Don't Let 1 Problem Become 3

In our leadership worlds, we’re dealt plenty of hardships.

Some are able to stay the course and push on, while others compound their issues by letting an isolated problem spill into the other facets of their life.

Alabama Football Coach Nick Saban said he learned this lesson while working for his dad at a gas station.

“I was treating the customers bad,” Saban said. “(My dad) said, ‘What’s wrong with you today?’ I said, ‘My girlfriend broke up with me.’ He said, ‘Well, you got one problem. But if you keep treating the customers bad, you’re gonna have two more. I’m gonna fire you, and then I’m gonna whip you’re a-- for getting fired. So, you’re not going to have a girlfriend and you’re not going to have a job, and you’re gonna get your tail whipped.’”

It’s a funny anecdote, but it’s also one we can draw from.

It’s inevitable that things will at some point go wrong. We botch a presentation, come up with a poor game plan, get tripped up during an interview, say something stupid to someone we care about.

But when the mistakes and hardships arise, we have to be strategic about what we do next. A botched presentation is simply a botched presentation. It is not grounds for then getting frustrated with our family. A loss is a loss. It is not grounds for then losing our cool with the server at dinner. An issue at home is an issue at home. It is not grounds for berating our team for no other reason.

The longer we allow losses in one area to linger, the more likely they are to negatively impact some other area of our lives. And that just makes our problems worse.

The next time something goes awry, let’s think back on this video of Saban and remind ourselves not of a seven-time national championship coach but of a young boy doing a poor job at a gas station after getting dumped.

Then let’s make sure we get back to work.

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