moving the chains

The Importance of the Everyday

Happy Sunday, gang! I hope you’re all well-rested, thanks to that extra hour’s sleep last night — just be careful out on the road tomorrow, particularly if you’re a deer.

Unfortunately, I squandered my extra hour staying up late and shouting at the television, as my beloved, beleaguered Fighting Irish pulled off an improbable thumping of the mighty Clemson Tigers (apologies to any Tigers fans out there).

They did it the old-fashioned way: on the ground. Looking like a squad from the Lou Holtz era, the ND offense called running play after running play, stuffing the ball right up the Clemson gullet: 47 rushing attempts, averaging 5.6 yards per play, for a total of 263 yards.

in football as in life

For the vast majority of you who don’t care, rest assured that I am coming to a point. While watching this team grind it out, I was reminded of a book I read recently: the outrageously-titled but ultimately-sensible F*ck Your Feelings by Ryan Munsey.

Munsey’s premise is that, according to recent psychological research, “95% of decisions are based on feelings. Not logic. Not rational thought. Feelings.”  The book then goes on to review various techniques, adopted from folks like Olympic athletes and Navy SEALS, that readers can use to reduce their emotional reactivity and take more conscious control of their day-to-day life.

One my favorite tips that Munsey offers is what he calls “moving the chains,” which invokes the metaphor of a 3.4-yard gain in football. For those of you non-football people, 3.4 yards is not a whole lot. Fans don’t get all that jazzed about a play that results in only 3.4 yards. But Munsey’s point is that if a team were to gain 3.4 yards on every play, they would successfully gain 10 yards on each set of downs (what is referred to as “moving the chains”), they’d score a touchdown every possession, and ultimately win the game. He goes on to tell readers to,

“forget about Hail Marys and highlight-reel plays. Great football franchises are not built on low-efficiency strategies filled with hope and prayers.

“Similarly, successful lives, businesses, relationships, etc, are not built on these strategies.

“Successful and enduring things are built by doing the boring, mundane, fundamental actions with remarkable consistency, constantly putting the organization and team members in the best possible position for successful outcomes.”

So every day, at the top of his to-do list, Munsey writes “#MTC.” Next to it goes the one small thing that, if accomplished, would move him just a little bit closer to his most important goal. It might be making one call, or writing one email, or showing up at the gym.

playing like a champion

I like this idea. On one hand, it lowers the stakes for daily action. We don’t have to be perfect every day, we just have to get that little bit of forward progress. On the other hand, it gives dignity to those little things might seem too small to be significant, and lets us know that, if only slowly, we are getting there.

As a lifelong Notre Dame fan, I’ve got plenty of gear branded with the team slogan, “Play like a champion today.” It’s a command that’s always conjured for me images of big, dynamic performances, and as such it can be both inspiring and intimidating. But reframing it in Munsey’s terms, Champions are people who do the “boring, mundane, fundamental actions with remarkable consistency.” That’s a thought that gives me hope: perhaps Champion status is within reach for all of us.

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book club update

As I mentioned earlier this week, The Unremarkable Brain Book Club is ON! This month we’re reading Vinnie Tortorich’s Fitness Confidential.

Re-reading Part 1 yesterday, I was struck at how possibly-inappropriate a selection this might have been for our first go-round. (Oops!) Vinnie definitely comes out swinging from the very first chapter, and I worried that his brand of humor may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Ah, well. I assure you, there are lots of good nuggets of information in this book, if you’re willing to stick with it. (If it’s not your thing, I’ll understand. December’s selection, Dr. Mary Newport’s forthcoming Clearly Keto is sure to be a fascinating one! Preorder it now on Amazon or Bookshop.org)

Anyway, for those of you hanging in there (or whose interest has now been piqued), I’ll post a thread this week where we can share quotes, reactions, takeaways — good, bad, indifferent, or otherwise. Keep an eye on your inbox, mark your calendar for the evening of Wednesday, 11/30, and as always, thank you for being part of this community!