Capable.

I have a lot of memories from high school soccer, but one always stands out when I think about the power of a hard reset and the truth. Mental toughness kicked in and the reward was great.

Each year, our team would travel to Peoria, IL, to play in the Peoria Christian Tournament. The team that hosted this tournament was Peoria Christian High School (hence the name). There was no doubt that Peoria Christian was the best team at this tournament each year, beating out most every other team by +3 goals. That changed my senior year though.

If you've heard me talk about high school soccer, you know it is one of the most important parts of who I am. We went through massive improvement as a team over those four years and the growth we experienced in such a short time was incredible. By the time my senior year came around, our team was playing well both individually and as a team, and it showed at the Peoria Christian Tournament.

To make a long story short: we were playing great against Peoria Christian, down 1-0 near the end of the first half when we got a PK. (If you don't know soccer, that's a penalty kick. Almost a guaranteed goal. Most coaches call it a "crap shoot") I was the one to take the penalty kick as I practiced them constantly and consistently. This was our chance to tie up the game before going into the 2nd half. Humbling moment - I hit the crossbar (top of the goal) and it came back to me, I hit it again, and over the crossbar out of bounds. When I tell you I was discouraged, I was feeling mentally defeated, incapable, embarrassed, and like I let my team down. They were counting on me, and I didn't deliver. The whole rest of that half I was without a doubt the worst player on the field. I was in my head.

Half time came around and I had a choice. I sat down by myself for about 5 minutes before the whistle blew to start second half and I remember saying to myself, "You know how to play. You know how to receive the ball, you know how to pass the ball, you know how to communicate, you know how to move in and out of space..." I went on and on reminding myself that I was capable. It was what I needed. To round out the story, I played an incredible second half, and we went on the win the game 2-1, not to mention I scored a goal to make up for the missed PK.

I share this story because I can't help but think how often we are in a leadership position and everyone is counting on us to deliver, and we mess up big. We get in our own head, begin to doubt ourselves; feeling incapable, embarrassed, and like a total let down. After all, it's the easy thought when everything goes south on our accord. Don't fall into that trap though. Redemption is always one choice away, and that choice always begins with a hard mental reset. "I am capable. I know how to lead. Go do it."

Failure is always hard, and it will always place doubt in the minds of your team. That's just the way it goes. But the reward when you pull through and lead the change in outcome is far greater in joy than the defeat is in discouragement. Doubt is removed, failure is redeemed, and victory is clear.

Don't fall into the trap. Stay mentally tough and speak truth to yourself. You're Capable.

If you weren't capable, you wouldn't be here.