A vision to clarify who we want our children to become, and why such an ideal is necessary to help them live better lives and to help us determine what really matters.
Oct 20, 2023·edited Oct 20, 2023Liked by Shane Trotter
Cool metaphor Shane. Thank you for sharing it. This is consistent with the message I shared with the middle-school boys basketball team I coached the past two years. After an early-season tournament where we got challenged and spiritually folded, we talked about the size of the fire in their hearts (and those of our opponents). To drive home the point and make it "real," I brought a box of matches to practice. For each player, I lit the match and encouraged them to blow it out. Easy right? Then we talked about campfires and wildfires and how the wind does not blow them out... but actually fuels the flames to burn bigger and hotter. It proved to be a pretty powerful metaphor for our team. This ended up being an effective way to introduce Nassim Taleb's concept of "anti-fragility"... as the third step beyond fragility and resilience. "Obstacles make me stronger!"
Hey, John! Thank you for this awesome comment. What a great exercise to introduce the concept of anti-fragility! I thought about trying to smush that in to the Fire-Carrier write up but I felt like I was forcing it. Love how you made the connection, though. Fire in the hearts must be big enough that the adversity leads you to strengthen rather than wither. Great stuff!
I just stumbled on this quote that reminded me of you and this article:
"An angel told me that the only way to step into the fire and not get burnt, is to become the fire".
-- Drew Dellinger
Cool metaphor Shane. Thank you for sharing it. This is consistent with the message I shared with the middle-school boys basketball team I coached the past two years. After an early-season tournament where we got challenged and spiritually folded, we talked about the size of the fire in their hearts (and those of our opponents). To drive home the point and make it "real," I brought a box of matches to practice. For each player, I lit the match and encouraged them to blow it out. Easy right? Then we talked about campfires and wildfires and how the wind does not blow them out... but actually fuels the flames to burn bigger and hotter. It proved to be a pretty powerful metaphor for our team. This ended up being an effective way to introduce Nassim Taleb's concept of "anti-fragility"... as the third step beyond fragility and resilience. "Obstacles make me stronger!"
Hey, John! Thank you for this awesome comment. What a great exercise to introduce the concept of anti-fragility! I thought about trying to smush that in to the Fire-Carrier write up but I felt like I was forcing it. Love how you made the connection, though. Fire in the hearts must be big enough that the adversity leads you to strengthen rather than wither. Great stuff!
Love this quote! Filing it for later. Thank you for sharing.