life mindset.
It is the same with what you choose to read. Whether it be newspapers, magazines, or books, each time you allow your mind to be impacted by the contents, you’re inviting another force to choose your playing field. Will I play in front of the home fans, choosing positive, inspiring, and redeeming material? Or, will it be the “away” crowd, with negative, deflating copy?
And, it’s the same with choosing the people with whom we spend our spare time. These free minutes represent valuable mental “real estate” in our day. While we can’t always control who we’re around, during “me time”, we can decide who we allow to shape our thoughts and beliefs. Will we choose “zappers”, people who fill us with energy and inspiration or “sappers”, those who pull energy from us and leave us feeling lesser about ourselves? That one decision will have a major impact on our arena of life.
So, lock in the fact that you, and you alone, get to choose your stadium. By carefully considering all the outside influences and how you choose to manage them, you are deciding your level of control. Does it assure us success in all we do? Of course not. But, by playing on our own “home field”, an environment where we’ve carefully managed the forces that will influence us, we’ve gone a long way toward allowing happiness and contentment to be a central part of our everyday lives.