Posts Tagged "montreal"
The Laraque Lesson.
(January 25, 2009 - Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images North America)
FULL DISCLOSURE – I’ve recently developed an interest in the great sport of Hockey. What’s weird about that? Well, I’m a 26 year old white male living in Montreal and up until about 6 months ago I couldn’t name more than three hockey players. When you live in Montreal, you’re expected to know, live, and breathe hockey. My recent interest developed cause I moved in with three friends who are avid hockey fans. Not to mention all my other friends watch hockey, so naturally, when there’s a party at our house it’s usually centered around a hockey game. In fact, as I write this, Montreal is losing 3 – 2 to Ottawa (UPDATE: they lost).
What I like the most about hockey is not who’s who or the stats of the game, but rather the funny things that can happen during a hockey game. Things that have nothing to do with the rules of hockey or even the actual game of hockey. Something that comes to mind recently was when Plekanec scored a goal and was celebrating and he fell face first on the ice, tripping Markov in the process who was making his way there to congratulate him on the goal or, like, when fans dress in green spandex and make fun of players in the penalty box.
These are the moments of hockey that make me keep watching. Lately I’ve been interested in the story of Georges Laraque. Laraque is known as the Habs’ goon, put on the ice to intimidate opposing hockey players. Georges Laraque is also Haitian and, as we all know, Haiti has lately been devastated by a massive earthquake. Another interesting fact about Georges Laraque is that he hasn’t scored a goal in the past 2 years… that is, until January 14th, 2010, one day after the Haiti earthquake hit.
Again, I remind you, I don’t know much about hockey, but something happened to Laraque. Something we can take a lesson from. See, Laraque was now playing a different game. His reason for playing hockey changed. It wasn’t about intimidating others or starting fights, now it was about those devastated in the destruction of Haiti. Laraque looked at the big picture. He wasn’t paying attention to the stats, he wasn’t overthinking things, he was in the mindset where he needed to trust himself and make things happen.
Laraque dedicated the goal to his people in Haiti, mentioning the goal was a miracle. Now, what can we learn from this? What can we take from Laraque’s situation that we can apply to our everyday lives that’ll help us love what we do? See, we have to look at the big picture of things. We need to find, in ourselves, why we do what we do. The reason you do what you do needs to inspire you, it needs to fuel you, it needs to give you the energy you need to perform. That’s what happened to Laraque on the 14th, his reason for playing hockey changed and the new reason gave him the energy and focus he needed to make him perform better than usual. Now, let’s not confuse Laraque’s success with Laraque’s performance. True success is playing at the top of your game and not the outcome or stats of a game. It’s the journey, not the destination. Scoring a goal is the outcome of good performance and the performance is what we’re all there to watch.
What to take away from this is that we all need to find a reason that empowers us in the morning, every morning, when we wake up. That reason, like I mentioned, needs to inspire you, it needs to set your insides on fire. You need to find that something that’ll fulfill you. Here’s the thing: that reason has nothing to do with any physical aspect or goal. If Laraque was playing hockey on January 14th so that he can higher his stats as a player, get a better contract, and get paid more money, then I doubt he would’ve ever scored at all. No, Laraque was inspired and emotional about his reason for playing hockey. He wasn’t playing for money, contracts, stats, he was playing to inspire others, he was playing so that Haiti, at it’s darkest, could shine just a little bit. And shine it did cause, after Laraque scored, the crowd broke into a giant standing ovation, yelling “La-Raque! La-Raque!” as loud as ever. These simple things, these simple reasons, they’re the reasons that change our world. Find your reason to change our world and do it and don’t look back. Whether you succeed or not doesn’t matter, what matters is how you got there.
Laraque was always very philanthropic - donating to various charities and increasing the well-being of his community Today, he continues to help out and raise awareness of the Haiti earthquake, in order to get aid to the people who need it immensely.
Again, I encourage whoever might be reading this to donate to help out those in Haiti. An easy way to donate is to simply text the word “HAITI” to 90999, which in turn sends a $10 donation to the Redcross. You can also donate via the Redcross. Obviously, anything counts.
Read More30 Day Challenges
So, I’m looking to change a few habits of mine. Mainly I want to develop a healthier lifestyle and workout and eat healthy. I’ve tried going all in and start doing EVERYTHING I want to do at once. It usually fails miserably. I’m now realizing that it’s not in changing everything all at once that you succeed but rather in chunking it down and working on pieces of yourself bit by bit. It starts with changing one habit at a time. The best way, from what I hear, is using 30 day challenges. Change 1 habit for 30 days and then move onto the next one.
I’m partaking in the challenge of simplifying my life. To many things make life way too complicated than it actually is. Really. Ever think of something you REALLY wanted to do and then suddenly get daunted and struck with what seems like the endless tasks you have to do in order to get to where you want to be? That, right there, is when you over think something. Over thinking things does no one any good cause most of the time what you think is WRONG! Yes, what you think is WRONG! Think you’re not good enough to do something, well, you’re WRONG! Think you don’t have enough confidence to e-mail that potential employer, talk to that cute girl, ask someone something – you’re WRONG! You do have the confidence, you just need to make it a habit.
That’s what I’m gonna do. Start taking on some 30 day challenges to change my life and accomplish some goals. What are some goals I have in mind: hmm… possibly underwear modeling, riding horseback on panda, making love in zero-gravity conditions, and kissing Barack Obama on the forehead and then cradling him in my chest. Wait… wait.. let’s scratch that last one. I’m pretty sure I didn’t write that…. No, in reality, everything is possible. It just needs ample time to ferment in your head. There needs to be a little plan there. A little visualization. You need to feel as if you already have what you’re looking for. If you had what you REALLY want in life today, how would you feel? how would the world look? fill yourself with these emotions daily and you’ll see your life will start to change.
Lately I’m finding I’m having a lot of fun performing. I’ve been making those Nonna Maria videos and having a blast. Obviously, I’m hiding behind a puppet of an old lady, but it’s fun none the less. My mission is to bring myself out there and get rid of whatever fear I might have about being conspicuous or in the spot light. Remember, extraordinary people are conspicuous so if you’re afraid, you need to dissolve that fear.
I recently hosted a RockBand competition at this year’s Twestival and it was good fun. Twestival was a lot of fun and the night was a great success. I love putting faces to people on Twitter, it’s like meeting celebrities. The conversations are a little weird though, “how many followers do you have?” It’s almost like a meeting of cult leaders except without the poisoned Kool-aid and suicides.
Now, after all that talk about habits and 30 day challenges. I’m having trouble choosing which habit to start with. Help me out guys! Should I start by eating right? Working out 5 – 6 times a week? Stop setting Dave’s face on fire? Ahh, the paradox of choice.
I’ll take this week to choose a challenge I want to do for the next 30 days and I’ll document here and on Twitter.
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