Have you ever felt like you’re “rollin’”?  Life is good.  You have purpose.  You’re fulfilled.  Your family is great.  The job is good.  You have a great impact project.  This is when life seems great all around.

There are also isolated events where you can be “rollin’”.  You may call them mountain top experiences.  These type of things can carry us for months, years, or even a lifetime.  You may never forget what happened and you might have learned an Indelible Lesson.

Hard Times

Sorry, Paramore fans.  This is not about their hit song, Hard Times.  Although, the song reminds us that rock bottom is possible, but shouldn’t drive fear in our lives.  Sometimes you have to get there to get back up.

See 10 Famous Entrepreneurs Who Failed In Business Before Becoming Successful from Small Business Sense.  This will give you some inspiration.  If Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, and Oprah Winfrey failed, then it’s okay if you have a setback.

The hard times are learning experiences.  

Keeping with the music theme, “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger”.  It’s hard to believe that this song is ten years old.  But, it’s not hard to believe the saying has been around for way longer.  People have been failing, learning, and getting strong since the beginning of time.  Thomas Edison is the oldest person on the previous list, but he certainly wasn’t the first.  How about King David from the Bible?  

The 1993 Dallas Cowboys

I’m bringing it back to football.  If you aren’t a National Football League fan, it might seem that I’m trying to recruit you.  I am not.  But in truth, I am asking you to consider the lessons we can learn from this real-life athletic soap opera.

I wrote about Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay Packers coach in the September 29, 2020 E-Impact Blog entry because he was a tremendous leader.  Impactmakers are leaders.  But, we’re also not invincible.

The beginning of the 1993 NFL season began without one of the best players in the league at the time.  In fact, it was missing a future Hall-of-Famer,  Emmitt Smith.

The Cowboys were coming off a Super Bowl championship in the ’92 season and were favorites to win it again.  Unfortunately, Emmitt wanted to be the highest paid running back in the league.  He sat out the first two games and the Cowboys lost each game.

This Los Angeles Times article chronicles the events and the details of Emmitt’s new $7 million contract.  That’s a lot of money now and it was even more back then.  But, it was worth it.  Emmitt signed the deal before the third game and the Cowboys went on a seven game winning streak.

In the tenth game of the season they lost to the Falcons in Atlanta.  Game eleven was the infamous Thanksgiving Classic against the Miami Dolphins where Leon Lett tried to recover a blocked kick that should have been avoided while his teammates stood in disbelief.  Dallas lost its fourth game of the season.  They learned another lesson.

Thankfully for Cowboy fans, the Dolphins game would be their last loss of the season.  They ran the table in the regular season and blew through the playoffs to win their second consecutive Super Bowl.  

The team showed resilience.  They let the tough time “roll off” them and stuck to what they knew.  Eventually, they were “rolling’ again. 

Types of Rolling

“Wheels are the archetype of a primitive, caveman-level technology. But in fact, they're so ingenious that it took until 3500 B.C. for someone to invent them.”

-Natalie Wolchover, Live Science, Why it Took so Long to Invent the Wheel

It’s an interesting concept that the wheel took a lot of effort to invent.  I couldn’t imagine not having wheels these days.  There would be no cars, planes, bikes, carts, rolling chairs, skates, and various other things that are taken for granted these days.

This is why “rolling” is a great way to describe continuous motion and success.  

Here are some well-known sayings with the word:

• Rolling in the dough - it’s all about the money

• Keep the ball rolling - continue the momentum

• Rolling with the punches - persevere despite the tough things

• Rolling out - beginning something

• Rolling your eyes - an expression disapproval

• Rolling stone - an unstoppable force, a magazine, or a band

• Rolling downhill - continuing with little effort

• A rolling stones gather no moss - I’ve never heard this one…you tell me, seems like something with momentum will not be distracted by smaller forces

It’s safe to say the wheel and rolling metaphor has a large part of our psyche.

Rolling Impactmakers

Impactmaking (I think I just made up another word) requires letting things roll off you.  You have to push through the setbacks.  You have to minimize the effect of the naysayers.  Things that you are not aware of are going to happen.  They may slow you, but don’t let them stop the train from rolling down the tracks.

