April to June is my favorite time of year for sports. NHL and NBA playoffs are in full swing. Some might like September for the start of football or January / February for the Super Bowl run or the summer/winter Olympics. Those are all great times too, but I stand by the spring and the NHL and NBA playoffs. We lost this time last year due to the pandemic, so I am enjoying it even more right now.
I often immerse myself in not just the games but the pre and post interviews as well.
I played both hockey and basketball growing up. I loved playing both. I’d shoot hoops or shoot pucks in my backyard for hours counting down the days til my next game usually that Saturday. At around thirteen years old, I had to pick one and chose hockey since I began to take to it more.
I also like watching these sports in the playoffs because of how well teams are playing right now. Players usually come together in August of the previous year so the teams still in the mix in April are playing at their best. Communication is ironed out so passing and play making is at its highest level. You also start to see athletes have “out of their mind / body” type games. Jason Tautem’s 50 points Friday night is a good example and Pasta’s hat trick last night. You also have players stepping up in different ways that make a difference outside of offensive production (Kemba’s 8 rebounds Friday night).
Lastly, the start of sunny, warmer weather coupled with spending a few hours in an indoor stadium watching a game is fun for me. During the winter, you dash into the rink to get to the locker room because it’s so cold and dark. Leaving a hockey rink and walking into warm and/or sunny weather is an exciting feeling.
What does all this have to do with say career or business? Let me take a stab at some connections:
- Get your reps in. Do the equivalent of shooting hoops after school in your backyard for your career. That might be writing strategic thoughts down, diving into tactical to-dos, practicing in SQL, Python, excel, running a meeting, anything that gets you practice at something required to do your job effectively.
- Find that thing you naturally connect to. Through my hockey career, I played with and against a few people playing professionally today. It was evident during teenage ages, these guys would have a shot at playing professionally one day. It is because of the elevated talent and edge they exemplified when they got on the ice. They competed harder than everyone and had abilities that most don’t have. Find and cultivate that for yourself in your career. I read this and it began help me identify things I connect with. Pro athletes are extremely lucky to find what they are really meant to do at often single digit ages. That’s very special but also rare. Most of us need to work a bit harder and do it in our 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc.
- Don’t try to do everything. At 13 years old, I had to quit the extra basketball teams I played on to lean in on two hockey teams. In a job or career, try to choose wisely on what you do vs. what you delegate.
- Cultivate strong inclusive relationships with those you work with. Strong playoff and championship teams get that far because they are close and connected. They can make big plays with nonverbal communication for example. They likely don’t always like each other or see eye to eye but they put that aside when the game starts.
- Enjoy the small things. If you enjoy something like stepping out of a chilly rink into the beating sun, be sure to develop awareness of the small things you enjoy.
If you like playoff time like I do right now, enjoy the games today.