Sometimes just when I think I have something 100% figured out I end up being completely wrong. That’s what happened on February 11, 1990. Undefeated heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson fought Buster Douglas. Tyson had completely dominated everyone he had ever fought and Buster Douglas was having only a mediocre career. I told my friend Johnnie, “If I was a betting man I would bet on Mike Tyson every time. It’s a sure thing.” Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson in the 10th round and won the title. Tyson was a 42 to 1 favorite. It may be the biggest upset in sports history.
After the fight Tyson said something I will always remember. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” One of the reasons I was successful at coaching basketball is because I was able to reasonably predict what other teams were going to do. I would scout them before we played. I’ve used that skill in other areas of my life. I seldom go into something unprepared. It usually works, but sometimes life does something I don’t expect. That’s when I lean on an old saying my family has adopted. “People are like jelly donuts. You never really know what’s inside them until they get squeezed.”
Generally speaking I am an optimist. I expect things to go well in my life. It makes my days happier and I usually get what I expect. However, in my back pocket I keep in reserve the idea that sometimes life is going to punch me in the mouth. The reason I do that is because it helps me decide in advance what type of person I’m going to when times get hard. I work on my character during the good times so I can be the person I want to be when I get squeezed. If I wait until I’m in trouble to determine who I will be, it’s already too late. My emotions will have taken over and I won’t be able to access the virtuous parts of myself. Here is how it works.
I anticipate that during stressful times I will feel intense emotions. I expect it. But rather than letting them take me over, I use them as a trigger, to remind myself of who I want to be in intense situations. Often when military or emergency responders are in extreme situations they say, the training kicked in and I did what I was prepared to do. The price of success is paid in advance.
My dad very often said, “When the going gets tough the tough get going.” I hated that saying as a kid mostly because I heard it during hard times. However, now I appreciate it. Not because he said it so often, but because I saw him live that out. The more challenging things got, the more he rose to meet that challenge. Tough situations strengthened his resolve of who he wanted to be. I still lean on his example even though he’s been gone for over twenty years.
“Everybody has a plan until they get hit in the mouth.” I’ve found it most helpful to also have a plan for after I get hit in the mouth. I decide in advance what’s going to come out of me when I get squeezed. It makes me a better rebounder.
May you have enough today, one moment at a time.
THIS HELPED ME 