When my son was young he played tee ball. It was a blast to watch but there was always something missing: The thrill of victory. Yes, they were all young and impressionable kids, but what was wrong with winning? At the end of some games teams had monstrous leads–30-12 wasn’t unheard of. So, by the time our late dinner rolled around, the rules dictated that no team lost–everybody wins!!
I never really minded, but even back then something bugged me about this practice. I knew what the score was. The rest of the parents knew the end result. And for sure the kids on each team knew who was victorious. In the back of my head I kept thinking the winning team was deprived of “feeling” that win–a great feeling.
As my son grew older he finally was able to play “meaningful” games. He experienced the thrill of victory for the most part. On occasion his teams would come up on the short end. He always took this in stride. Some of his teammates took it…not so much in stride. I started to think a bit more.
Those early tee ball lessons teach us sportsmanship, that its the way you play the game and not if you win or lose. I finally figured it out–what a bunch of BS!!
Our society is messed up because of this “be nice” concept. Revisit the tee ball games–how in the world can you teach good sportsmanship if you never lose? Its easy to teach sportsmanship when you win! Somewhere in our politically correct past we screwed up how we learn.
In general more mistakes are made than are correct decisions. Think about how many times the light bulb didn’t work–then one time it finally did. We learn from our mistakes–plain and simple! How else do we know things? The right things? By coming up short on the decision end, thats how!
Decision-making is a very interesting topic. One I will cover during the Duneland School of Emergency Response (www.dunelandfireschool.com) April 10 & 11. Our brain picks up on the things we do and the mistakes we make. We make good decisions based on prior mistakes (there are exceptions). Our brains quickly learn what we don’t even realize we are learning. This turns out where our intuition comes from. Intuition is really a fact-based “behind-the-scenes” process that is so fast we instantly feel that something isn’t right (or is right).
On the fireground this is what makes the difference between a fireground commander and a great fireground commander. Where does the great FG commander get this intuition? Has this commander made that many mistakes? Hopefully not–it comes from training, reading and thinking. Observing in person or through white papers/magazine/Internet and other articles can enhance that intuition. We learn from others’ mistakes. We must continually improve in order to build up that intuition.
After all it is how you play the game–and in our game losing is not an option. Start winning by learning about mistakes.
Mike Bucy
Owner
Red Devil Training
