When I was about 8, 9 or 10 years old I would put on an entire Green Bay Packer uniform (helmet included) and get ready to watch the games on TV every Sunday.
When you’re born in Wisconsin, most of the time you’re going to be born and bred to love the Green Bay Packers. The team really belongs to the state and there seem to be fans just about everywhere in the world. It’s a great community to be a part of as a sports fan.
But over the years I’ve mellowed a bit on the way I react to wins and losses. There are many great things about being a kid. Many of the emotions you have are for the first time. The good emotions feel amazing and the bad emotions can really bring you down.
Packer wins and losses still affect me, but I’ve been working on how they affect me. I try not to get as high during wins and as low during losses.
This past weekend the team lost in an unimaginable way. And it was the conference championship game. There was plenty of blame to go around and it was really a downer of a game.
But even in the aftermath of the game I caught myself feeling pretty normal.
Yes, my favorite team had lost and in the past that would have really affected me, but I was feeling alright. I’ve been trying to learn about how to handle my emotions and I hope that I’m getting a good handle on things.
Here are some things I’ve been trying when it comes to handling emotions.
Priorities
In the grand scheme of things, the Green Bay Packers are important, but not more important than family, friends and work. When it comes to my emotions I try to put things into the perspective of my priorities.
If there is an issue in my family it’s something that I try to give the most emotional energy. It’s hard not to give some energy to the Packers, but it shouldn’t skew so much so that the higher priorities suffer.
Being Steadfast In Leadership
I definitely have not been this way in the past and still struggle with it. But I’ve been working on it.
As a leader in your business it’s your job to set the example for those that follow you. I’m not a parent, but when I look back on my childhood I pull lessons from my parents by how they acted and carried themselves much more than things they told me.
People pay attention to how you handle yourself including your emotions. If you fly off the handle for good or bad emotions it can lead to issues in the organization.
Keeping it on the level or skewed toward positive whenever possible seems to be a good way to operate.
It’s Never As Bad As It Seems In The Moment
This is not the first challenging situation for Packers fans. During the 2003 season the team was really good and looked like a Super Bowl contender. That was until “4th and 26”. Yes, it has its own Wikipedia page.
And before that there was the playoff loss to the 49ers during the ’98 season and the Super Bowl loss to the Broncos in the ’97 season.
In those moments it seemed like the world was over.
But things kept rolling on. Life went on. Great things happened both for the Packers, but more importantly for the things higher on my priority list.
I’ve tried to think about this when bad things happen. The Packers lose. GBW loses a client. I make a mistake at something.
When you’re pushing yourself and committing to things there are going to be disappointments.
Disappointments Lead To Opportunity
I think it’s good to commit yourself to things. Emotion is one of the ways we know we’re alive. We don’t want to go through life as robots.
So we push ourselves to do new things. And there are disappointments along the way. One way to go when you experience those disappointments is to let them bother you and to not continue moving forward.
Or you can look at them as opportunities. Appreciate the process and the present tense.
For example, I try to appreciate the good things the Packers do when I’m watching games. A great touchdown pass or a great run.
And in business I try to appreciate the good things like landing a new client or making a current client extremely happy with great posts.
But we keep pushing ourselves. Disappointments happen, but instead of getting too far down we look at them as learning opportunities and ways to improve.
Final Thought
This Packer loss was disappointing. It made me sad, but I didn’t let it bother me as much as it has in the past. The ride was great. The result wasn’t the absolute best, but it was still a great ride.
And business is like that too. When you keep your emotions on the level and skew toward the positive while looking at slip-ups as learning experiences to improve it seems to be a good thing.