Growing up a Chicago Bears fan, she’d see the likes of Walter Payton, Mike Singletary, and William Perry working their way up and down the field on her TV screen. She always admired the team’s ability to overcome a deficit. No matter the situation, the team would give it their all to try and figure out how to move the ball down the field.
This week I had the honor of hosting Jennifer Garrett on On the Whistle. Jen is a leadership coach, a speaker, an author, a mom of five, and also commissioned officer of the United States Military serving as a JAG lawyer. She wears a lot of hats she joins me on On the Whistle this week to talk about the MOVING THE BALL.
Jen has authored a fascinating book called Move the Ball: How the Game of American Football Can Help You Achieve Your Life Goals. In it, Jen draws a parallel between the principles needed to win the game of football and those principles needed to live a happy, successful life. How do you identify the blitzers? How do you celebrate the small wins and express gratitude for where you are?
Jen briefly takes us through the military side of things when she explains the importance of discipline and continuous improvement through what’s called an AAR or an After Activity Review. In the AAR, you’re assessing the mission as a whole; what’s gone well? What went poorly? Where can we/I improve next time? It’s important to retrospect, even when you believe you had a completely successful mission; there’s always room to improve!
Jen talks about being committed to using your energy to energize. Are you using your energy to bring others up or are you sucking energy out of them through negativity? What is the effect does this thing is going to have on my peers? Is it going to help? Does it vibrate them higher? Or is it something negative that’s going to take their energy down? As a sports-minded parent, I was intrigued to see her connect these two seemingly unrelated things; life & football. It was a pleasure hearing and learning from Jen through her experience and insight. Click the link below to hear the episode!