Exploiting personal disaster

On June 24, the Boston Red Sox had the worst record in the American League. Since then they have won 19 of 21 games including a 14-game winning streak, the longest for the team since 1946.

Streaks happen. But I was fascinated to learn what happened just as this streak was taking off.

The Sox’ travel difficulties started on June 24 in Denver. But what happened a few weeks later was outrageous.

On the afternoon of Thursday, July 9, the Red Sox won an afternoon game in Chicago against the White Sox. Around 6 pm, they got on a plane at Chicago’s Midway Airport.

The takeoff was delayed due to thunderstorms. Then the vehicle towing the plane away from the gate had a mechanical issue. They sat on the tarmac for six hours. At 1 am, the travel staff for the Sox gave up and booked them back into hotels in Chicago.

At 11 am, they were back on a plane in Chicago headed for New York, to play the Mets. A mechanical issue with the plane cost them another three hours. Food was hard to come by; some players on rigid dietary regimes ended up eating the only food available, doughnuts.

They eventually landed at La Guardia, near the Mets’ field, and played the game with a start delayed due to all the travel difficulties.

They were exhausted. But they beat the Mets. And they kept winning games, which has continued every game since then.

I cannot really relate to what it feels like to be a professional athlete playing in front of a big crowd almost every day. But I can certainly relate to what it feels like to be stuck in a travel nightmare without appropriate food to eat, checking into a strange unplanned hotel late at night with the likelihood of not getting the rest I need.

If you travel at all for work, you know what that feels like. It sucks.

What’s amazing is how the Sox turned adversity into something powerful.

According to Pete Abraham, Sox reporter for the Boston Globe:

Several players, righthanded reliever Justin Slaten among them, believe the team’s recent travel difficulties played a role in bringing the players closer together. . . .

“In a weird way, it gave us this [expletive] attitude that whatever happens, happens,” Slaten said. “Everything is against us, let’s just go out there and have fun.

“When something takes away everything that you think is controllable, it’s time to put up or shut up. We just went out there and played, and there were no excuses.”

As the Sox waited for a flight to New York, Slaten said the players turned to gallows humor.

“A couple of the guys were saying they felt bad for the Mets because they have no idea how mad we are,” he said. “You saw what happened.” . . .

They looked forward to just playing baseball.

“You spend 10 hours in an 8-foot [-wide] tube with each other … you get closer,” [pitcher Payton Tolle] said. “We’re just going to keep playing the baseball that we’ve been playing.”

[Pitcher Garrett] Whitlock said: “Throw it back to travel-ball days. You drive and show up wherever you’re going, get out there and play and have fun.”

Could this inspire you?

Stuff goes wrong when you work. Computers stop working. Internet goes down. Coworkers get sick. And, far too frequently, planes are delayed and hotels are screwed up.

It’s very easy to use these problems as an excuse. You had everything planned out, and now you have to deal with some disaster that makes it far too hard to do your job.

It’s fine to feel frustrated and angry.

Use that.

Get mad, like the Red Sox.

The Mets never knew what hit them.

The same could apply to your next challenge.

Imagine what you could do if you turned all that emotion into “screw it” confidence.

You’ve got your excuse all packaged up neatly. Leave those excuses behind.

Now go out and show them what you’re made of.