Life lessons from sports
Aug. 11th, 2005 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebToday in ballroom dance class we learned two "life lessons" according to our instructor:
* Once you get a woman to cuddle with you, don't just let go.
* Never grab a spinning man. Alright, maybe that one doesn't come in handy much.
Other good sports lessons:
* Don't stand around admiring your work. I learned this in ultimate--after you make a throw, you should start running again instead of waiting to see where the disk goes. It also applies in ballroom dance because after leading a turn, you need to keep peddling so you're ready to continue afterwards. It's probably true in dog-eat-dog work environments where you need to have another project started before you see how your last one turned out. And it's definitely true in job-hunting--you should apply for more jobs when you still haven't heard back on jobs you've already applied for.
* Try for things that look impossible because it will be so cool if it works. I learned that in ultimate and applied it in volleyball. I actually started dating someone as a direct result of his applying this philosophy to Jenga. (Well, he failed horribly, so he had to bring all the dirty dishes downstairs from everyone in the party. I didn't like that rule and had decided to help whoever it was who got stuck. We were forced to talk and get to know each other.)
* Even if you're a slow learner, you're still learning more than people who aren't trying to learn. I learned that in a powerful way in ballroom dance classes and have applied it to many things since then.
* It's not easy to be a serious competitor and still be nice and have fun. (That is based on observation, not personal experience.) I've learned that I'm willing to sacrifice some seriousness so that I can still have fun even if things aren't working out. (I admit that's easy for me because I will suck at sports no matter how serious I am.) On the other hand, trying hard to improve your skill also improves your fun. It's a fine line I've seen in ballroom, ultimate, volleyball, and all kinds of folk dancing.
* "I'm all over you like mustard on a corndog." That's not a lesson, but it is something cool I learned playing ultimate. Maybe I should use that at work sometime. Next time someone asks me to do something, I'll say I'm all over it like the mustard.
* Once you get a woman to cuddle with you, don't just let go.
* Never grab a spinning man. Alright, maybe that one doesn't come in handy much.
Other good sports lessons:
* Don't stand around admiring your work. I learned this in ultimate--after you make a throw, you should start running again instead of waiting to see where the disk goes. It also applies in ballroom dance because after leading a turn, you need to keep peddling so you're ready to continue afterwards. It's probably true in dog-eat-dog work environments where you need to have another project started before you see how your last one turned out. And it's definitely true in job-hunting--you should apply for more jobs when you still haven't heard back on jobs you've already applied for.
* Try for things that look impossible because it will be so cool if it works. I learned that in ultimate and applied it in volleyball. I actually started dating someone as a direct result of his applying this philosophy to Jenga. (Well, he failed horribly, so he had to bring all the dirty dishes downstairs from everyone in the party. I didn't like that rule and had decided to help whoever it was who got stuck. We were forced to talk and get to know each other.)
* Even if you're a slow learner, you're still learning more than people who aren't trying to learn. I learned that in a powerful way in ballroom dance classes and have applied it to many things since then.
* It's not easy to be a serious competitor and still be nice and have fun. (That is based on observation, not personal experience.) I've learned that I'm willing to sacrifice some seriousness so that I can still have fun even if things aren't working out. (I admit that's easy for me because I will suck at sports no matter how serious I am.) On the other hand, trying hard to improve your skill also improves your fun. It's a fine line I've seen in ballroom, ultimate, volleyball, and all kinds of folk dancing.
* "I'm all over you like mustard on a corndog." That's not a lesson, but it is something cool I learned playing ultimate. Maybe I should use that at work sometime. Next time someone asks me to do something, I'll say I'm all over it like the mustard.