Waiting….to Play Ahead of the Game by Alan Stapleton May 21, 2020
Can we grow in our vacuums? Are we flames in our Bell-jars?
I write this article in the middle of our Covid-19 Lockdown period.
Although can “Middle” be measured? Somehow, “What was, what shall we do
today and what will happen” have become our only focus.
Apart from, “How do I pay my staff? How do I pay these bills? How are
we going to get the kids back to school….? And where I can find some
beers!!
In the NOW, we are isolated. We, Squash players are barred from our
courts, blocked from that adrenalin-rush of competitiveness. Stopped
from the release of smashing rubber on string and the thwack of ball on
wall. Now, the crack of the beer opening, and the cooling of that
hot-and-sweaty body are sounds and feelings from the past. The union of
friends in winning-and-losing. Gone. Frustrated, there may still be a
few, who jelly-leg and ghost, who volley against the wall and
garden-bat to each other. But as the laziness of doing nothing creeps,
somehow the drive to drive yourself, drifts.
But we are human, so we have memories that enable us to look forward.
To look to the future. To plan, to anticipate. To remember and hence
visualize that next match, the next league evening, the next training
session or coaching lesson. Somehow, that ability to see into the
future is what keeps us going. One day… That is the frustration. Right
now, there is no fixed future. Everything hangs in the maybe.
Seemingly, we are held in the confused (did someone whisper corrupt)
deliberations of our politicians. And in their minds, we are Level 1
“Lifers”. We, Squash Players are bad. We get too close to each other.
Play together in a confined space. Body-to-body. Sweating and panting
in each other’s faces. Horror of horrors. Should we ever release these
people? Rather let the criminals go…
But, Lock-down, if anything, has given us time. To reflect and think.
Time to appreciate, what we have had, what we have and what others,
don’t have. Beers are few, but braais, they are a-plenty. Where better
to reflect and think, than next to a fire. Somehow, life, and work, and
squash often gel into those flames. And amidst the Hansa’s, (and now
the Zero’s) answers dance.
The Corona Virus has brought us all to a standstill. We have all been
forced to gear back and slow down If anything, it has allowed us time
to look at ourselves. To STOP, re-evaluate and re-set. Re-look at where
we are, who we are, why we are we, what we love doing, what makes us,
us? What makes you, you and me, me?
Working at SPAR, we are regarded as an Essential Service, so I have had
the “privilege” of only a semi-lock-down. It has been a strange
time. All that we had planned was wiped away in one foul ‘flu-ish”
swoop. We have been chucked into a cauldron of busy nothingness, a
swirl of new challenges. But with regulations that change, and are
applied differently, daily, we have no idea of what lies in the
tomorrow. New ideas have been difficult to implement. For some, the
risk-averse folk, many of these ideas have been horrific “It has been
tried before, did not work…cost us money…. hurt the Brand” they
muttered. Conversely, many of the younger middle-management
colleagues, were excited about the ideas, and wanted to implement NOW.
“Get our noses in front. Offer something new… the opposition does not
have it. Let’s be different. Helter-skelter. Let’s do it. “
Business so often falls into these traps. From “Don’t fix what isn’t
broken” to the “Let’s Do-it-Now” trap. Reflexive, with little thought
of Cause, and Effect.
In fact, some prefer things to have been done… Yesterday. And when
implemented like this, business surges-stops-and-surges. We fly, and
then we must fix the rushed mistakes. A stressed period of pain,
usually unsustainable profit and maybe some flighting pleasure.
Fortunately, there are some, the Leaders, who have the gift of Time and
fore-thought. Intuition and judgement. A gut feel. Their minds are
practiced. They sum up situations. They have a view of the future. Sage
heads, who can move in quickly, or pull on the reins, and slow the
process. Reflective, they see the advantages, and realize the risks.
Somehow, they have a peripheral awareness. They look further than the
NOW. Playing their game ahead of the game.
Let me throw another log on the fire. Open another beer. Zap another Zero.
Why then, on the squash courts, do these successful, strategic
forward-thinking leaders and businesspeople turn into middle-management
NOW-neurotics. Totally reflexive. Everything becomes rushed.
Quick and fit, but their movements are often jagged. Front-wall
watchers, with imperfect, but not debilitating techniques, they are
often late onto tracking the ball. With ball travelling faster than
body, off they rush. Fast, and then they stop, or run past, where they
should be. Now, too close to the ball, the next shot becomes inhibited.
They have no options. And are forced into another rushed,
no-thought-shot. Length-indoctrinated, too often, they hit
straight back to their opponent. The Now-rush continues. Their squash
becomes a sweating, helter-skeltered snowball. A rushed
frustration of tinned pain, sporadic points and flighting pleasure.
Somehow, on the court, they lack that judgement, intuition and
peripheral awareness, that calm that strategizes through their
boardroom decisions.
Watch the top players. Like business-leaders, they seem to float around
the court, seemingly always in control. They too have judgement,
intuition and that peripheraled feel for the game. So much Time. Either
to jump in quickly, or to balance, delay and then deliver. Controlled.
Their opponents have few options. But theirs, is an evolving process. A
flow. Early racquet preparation, balanced movement. They have more
options on the ball, and their opponents, have less
Top players see the advantage of a chosen shot and realize the risks.
They can see further than the NOW. These players, like leading
businessmen, are playing their game, ahead of the game.
They have Time. Unflustered Time.
Right now, we have time. Unflustered time.
To re-evaluate, to re-set, what makes us, us. At work and on the
courts. Are we human? Or, are we dancing? Are we Puppets on our
opponents’ strings? Mindlessly, reacting to opposition? Or are we a
Phantom at the Opera, quietly thinking forwards.
When our cages are unlatched, our bars unlocked, and we rush back to
our Courts, let us slow down. And flow with an early-prepared racquet.
Let us be more balanced and strategic. If we are prepared, that ball
will come out of the corner, or off the wall. Let us wait, just a tad
longer.
What can we be doing to make us better?
Better Squash players? Better Leaders.
Sometimes, waiting is good. We are used to waiting. Let us wait some more…and let good grow in those bell-jars.
