The Size of Your Dreams - - (large screen ebook reader .txt) 📗
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“So I’m going to be stuck with this card for life?” Darnell asked.
“You’ll have it as long as it serves you. I’ve torn up many Continual Growth cards over the years, not because I achieved their objective, but because my priorities changed.”
“When we started this whole card business,” Jarod said, “you were pretty insistent we have a clear goal with a timeline.”
“I was. Continual Growth cards are simpler, which ironically makes them harder to keep to. I always recommend starting with the Outcome cards and adding Continual Growth cards only once the notecards are a part of your life. Darnell, what’s your objective?”
“Well, I want to learn more about health and cooking.”
“Is that your objective, just to learn?”
“No, I guess not. My objective is to be healthy.”
“Better. But ‘be healthy’ is rather blah language, isn’t it? Let’s see if we can’t spice it up a little. We want to come up with something that will give you an emotional charge.”
“Um…Like what?”
“Start by throwing out some words. What are things you want?”
“Health. Energy.”
“Mastermind group, help him along.”
“How about vibrancy, Darnell?” I said.
“Stamina?” Christy said.
“Yeah, those are good,” Darnell said.
“OK, so for a first draft,” Mr. Griffin wrote on the board, “let’s try:
I intend to continually improve my health, energy, vibrancy, and stamina. To accomplish this, I will:
“Mastermind group, what are things Darnell can do to reach this goal?”
“I know Darnell’s been watching food videos while on his treadmill,” I said. “It sounds like that’s been working.”
“And cooking meals,” Christy said.
“Correct,” Mr. Griffin said, “but remember, on the Continual Growth Cards, the steps have to be measurable.”
I chewed on my pen. “So could a step be to watch at least one hour of health videos each day while walking on the treadmill?”
“Precisely, Kelvin. Christy, can you make the same change to your step?”
“Uh, OK. So Darnell could make sure to cook at least one healthy meal per day. Would that work?”
“Don’t ask me. Darnell, what do you think?”
“It sounds pretty good.”
“Just pretty good? If that’s all, then we’re not there yet. What do you think we’re missing, Darnell?”
“Well, I like the learning, even if it’s not just for me. Last night, when I looked up how diet can help recovery from injury, I was fascinated by it, even though I was looking it up for Christy. But the way we have it here, it doesn’t support my objective.”
“I see what’s bothering you,” Mr. Griffin said. “Can you see how to fix it?”
“Well if I want to be doing more learning, even if it’s not for me, then it seems like the learning itself needs to be in the objective. Right?”
“You know Darnell,” Mr. Griffin said, “I do believe you’re getting this.”
“The same goes for the cooking,” Darnell added. “If I wanted to cook just to have healthy foods to eat, I could get by with just making the same things over and over. But I’m having fun experimenting with new ingredients. So I think that should also be in the objective.”
“Wonderful. Write it out and read off your new objective.”
Darnell bent over his card. “Got it. It now says:
I intend to continually improve my health, energy, vibrancy, and stamina, and to continually increase my knowledge about health and cooking. To accomplish this, I will:
1) Watch at least one hour of health-related videos per day while walking on my treadmill
2) Cook healthy meals at least five times per week
3) Experiment with at least one new ingredient per week
“I want everyone to notice,” Mr. Griffin said, “that I used the phrase ‘continually grow’ when I wrote a draft of the card, and Darnell changed that to ‘continually improve’ and ‘continually increase’ on his version of the card. Does anyone see a problem with that?”
I knew Mr. Griffin was meticulous in the language he used for these cards, but I couldn’t see the issue. Apparently, no one else could either.
“Good,” Mr. Griffin said, “I’m glad no one said anything. For the fact is, there is no problem. Darnell preserved the function of the card while switching to language that spoke to him. Using language that inspires you is key to the effectiveness of the cards. So Darnell, how do you feel about your new card?”
“It’s a big improvement over the old one.”
* * *
Christy invited me to watch the swim team tryouts since they were my idea. I suspected she just wanted me to see with my own eyes how pathetic the new girls would be. Though she was going along with the steps we suggested, she wasn’t particularly optimistic they’d make a difference. I’d had enough experience by now with the notecards to know that was still OK. They were a tool for building momentum and didn’t need to create an overnight miracle.
“What kind of girl…” Christy had just gotten her first glimpse of the potential recruits, “shows up for a swim team tryout in a bikini?” She shot me a look that said this is all your fault, then hobbled off to join Coach Sue by the side of the pool.
I actually thought the girl in the bikini looked quite good. Until she got in the water. Christy watched her swim all of two ungainly strokes, then flipped me the finger. Bad as she was, at least she wasn’t the worst of the girls trying out. The second girl hit the water with such a splash that even I got wet in the bleachers. This time, Christy just laughed in my direction.
