In the book Top Dog, Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman summarize a plethora of studies demonstrating the importance of having a reasonable, “fighting chance” of winning in order to function at peak performance levels. Being in the “right league” – with well-matched cohorts and legitimately achievable goals – and having a support team cheering you on help immensely – and measurably.*
A “fighting chance” is all one can ask in any circumstance:
Joshua was only 3 months old and failing to thrive when he and his brother were removed from untenable living conditions and transferred to foster care. Within two weeks, he developed labored breathing to a point that the foster parents had to take him to the emergency room. Despite the best care a tertiary medical center could offer, Joshua’s condition worsened and they had to put him in the pediatric ICU – basically in an “iron lung” with high pressure oxygen and tubes everywhere for feeding, medication, testing and monitoring purposes. During this process, Joshua’s “real” parents were notified of the crisis and visited the ICU but had to be removed after a few minutes. Both were heavy smokers and Joshua’s condition had notably worsened in their presence. As hours wore into days, Joshua’s condition waxed and waned without rhyme or reason. Speculative diagnoses could not be confirmed by definitive testing. Yet here was a fighter, fighting with every ounce of energy he could muster. Of course, he had no choice. Or did he? In fact, under heavy medication he could simply have “laid down arms” and placed himself at the mercy of the docs and nurses. But it was not in him not to take as much charge of his own welfare as was IN him. All the parents and foster parents could do was hope and pray he could have a “fighting chance”.
What would YOU do with a “fighting chance”?
How much of a “fighter” are you? What is “IN” you? What is NOT “in” you? In whose “charge” are you placing your own welfare? And how sustainable is that?
Sometimes folks don’t awaken from a stupefying cloud of unfounded assumptions, unrealistic expectations, contrived entitlements and gross misrepresentations until faced with dire circumstances. Adlai Stevenson observed:
“Man is a curious creature: He can’t read the handwriting on the wall until his back is up against it.”
Then we try to bargain with the Almighty, pledging to straighten up and fly right just as soon as the dire circumstances disappear.
What if we just went ahead and straightened up and flew right from the beginning – on our own account – for our own welfare – well before our backs are up against a wall? Isn’t that what we’re expected to do? Only what we are CAPABLE of doing – nothing more, but every bit of what we’re capable of doing. What if we gave ourselves a decent “fighting chance” to become all that we could be?
“There is only so much you can do, but you have to do that much.”
Garrison Keillor, Prairie Home Companion
The really toughest part about life – especially when we’re not in crisis – is deciding where to draw the line between knocking ourselves out – including sacrificing a lot of indulgences – and merely muddling through … taking whatever Fate throws at us. The spoils of victory go to those who “knock themselves out” with every “fighting chance” they’ve got. The rest of us have to live with our sorry selves and our sorry circumstances for the duration.
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*Unfortunately, some would-be competitors crumble at the first inkling of competition, even with a level-playing-field and substantial support. However, the really topmost performers are different. They seem to be able to respond to the most stringent circumstances in the biggest leagues, facing the biggest challenges with a consistent, all-out effort without goading or gilding. Some in this group are ingrained with the idea that failure is not an option. A fragment of this cohort considers each challenge a life-or-death matter; they cease to exist – at least in the manner to which they already have or would like to become accustomed – if they don’t “make it”.
Life-or-death circumstances – whether real or contrived – are extremely effective at drawing out peak performance – extracting the last full measure of whatever is “in” us. Making it through with all that’s in you is a life and death matter. Live as if you really meant to. And, wherever Destiny beckons, die trying! Quartermaster
