4 Ways to Seize the Moment

I had the chance to catch-up on some reading while on vacation recently.  I received The Power of Moments from a co-worker as a birthday present (she knows my love language is books), and it had been sitting on my office desk just itching to be read.

The book highlights the importance of four characteristics that create moments:

1. Elevation- Experiences that “rise above the routine.”
2. Insight– Experiences that “rewire our understanding of ourselves or the world”.
3. Pride–  Experiences that “capture us at our best” including times of achievement and/or courage.”
4. Connection– Experiences that are social and that are heightened because they are shared with others.

And I can think of no better “moment” to share than that of our little girl’s first t-ball game this past weekend.

Her coach apparently understands how to create a moment. Check out the video of her at bat here:

 

You may not have noticed the nuances that make this a moment if you aren’t looking for them in the video, so here they are:

1. Elevation-The coach went out of his way to get the Atlanta Braves announcer to record an intro for each kid… “Now batting for the Ball Patrol (yes, a play off of PawPatrol the kid TV show), number ten, Paige Ward!”   Yes, you read that right, the Atlanta Braves announcer.   He also asked parents to help select their kids “walk up song” and since Paige calls “This Girl is on Fire” her theme song, of course we had to go with it.  Her other favorite song “Body Like a Back Road” just wasn’t appropriate…   Four-year-old t-ball is eventful and memorable for a number of reasons, but it usually doesn’t include walk up songs and professional announcers calling out your name.   In addition, he had a smoke machine for them all to run through to come out on the field.

2. Insight– This helped us as parents realize, more than perhaps the kids did, that this is supposed to be fun.  It isn’t about winning and losing and it isn’t about our kid being the best. It is about the sheer fun of the game.   An insight we all need to realize more.  Life is should be more about having some fun.

3. Pride- Paige is one of two girls on her team. The other little girl on the team, unfortunately, didn’t want to play once she got there, got scared and sat in her grandmother’s lap the whole game.  But for Paige, this was an I can do this with all the boys type moment.  It was a moment to create courage at her first at bat. Oh how fitting then was her walk up song.

4. Connection-T-ball is a team sport and a sport where family and friends come and watch.  It is shared and the sharing of it makes it more fun.  Our neighbors across the street came to see the walk-out routine and laugh with us at the mass chaos four year old t-ball is. All the grandparents were there.   It was something we will have shared memories about.

So kudos to this coach that gets what it means to be a leader by creating moments.  Maybe it is easier to create moments for kids, but I think it can be just as easy to create them in the workplace if we will only challenge our thinking to elevate, create insight and pride and connect with others.

When was your last workplace moment?