The 4 P’s are the pillars of transitioning from fitting in to standing out. Referee Rant presents to you a 4-part series where we give you each pillar. Today is one, tomorrow is another. The final two, will be next week. Part 1, now.
“Our patience will achieve more than our force.” – Edmund Burke
It’s the middle of the night and it’s getting late. I’m trying to find the right words to convey what I want on this post, and I’m not sure if I ever will. I’m agitated – restless. My power has been wrested away, only to go nowhere, fast. Writing how I writ bees like that – for an idea can come in a flash, I must quickly type it, or pen it, capture it any which way, or I run the risk of the creativity walking out of my life, forever. Time often seems like this. The subject matter embedded with these some-hundred words concerns the virtue, the one we are all trying to attain, or simply refuse to ever. What I speak of, is – Patience.
“Have patience with all things, but, first of all with yourself.”
– Saint Francis de Sales
Writing is an all-encompassing patient skill. It takes time to create something out of nothing. It takes even more time to make that something into EVERYTHING. That’s my mindset every time I write. It may seem natural to me now, and may seem magical to you, but I assure you it wasn’t always. Like That. At all. I picked up the habit of making terrible sappy love poems that wouldn’t stick to a tree that’s emitting with ink. I admit it – I would write about girls I’d never have the balls to speak to but find catharsis in writing about how I would if I did. Bad poems, turned to satisfactory ones. Those turned to acceptable essays. Which then turned to a complete command of the English language with a hint of hues from the hood.
“Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” – Saadi
And now I can write like this. Anyway which way, in any point. In any direction. Similar is the plight of an official. “We want to see more plays,” we often say in the business. But it’s like anything – ambition exceeds the allotment of time, wisdom is amassed ever-so laggardly, And so, patience comes from a place that is slow, boring, monotonous, bland, and often unfulfilling. There’s skullduggery in the drudgery, especially when you are thinking about your last game, when you haven’t even gotten to the location of your first. This is the dilemma of the impatient ref; for we were all once one of these officials, ourselves.
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” – Jean-Jacques Rousseau
But, “Genius is patience,” Sir Isaac Newton once said, and those connections are only evident through embracing such ennui. In officiating, the games are set up the same, or similar. Time and patience are our ally, but often they feel like our enemy when ego gets in the way of purpose. You want to be doing better games. You are hungry. You mind is elsewhere and you are thinking about what your doing when this is all over. Instead of being engaged with the task at hand. But as the reps go from reprehensible to preferable, you become patient AF. But that skill takes patience.
“Patience is not simply the ability to wait – it’s how we behave while we’re waiting.” – Joyce Meyer
Patience is a skill, invaluable to a referee. Here are ways to become patient, one patient step, at a time.
OFF THE FIELD
1. DO THINGS OUTSIDE OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE: This is a recurring theme in the life of an official. When you first start out, you are used to being in a state of uncomfortableness, but will eventually be alleviated with time. One way to make uncomfortable being comfortable is to do something that you find very challenging, but not required in your daily life, nor has any benefit, other than your own conquering of a challenge. For example, I taught myself to write left-handed, with no other benefit than being ambidextrous. This was never a requirement in life, but nonetheless a rewarding goal to accomplish. It was painstakingly hard, as well as painful, as neurons in your brain that were never used before became connected to the other side of your brain, which gives you connections in your mind that you never thought existed. You will lament from the suffering you are subjecting yourself, when any given time you can switch to your dominant hand and call it a day. But this forced me to be patient, even when I thought this was impossible. Learn how to write left handed, here.
2. READ HIGH-LEVEL CONTENT FOUND IN – BOOKS. Books compliment the official who is trying to elevate to the next level. Surely you will be thumbing through each respective sports
Suggested Reading, Referee Rant Approved:
Think & Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill
How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
Mastery – Robert Greene
Laws of Emotion – Robert Greene
Anything with – Robert Greene….
ON THE CLOCK
FAIL SPECTACULARLY – Writing left-handed, it looks way worse before it gets better, and that’s like officiating anything. Some rules, scenarios in a case book are brought to life in real time when they happen to you. But you may have not read it, or seen the play in which you just saw. Now what? Embrace it. Absorb it. Shame gets shameless, and you become susceptible of being impervious to anything. But it starts with not being perfect. Perfection isn’t the name of the game. Instead it’s nomenclature is I was wrong. But never. Again.
“The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.” – Leo Tolstoy
BE PRESENT – Whether you have 1 game or 10 in one day, don’t think about what happened before, nor what is about to happen. Be here, be now, then patience ain’t a thing – you are now enjoying each moment, one second at a time.
“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
MASTER THE ART OF TIMING – Never seem to be in a haste – hurrying betrays lack of control over oneself and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually, because it will. Become clairvoyant of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the #trends that will carry you to ascension of power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe yet strike aggressively when it has reached fruition.
“Space we can recover, time never.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
above, all-seeing with its powerful eyes. Those below have
no awareness that they are being tracked. Suddenly,
when the moment arrives, the hawk swoops
down with a speed that cannot be de-
fended against; before its pretty
knows what has happened,
the bird’s viselike talons
have carried it
up into the
sky.
Patience can’t be bought but it can be taught. With these principals, patience will become more natural, and will make you laugh about all those times when you were in a rush for no good reason at all.
“Good things come to those who wait, but only things left by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln
