In this brief motivational address delivered on December 15, the speaker reflects on the team's recent 2‑1 loss in the national semifinal and the emotional aftermath in the locker room. While acknowledging the sadness, career endings, and the pain of coming up short, the speaker emphasizes the underlying love, gratitude, and compassion that accompany such moments. The core message is that true fulfillment stems from fully committing—physically, mentally, and authentically—to a difficult goal, regardless of the final result. By committing with purpose and authenticity, individuals and teams can find meaning and satisfaction even when the ultimate prize eludes them. The talk concludes with a call to adopt this “moment of yes” mindset throughout the week.
Chapters
Good morning, everyone. Here is your Moment of Yes for Monday, December 15th. No, we are not playing for a national championship tonight. The, uh, the run came to an end on Friday night, 2-1 loss in the national semifinal. Um, and, uh, like, no surprise, or not surprisingly, um, You know, the aftermath in the locker room with the season coming to an end, careers ending, you know, for some players. There's probably, you know, one or two guys who are going to go and try to have professional careers, but a good number of seniors whose careers are over. And then just sort of, you know, coaching staff and just the finality of— You know, getting so close to something and the long season. And so, yeah, just a lot of emotion in the immediate aftermath, a lot of sadness. And, you know, I've been in that environment now a few times, whether it's with the national team or just college teams. And there's a similar feel each time. But it's really, it's really cool. Um, sort of baked into all of the, the hurt and the pain and the sadness, um, there's so much love and there's so much compassion and there's so much gratitude. Um, the hugs with tears, there's a lot of I love yous, there's a lot of thank you so much. Um, and, uh, what I love about it is It's, it's sort of— it's like the beauty of commitment, right? The beauty of commitment, of, of fully committing to something that's really difficult, um, that's really hard to achieve or attain, um, but the only way to get it is by going all in. By going all in mentally, all in physically, all in. And When you come up short, even if, if you get so close and come up short, it's so painful and yet so beautiful and so fulfilling, right? So fulfilling, um, uh, even in the coming up short, because it's the commitment, the commitment that was so fulfilling. The ability to go all in, the willingness to go all in, to have triumph along the way. Um, and even if you come up short from the ultimate prize, um, the pain is also fulfilling because it's a reflection of the commitment that you and the collective group put into it. So just thinking about that today, I think it came up on a coaching call yesterday about just like our job is to commit. It's to commit with purpose and authenticity. And when we do that, we end up feeling fulfilled with whatever happens. So I guess that's my moment of yes for today, is to commit with purpose and authenticity, and regardless of what happens, you'll feel fulfilled. All right everyone, we're getting close. December 15th, that's your moment of yes for today. Have an awesome week.