On my first ever Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip we had a pivotal moment during our week in Nicaragua.  One morning we ran out of dirt and gravel.  The people sifting alerted our head mason and it was determined that we could not continue building the home we were working on.  There was only a couple days left to reach our goal.  About fifteen of us hopped in a large pick-up truck and headed to a rock quarry.  It was 115 degrees Fahrenheit and we were in the middle of nowhere.  I have never seen people work that hard.  It was almost as if it was something we did every day.  We rolled with it.

During my freshman season at Hofstra University (when I was sick, see Speaking Imapact episode 1 and 21), we had three serious injuries to future NFL players.  We were in shock each game that the injuries happened.  But, we had to push through.  The next person stepped up.  This wasn’t philanthropic work, but those football lessons showed up again.  We rolled with it.

The first time I ever volunteered at a food bank, we ran out of bread rolls.  There were hundreds of people lined up for their meal.  The coordinator was confused at first, but he took a couple minutes to think about the situation and quickly pivoted.  There was some other bread that was supposed to be for another day, but it would suffice.  It ended up working out fine and they made other arrangements for the later date.  We rolled with it.

I used to volunteer at an orphanage when I was in high school.  The biggest event that they had was for Thanksgiving.  They would collect numerous turkeys and cook a huge meal for the whole home.  There were about twenty-five orphaned children there at any given time.  One year, an expected delivery of supplies had not arrived.  When my group arrived we were expecting to do our normal programming with the kids.  However, instead of doing activities with them, we had to shift into food prep mode.  I had no idea was I was doing.  But, I learned that it was more important that I mix ingredients and monitor ovens than lead whatever game I was originally supposed to.  We rolled with it.

More Music

Remember “Rawhide”?  How many covers of this song are there?

It’s been rolling since 1958.  Thanks Frankie Laine.

How about “Roll-Out”?

Luda is a little more relevant these days.

The theme here is that the rolling started a long time ago and it never stops.  The impactmaking lifestyle is not on and off.  It’s not a one and done event.  The world needs us to show up consistently.  We have a great calling and responsibility.

Making it Happen with 4 “C’s”

We loved the great times and we loathe the tough ones.  

My suggestion is to strive for the even keel.  The harder your swing the more you’ll miss.  Remember “It’s Safe at First Base” from September 8, 2020.  A great impact project is built on the small things.

Here are four foundational premises that will keep you rolling:

1. Compassion - The main reason why you have an impact project is because you have compassion for someone or a group of people.  Remember that you are caring for someone and that it’s most important that you do that.  Do not lose sight of the subject regardless of what goals you’ve set out to achieve.  Lose metrics before the compassion.

2. Consistency - You have to show up over and over again.  It’s important that you best understand the situation and the people you are serving.  You do this by being there and participating.  Keep it simple and consistent.  

3. Control - Know what is going on.  Don’t lose track of the activities going on.  This can become more challenging as your project grows.  However, size is not the only factor.  Make sure that you and your team are always focused on the subject(s).  The methods you use and the activities you participate are simply the means to providing what is needed.  Control is not about being in charge, it’s about focusing on the main purpose.

4. Creativity - This is how you “Let Things Roll Off You”.  Creativity is what lets you pivot while still being in control, maintaining consistency, and focussing on the compassion.  Creativity is the market of a dedicated impactmaker.  It enables you to execute the mission of your project when things are not “normal”.  And in the world of impact, things aren’t always normal.  They can’t be.  Otherwise, we would either have nothing to do (because normal is acceptable) or we wouldn’t be impactmakers.  We are trying to change the unacceptable situation.  We are disruptors.  We’ll need to be creative as we attempt to make change.

Rolling is Loving

The unexpected will come.  The tough times are unavoidable.  Stay creative and keep “rollin”.

Remember that love always wins and that you are expressing love by the care that you have and the actions you take.  There is nothing more powerful.

Expect the unexpected to roll off you.   

Your love for others will make it.

 

You are “The Champion”.  Thanks Carrie.