Observing Others

In just two days 11th ranked University of Utah Football team plays 6th ranked Ohio State in the University of Utah’s first ever trip to the Rose Bowl!

The Rose Bowl and all the celebrations surrounding it are such honored New Year’s Day traditions. The unmatched Rose Bowl Parade has been a cherished favorite of mine. Personally, I have marched with marching bands in parades and have even designed and built float, but never in the Rose Bowl Parade.  To me, it is the granddaddy of them all!

The University of Utah is my Alma Mater. Years ago, not only did I march with the Ute marching band, I was asked by the Director of Bands to design one of the University of Utah half time marching band field shows.  It was the first time I was able to design and perform in one of my own halftime shows! 

In addition to that, on a separate occasion, I also designed a float for one of the University of Utah’s Homecoming Parades. 

There is an interesting characteristic of both parades and half-time marching band field shows. With regards to parades, each float is individual and unique, but no parade exists with just one float or just one marching band.

During the years that I marched with my own high school marching band, one of the slogans I remember was: “The band is nothing without the individual and the individual is nothing without the band.” This mantra was specific to the field show marching band because when someone was missing from the drill formation, it was obvious to everyone from the stands. Hence, the group is nothing without the individual, the individual is nothing without the group. It was obvious because there was a gap, space, or as we called it a “hole” where the person missing was supposed to be marching. Just as it would have been impossible for one person to represent an entire formation, it was often impractical to march with too many holes when too many band members were missing.

As great as the University of Utah marching band may be, the real treat on January 1st will be to watch the incredible formations of the Ohio State Marching Band during their halftime performance.  Ohio State halftimes are beyond extraordinary—they are legendary. Ohio State has done tributes to famous musicians like Michael Jackson and the rock band Rush.  But, beyond the music they play, the formations the marching band makes and moves as they play are unparalleled and unmatched by any other college marching band!

Not only do the formations Ohio State creates require great precision, they also require each player to be in its proper place.  The collective needs the individual.

Then there is the Rose Bowl Parade. Each year tens of thousands of hours are devoted to building floats for Pasadena’s Rose Parade. If you haven’t watched the parade recently you have missed the detailed descriptions of all the natural fruits, plants, vegetables, nuts, even honey, that are used on these floats. These elaborate ingredients are in addition to the traditional roses and other flowers. The float rules haven’t really changed after all these years: parade floats are still required to have only fresh, real, optimally organic materials used to decorate the exterior of the floats. But the creative ways that naturally produced materials have been introduced and incorporated into the float building has evolved fantastically.

And with so many natural ingredients, it would be impossible to build a float alone in a short time frame.  Float building for the Rose Parade requires volunteers.

While float building is a volunteer project and the main focus of the preparations for the parade, there is a little-known by-product from all this float building activity. Marriages!

It’s TRUE! Each year there are a number of engagements and marriages that result from the matchmaking that occurs during the endless hours of community float building. There is something about work

Haven’t all of us felt like we were in the middle of an epic tug of war? Stuck in the middle of two opposing forces pulling us back and forth in either direction?

Sometimes it is simply outside influences triggering inward emotional responses, perhaps anger at another driver, misplacing an important item or document, missing a flight.

Sometimes it is a psychosomatic tug of war between mind and body, the “flesh is weak” kind of thing. Sometimes it’s a tug of war between thoughts on the one hand and feelings on the other.

One of the greatest overarching tug of wars that has been debated between scientists and others for centuries is between the opposing forces of nature and nurture.

What about the tug of war between making appointments and setting schedules at one extreme end and cancellations and disruptions to schedules found on the opposite end?

In every economy, there is a constant push-pull of two forces at work (and it isn’t just supply and demand). It’s GETTING THE WORK  vs  DOING THE WORK

Think of this as the old see-saw or teeter-totter phenomenon. The up and down, back and forth motion of getting and doing income-producing activities: getting the working and doing the work. Marketing/Manufacturing. Unfortunately, sometimes there is a tension or tug of war between these two forces. They are like the roots and branches of a tree, both needing attention.

What about starting a business? Often a start-up or business launch is a lot like a boat launch. Cash flow on the one hand and keeping up with the competition often creates an internal tug of war. It is the exasperating
the feeling of one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock, as the boat, appears to be pulling away.

 And this balancing act battlefield of what often seems like an either/or proposition can be a tug
of war battlefield.

Think of the times in your life when you faced what appeared to be impossible tasks and you felt as if it were you, alone, against the world. 

Now imagine that you are a professional baseball player and you, alone, are up to bat at the plate getting ready for the pitch. 

The ball coming at you is the challenge that you face.  

Are you ready?  How do you react? 

Perhaps your first thought isn’t about the ball at all, but that it is a player vs player moment–pitcher against the batter. And, while there is some truth to that, the nature of baseball isn’t really that at all. 

Although the batter only gets 3 strikes before he is out, that is not where the real pressure is coming from. If he looks out across the baseball field, it isn’t the pitcher, alone that he is facing: there are 9 other opposing players playing defense to this one player on offense.  

It really is nine against one if he even hits the ball at all. 

And, while 3 strikes and 4 balls and 9 players, playing defense, may still seem like pretty good odds, there is also a stadium filled with spectators, surrounding and starring at that batter, many of whom do not want the player up to bat to hit anything. 

The reality is, all those bystanders in the stands are anxiously awaiting the outcome of each pitch. 

Therefore, the pressure on the batter, up to bat, is more than the 9 on the field but it includes all the eyes in the stands, on the batter up to bat both friend and foe. 

Wait, there’s more. 

If all this wasn’t pressured enough, what if the game was being televised for local, national, or even international audiences? The more you think about it, there could be millions and millions of people with all eyes on the batter watching and waiting to see the results of one individual player's performance. 

Nine opponents, plus the people in the stands, plus all the viewers watching on TV–with that large number it would seem like incredible pressure to perform.  

What goes through the mind of that batter will ultimately determine the outcome. His reaction to the pressure and the pitch may seem like a reflex reaction, but the truth is, if the batter has been preparing, that proactive preparation has happened long before that player takes the plate. 

This should serve as a reminder that the skills necessary to succeed at anything take preparation and practice long before the heat of the moment. 

At times the tasks we face in life, in the heat of the moment, may feel like it is you against the world and the numbers really aren’t in your favor. The odds seem stacked against you in this very competitive world. 

But just as there are great home run hitters, there are those that excel in all walks of life because they really aren’t alone, they just need a team behind them and the skills that will take them where they want to go and what they need to do to get there. 

You can embrace the times you are up to bat, even in the heat of the moment, by believing that success is possible by strengthening the skill set necessary to succeed. 

One key is to understand is that there are few pinch hitters who will do the heavy lifting for you. You must become your own designated hitter.  

Learning to stand up, stand strong, and stand solo isn’t a punishment or a prison sentence, it is strength training.  Those moments may stretch you, test you, and push you, but these are the moments that will define you and refine you. These are the moments that will help you grow.