The speaker lost four straight pickleball games in Jupiter with his friend Chris against better players. He argues that public defeat sharpens you more than winning does, and that focusing on learning instead of outcomes turns losses into prime growth moments.
Good morning, everyone. Here is your Moment of Yes for Monday, August 29th. Shepherd and I got back to St. Louis about 12:30 last night. Um, good weekend. I head to LA tomorrow morning, so quick turnaround. Um, but no, great weekend, uh, in Jupiter. It was great being back. Um, the show on Saturday with Jesse went well. Um, we had a lot of fun and, um, Yeah, good trip overall. So, your moment of yes for today is actually what happened yesterday morning, which is my buddy Chris, who I was staying with, we decided to get up and go play pickleball. Now, you know, I've been playing recreationally, you know, for a year, but I've played maybe, you know, 2 times in the last 6 months before this, before yesterday morning. And I've never really gone and played like competitively where you go to basically these open play sessions. And, um, you just kind of— it's kind of like pickup basketball, and if you win, you stay. And there's a bunch of courts, and you just kind of, you know, bounce around the courts. And the courts are like 10 courts, and they were kind of split up into skill level— the good players on one court, the more novice on the other 5 courts. And so Chris, who plays quite a bit, um, and is good, we, we went to the competitive courts. And, um, for about an hour and a half, we got— I think we got 4 games in. The age variance was everywhere, anywhere from some players. So it was male and female players, some that were younger than us, some kind of in, you know, in our age range, and then, you know, a handful that were, that were older than us. And the bottom line was we got our butts kicked in all 4 games. Yeah, we lost all 4 games of doubles. And it was this cool experience of you're doing something and Uh, you're— we were competitive, but you're just like, ah, I, I can't figure this out, or we can't win. And, um, uh, we were just basically being owned by people that like play all the time. And so it was this great experience. It's like, how many times do you get a chance to do something publicly that is— that you're just kind of like— you know, getting your butt handed to you. And but using it as I— what I was really appreciating, I was having a blast because I'm like, all right, this is prime learning, right? This is being a— being in a competitive space where, you know, your, your, your pride and your ego is on the line. But like, you're just going like, yes, okay. And you're just trying to problem solve and figure it out. And you're having to do it in the moment publicly, working with a partner. So I just appreciated that. There's something I think really, really healthy and powerful about committing to something when— whether it's a new skill or something and it's difficult, but you're focused on the learning instead of being focused on the outcome or the results. And like after, Chris and I are like, we just kind of laughed. We're like, man, that was so much fun. It was so much fun even though we lost all 4 games, but just to kind of be in that space. So For you, do you have something that you're working on right now, whether it's out in the public or just in the private, you're like, wow, this is tough, this is difficult, and I'm really focused on the learning that's happening. So what's that look like for you today? That's it, guys. Have a great Monday. That's your Moment of Yes.
