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Welcome to Friday and more specifically welcome to the Friday of Windermere Cup Weekend! All you need to know for the weekend ahead – starting tonight – right here!
I have a ton of new content for you all as I started back up my true podcast this week. That said, my gut this morning tells me to launch Episode 25 with commentary – next week (and I will). That said, for those of you who have the capacity to listen in sooner than later – please join me here as Windermere brokers, Cassie Walker Johnson & Jeremey Johnson mic up with me and openly share their process in using Buyer Agency Agreements in being “hired” & gaining commitment with their clients.
Ok, back to the Montlake Cut and my FWL focus. Today I’m pulling out a recap in an interview I had a chance to do with Yasmin Farooq, head University of Washington women’s rowing team coach. As a nod to those incredible athletes that will race the Montlake Cut this weekend – sharing some behind the scenes commentary from coach, herself in relation to the sport of rowing. As with our business – it’s the behind the scenes and grit that goes into race day that makes all the difference. And, how we “embrace the suck.”
The interview with Coach Yaz was specific to her 2020 season – one that started with hope of a third NCAA sweep in four seasons (no other program has done it before) to a story of resilience. I took Coach Yaz back to March 12, 2020 11:17am when it all began to change and change quickly. I’ll take you back to that morning – Seattle Times article, “Their season was swept away by the coronavirus outbreak, but the reigning NCAA champion UW women’s rowers remain unified.”
…fast forward, and let’s look back at how this team remained unified despite a normal season ending within hours and the challenges of 2020 took over.
“The whole theme for the year was, “Thank you,” Farooq said. “As in, when you get into the third 500 and your lungs and legs are on fire, you are grateful for the opportunity to be in there together. You’re going to find an extra gear for everyone around you.”
Coach Yaz went on to share with us several intentions that became the focus in their blueprint of the 2020 season – out of the boat and off the water. Let me take all of us inside of their locker room (figuratively speaking)…and then look inside our own locker rooms as we navigate less around a pandemic and more so around choppy waters of our 2022 market…
Bringing gratitude into next year because we know what it felt like to have a season taken away from us.
Growth mindset, staying in the present and rolling with the punches; trust ourselves to adapt to what’s going on.
Be in the now / love in the now; dedicating training to others and not focusing on outcome.
Make the days count instead of counting the days, be at peace with bad pieces.
Forgiveness: removing fear of expectations after a bad piece and give yourself love for the next piece.
Understand one another’s individual needs in addition to being one team.
How we carry ourselves through this time / training now brings value to the team later.
Removing others expectations / judgment of yourself in the workout.
Embracing every moment we get together in the future and not taking it for granted. Remembering how hard this is now to make those future moments appreciated.
Internal vs external focus. Reminding yourself that you are doing this because you want to. Shifting your long-term focus to each week.
Expectations to be fast vs enjoying and trusting the process.
Taking back control, knowing you are trusted and can decide what is best for you, and if you carry that into fall you can handle the hard tasks when they come.
Self-expectations and doing your work with joy to remove them.
I’m confident we will continue to commit & adapt to our market waters of ’22 – “third 500” of this race and yes my “lungs and legs are on fire” and yes – every day I am grateful “for the opportunity to be in [our boat] together“…
So I ask all of us – as we continue to stare resilience in it’s face – can we “find an extra gear for everyone around [us]?” Can you imagine if we did?
I’ll leave you with this. Here is a cool video that takes us inside the UW women’s varsity 8 at the 2019 NCAA’s. Inspirational and as Coach Yaz shared with me, reflects their training mindset to life on race day. Check out their final 250 on this race day – here.
