If you haven’t yet seen the TV show called Ted Lasso, add it to your to-do list! The show is not only super funny, but it will also have you crying as it features it all, from love and heartbreak to revenge and deceit.
It is about an amateur American football coach named Ted Lasso. He is hired to coach AFC Richmond, a professional soccer team in the English premier league.
Ted Lasso knows absolutely nothing about soccer, and he sucks at coaching the team. However, there is something about him that as a viewer it is impossible to not root for him.
Ted concentrates his efforts on uniting the soccer players as a team. He focusing on their personal development, and on their state of mind.
In one scene, one of the players makes a mistake that results in a goal for the other team. He beats himself up over it on the pitch, and Lasso calls the player to the sideline to chat with him.
“Do you know why the goldfish is the happiest animal on earth?” Ted Lasso asks the player.
The player doesn’t respond.
“They have a 10 second memory. Be a goldfish” answers Ted Lasso.
More than once in the show, Lasso gives this advice to his players.
What Ted Lasso meant by advising his players to “be a goldfish”, is to not dwell on their mistakes.
Something goes wrong, ohh well, move on!
One of my favorite quotes that I often repeat to myself is:
“Don’t worry about the things that you can’t change”
-Anonymous
Don’t get me wrong. It is imperative that we learn from our mistakes. That’s how we grow and become better human beings. And if there is anything we can do to correct our mistake, we should do it, no questions asks.
However if there is nothing we can do, worrying or dwelling on them isn’t healthy…or productive.
I recently failed an exam I had been studying months for. There was nothing I could do about it. I gave myself a day to cry and feel sorry for myself.
Then I told myself “be a goldfish!”
The next day, I came up with a new study plan, rescheduled my test, and started studying again. Yes, it sucks that I need to keep studying when I could be using that free time to do something fun, but there is no point in me dwelling on my failed exam.
Also, remember that life often gives us a second chance or a chance to redeem ourselves.
And sometimes things aren’t as bad as they seem.
But for now, be a goldfish!