What Can We Learn from a Ten-Year-Old?

If you saw one of my previous posts, you know my son loves to compete in ninja warrior obstacle course races. I previously wrote how business and ninja are very similar in that you can’t take for granted obstacles you have overcome before. But there are other lessons to learn from ninja that we can apply to the business world.

My son has been working his tail off in the gym. He’d qualified for two of the three major ninja world championships and was chasing the third a couple of weeks ago in Houston. We had been putting in extra time prepping for these two runs. We had a game plan but it didn’t work out the way we had expected. He didn’t have a good day. Was it poor planning or a lack of effort? No. He’d done all the right things to get ready for the event. It just wasn’t his weekend. It happens sometimes. Not every race is going to be your best. Some weekends every hand grip and twist gets you on the perfect path. But sometimes, it’s just not your weekend.

He was pretty disappointed but as luck would have it, we had another shot at qualifying for the world championships in Lincoln the following weekend. Again, we put in the gym time, put a game plan in place, and this weekend worked out in his favor. Where he missed qualifying in Houston, he cleared both courses in Lincoln, taking gold in one of the races. Was there really anything all that different than the weekend before? Sure, the courses were slightly different, but his preparation was the same.

So, what can we take away from a 10-year-old running obstacle course races?

We must have tenacity and the mental resolution to not panic when things go wrong. We’ve all been on tough projects. Even with all the preparation and extra time and thought put into executing flawlessly, sometimes, it’s “just not your weekend”. Personally, I know how tough that can be. My teams and I prep for hours upon hours so we can execute and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. The best thing to do is not panic and be tenacious to figure out what went wrong and how to make it better next time. Commit to the process and admit where missteps were taken and address them. Rarely are these intentional oversights, merely lessons learned on our way toward a successful outcome.

My advice, put time into preparation. Run table top exercises or dress rehearsals. Seek out feedback, regardless of how tough it may be to hear. Talk with your team on how best to apply those lessons learned then do it again! Don’t be afraid to fail, be tenacious to learn and get better.