Being Constructive

Do you know of Randy Pausch? Pausch was professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

A recent Prime Time episode depicted the last part of his life, the “last lecture” he delivered at the university giving the viewer and inside look at Randy’s mindset on life.

In his book “The Last Lecture”, he talks about his days in pee wee football. He had a very intense coach who was riding him pretty hard one day. Randy was upset and felt belittled over the whole experience by the end of practice

The one of the assistants told him this: “Coach Graham rode you pretty hard today didn’t he?….that’s a good thing….When you’re screwing up and nobody says anything to you anymore, that means they’ve given up on you.”

Pausch goes on to comment; “When you see yourself doing something badly and nobody’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a bad place to be. You may not want to hear it, but your critics are often the ones telling you they still love you and care about you, and want to make you better.”

Reminds me of my athletes and /or weight loss clients.

I am always trying to build on success with their programs, but nonetheless still “stay on their case” about trying to improve on a daily basis. I would not say anything if I did not care.

Same with my family. Saying nothing would me I did not care, whether about sports, school or simply being better at life itself.

A similar situation just happened in reverse for me with my great friend and business partner. Apparently, I answer my phone too frequently, especially when we are in business planning mode and need less distractions, not more.

She let me know all about it as I hung up the phone for the third time in a 20 minute span.

I went right back at her by justifying the need to answer with…The calls were “important for the business”. She was just upset about something else with her family and decided to take her frustration out on me, I reasoned.

Could I have returned them at a better time?

Yep.

Would I be disappointed if she didn’t call me out and expect the best for me and our business? Yep.

Parents, Coaches, mentors and accountability partners are all important to help us reach our potential.

Next time you get a “nudge of constructive criticism” from someone know that it is a good thing…not a bad one.

For more on Randy Pausch go to www.thelastlecture.com.

Thanks for playing!

John