Emerging from the haze of a blissful weekend, Fran and I try to mentally prep ourselves (and each other) for the week to come.
We’ve recently started experimenting with setting an intention or mantra to help guide us when the week starts getting week-ey.
With so much going into a week with jobs, trying to nurture personal relationships, walking dogs, exercising, planning, buying & cooking food, financial planning, attempting adventures or planning breaks; it really starts getting tempting by Wednesday to just say ‘duck it’, throw in the towel and depress on the couch.
Although alluring at first, this approach often just ends up making me feel worse than what the amount of effort would've cost to do the right thing in the first place. Not to mention the sustainable surge of dopamine I'd get from finally crossing that persistent item off my to-do list.
This past week, when considering our mantra options, a line popped into my head from a docuseries I watched a couple of months ago on Netflix called ‘The Playbook: A Coach’s Rules for Life’.
In this 8-part series, world-famous sport’s coaches are interviewed to share their insights from their time as leaders, along with some of their unique approaches, insights and guiding principles.
The episode in question, was about Jill Ellis, two-time FIFA World Cup-winning coach and manager of the female US soccer team.
In this episode, Ellis reflects back on the challenges she had to face during her career, and some of the adversities they, as a team, had to overcome.
‘Hold fast. Stay true.’, is what Ellis says aligned her and her team to push through the hardships to become the second coach in history ever to lead a team through consecutive FIFA World Cup wins.
She says the quote originates from a story told to her by a close friend from the US Navy Seals:
Years ago when sailing through a particularly treacherous storm, the sailors were instructed to actually hold fast onto something that was physically bolted or tied down to the deck, while the captain’s only job was to stay true to their course, ignoring the fact that he couldn’t see where he was going.
So now whenever the Seals go into tough situations, their mantra is to ‘Hold fast. Stay true.’
No matter what obstacles you may face throughout the week, a helpful reminder to us, is to hold fast, and stay true.
Try not to get distracted by the choppiness of the swells or the salty water sprayed in your face.
Trust that you have the sense of self to know that the direction your going in, is the one in which is true.
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