The third girl sat reading a book, not even watching the first two trials. She was the only one of the three who bothered to wear a swim cap, though admittedly it looked pretty stupid with her reading glasses over it. Coach Sue called out to her, “Amanda, it’s your turn. Amanda!”
The second call got her attention. She removed her glasses, lay them on her book, and stepped to the edge of the pool. Coach Sue held out her stopwatch. “On your marks, get set, Go!”
Now I’d never actually been to a swim meet, so I didn’t have much to compare her to, but damn, that girl was fast! Christy and Coach Sue exchanged a look. When Amanda reached the end of the pool, she turned awkwardly, not like the flip-turns I’d seen Christy do the first time I’d attended practice. Coach Sue kept peeking down at her stopwatch and slammed down the hammer the moment Amanda hit the edge of the pool. She held it out for Christy to see and the two of them spoke in hushed tones.
Amanda pulled herself out of the pool, and I slipped down from my place on the bleachers to listen in. Coach Sue said, “Nice job,” and strode away to deal with the girls arriving for practice.
Amanda toweled off and approached Christy. “Your coach didn’t seem so pleased with me.”
“She had mixed reactions and said it’s my call as captain.”
“Isn’t that normally the coach’s decision?”
“Normally. But I’m the one who needs replacing, and I wanted the tryout, so she’s passing the decision off to me.”
Amanda bounced on her tiptoes. “So…am I on the team?”
“Why don’t you shower and get dressed, and we’ll discuss it.”
Amanda shrugged and headed toward the locker room. Once she was out of earshot, I said, “You’re going to take her, right?”
“I’m not sure.”
“No? I don’t know much about swimming, but she seemed good. How was her time?”
“I’ve swum as fast as she did that first lap twice before, but never in practice.”
“She’s faster than you?”
“Only on that first lap. Her turn was awful. She’s clearly never been coached.”
“But with a little coaching, she can be good?”
“Yeah. But Coach Sue already worked with the team on turns early in the year. She’s not interested in changing her coaching for one girl. She can give me a little bit of Coach Dana’s time to work with Amanda, but mainly, if I want her to get good, I’d have to help her myself.”
“Are you able to do that? Are you good enough to help her out?”
“Yeah, I could. Especially with Dana’s help.”
“So what’s the question?”
“She’s the homeschooler.”
“So she can only swim if we convince her to enroll in school?”
“Right.”
“Well, maybe she’s prepared to. After all, she got in touch with you, so she wants to be part of this. And she’d only have to be in school for a couple of months anyway.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
Something didn’t add up. Christy thought the team had a great chance at winning the state championship before her accident. Then, with her injury, she thought there was little chance. Now she found someone who could be even faster than her and get the team back on track. Why was she so lukewarm? “What’s going on with you, Christy?”
“I don’t know.” She looked down into the water. Was she sad? Disappointed?
I got a dark feeling in my gut. “You don’t want her to succeed, do you?”
Her head jumped up. “Of course I do.”
“There’s a part of you that’s hoping she doesn’t enroll, isn’t there?”
“She’ll be good for the team. Of course, I want her.”
“What’s your goal, Christy?”
“You know what my goal is.”
“Tell me again.”
“My goal is to win the state championship.” There was no life in her voice.
“Louder. What’s your goal?”
Christy rolled her eyes. “My goal is to win the state championship,” she mumbled.
“I can barely hear you. Come on, one more time. What’s your goal, Christy?” Her eyes shot up to mine, and she almost yelled, “My goal was to get a swimming scholarship, damn it!”
“But your card says—.”
“I know what my card says, and I want to win. I do. I want to do it in memory of my coach, and I want to do it for the team. But I’d also wanted to do it for me. If we won the championship, as captain and anchor, I’d be set for a swimming scholarship, and I’d be able to afford to go to college.
“Once I got hurt, all that went out the window. College coaches only have so many scholarships to give out, and if they give one to someone who’s suffered a major injury, that’s taking a big risk. Even if a coach was impressed by me, she’d still wonder if I could make a full recovery. You guys helped me see that coming back really is possible. That means my best chance for getting my scholarship is to put every ounce of energy I’ve got into rehabbing myself. If I can make it back this year, I’ve still got a shot. I don’t think I can do that and be Amanda’s coach at the same time.”
I didn’t know what to say. Amanda came out of the locker room. Her hair was pulled back tight behind her, and she wore baggy overalls atop a mismatched flannel shirt.
Christy braced herself, then said, “You swam really well, Amanda. We’d definitely take you on the team if you were eligible. Unfortunately, you don’t actually go to our school. So unless you’re planning on enrolling, there’s not much we can do.”
If I wanted to convince Amanda to enroll, I would have talked to her about the amazing things the team was doing, made her feel like being part of such an incredible
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