Welcome to Minute with Mallon!
Something I Taught:
Recently, my wife Sandy and I went to watch our oldest grandchild, Baleigh, compete in a cheerleading competition. She's in eighth grade, and her team was competing against six other schools.
We were excited when her squad of about 20 girls took the floor. Baleigh is one of the team captains, and she's also what they call a flyer. She's one of the girls who gets lifted high into the air during their routines.
At one point in the performance, five other girls were supposed to lift Baleigh into the air, holding her feet and legs to keep her steady.
But something went wrong.
One of the girls missed her left leg, and Baleigh came down. Two other groups on her squad had successfully lifted their flyers, but the routine was moving so quickly that there wasn't time for Baleigh to get back up.
The rest of the performance went extremely well. But we knew Baleigh would be disappointed because that one part hadn't gone as planned.
About 20 minutes later, she came out with her team to join the parents while another school was performing.
As soon as she saw her mom and dad, her eyes filled with tears.
My heart hurt for her.
But here's what struck me.
She was focusing on the one thing that went wrong instead of all the things that went right.
Don't we all do that?
In his book Golf Is Not a Game of Perfect, Dr. Bob Rotella tells the story of professional golfer Chip Beck, who has an incredible attitude toward bad shots.
When Beck hits a ball into the woods, rather than getting frustrated, he simply says, "You gotta love it. This is what golf is all about."
His point is that golf isn't about hitting every shot perfectly. It's about how you recover when things don't go as planned. A bad shot can become an opportunity to make a great recovery.
The same is true in life.
If we focus on everything that goes wrong, we'll constantly be frustrated. But if we learn to recognize what's going right, we'll find that we have far more to be grateful for than we realize.
About four years ago, after reading that book, I started a simple habit.
Every Thursday morning, I look back over the previous seven days and write down three things I did that I'm really proud of.
I call them my "Best Three Putts of the Week."
It's a simple exercise, but it's made a big difference in how I think. It helps me focus on the positive things happening in my life rather than dwelling on the negative.
And believe me, we all have plenty of negative things we could focus on!
Here's my challenge to you this week.
Take two or three minutes and write down three things that went right in your life over the past seven days. They don't have to be monumental accomplishments. Sometimes the smallest victories are the most meaningful.
Then ask yourself this question:
"Am I allowing one thing that went wrong to overshadow ten things that went right?"
Remember, you don't have to play a perfect round to have a great day on the golf course.
And you don't have to have a perfect week to have a wonderful life.
Something to Ponder:
“Reputation is the echo of your actions.”
James Clear
Something I Learned:
In his excellent book How to Know a Person, David Brooks explains that great conversationalists don't just ask people what happened to them. They go deeper, asking how they felt about the experience, how they see it now, and what they learned from it.
Sometimes the very things that were most difficult to experience become the things we're most grateful for later.
The next time someone shares a difficult experience with you, try asking, "As you look back on that experience now, what good has come from it?"
You might be surprised by the conversation that follows.
Something I Saw:
My beautiful granddaughter Baleigh! ❤️
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Hope you have an incredible week!
Robert
