PDF Hey You,
If you dont have a gang of team members ready to fight for you, make sure you read this
It’s Lewis a.k.a. Nerd #2 a.k.a. L.L. Cool Nerd.
Today is the day we finish the personal improvement story Tony Robbins talks about the life changing lesson he learned from how Jackie Robinson crushed the public’s beliefs about what was possible for black people.
If you missed Part 1, go here to see it. And now, here’s the rest of the story . . .
What do you do when your own team is going against you?
I’ll tell you what Robinson did. Robinson decided that even if no one else was going to play team, he would. And you know what? He pushed to give 100% even though no else supported him.
And what happened is he got more hits, scored more runs, stole more bases, he got so successful that it became clear that he was going to be rookie of the year.
Some of the people that hated him most, became his biggest supporters.
I’ll tell you something about results, in spite of everything, you’ll push to give 100% and produce results, sooner or later the tide will turn. I promise
you. Even though it seems unfair and even when no one else will, you’ll get the results you want.
In fact one man once said, “The greatest revenge is massive success.”
Jackie Robinson was so successful that finally what happened was that the Brooklyn Dodgers called their own team together. The captain of the team was named, Pee Wee Reese. He pulled everyone together except for Robinson and said, “Gentlemen, we have a problem. Just in case you haven’t noticed we got a guy here on our team and he’s probably the best player we got. He’s stole more bases, he’s got more hits, scored more runs, he’s gonna be rookie of the year, and we’re busy losing ball games and the one’s we’re winning are because of him and we’re abusing him. We treating him worse than the other guys. We’re treating him like he’s the enemy. I suggest we do one of two things: Either just get rid of him once and for all or let’s accept him as our team mate and maybe we can learn something from him and start winning some ball games. Now I want to know who here will support this man, as a man, as a team mate regardless of the color of his skin?”
And it was just quiet.
Finally, one guy stood up and I think it was Preacher Rowe. He said, “I’ll support him captain. I’ll tell you what. I think the way we treat him is disgusting. I don’t care what color his skin is. I’ll tell you one thing – I’m a pitcher and he has scored and made us win more games for me at least, saved more games for me than I care to count. The bottom line is I’ll do whatever it takes to support him. I’m behind him 100%.
Pee Wee said, “Thanks. Who else?”
It was quiet for a little while and this one guy kinda struggles to his feet and goes, “Well, I’ll support him too. I have to admit, he’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen at that position. And he’s helped us more than anyone else on this team. And we’re not treatin’ him right. Skins a little dark but other than that, he’s ok.”
Third guy stands up to support him.
Fourth guy stands up in rage. He says, “WHAT’RE YOU GUYS CRAZY?!?! HE’S A NIGGER! HE’S AN ANIMAL! HE’S VERMIN, HE’S FILTH! HOW WOULD YOU EVER EXPLAIN TO YOUR FAMILY YOU’RE GONNA PLAY WITH AN ANIMAL? I’M NOT PLAYIN’ WITH NO NIGGER. I WILL DESTROY HIM. NO NIGGER IS PLAYING ON MY TEAM. I WILL GET RID OF HIM PERSONALLY. DON’T YOU WORRY. NO NIGGER’S PLAYING ON MY TEAM!!!”
And the whole place was dead quiet.
Pee Wee Reese just stood there for a moment and he walked right up to this guy, looked him straight in the eye and said, “If that’s how you feel, then maybe you aren’t on this team, any more.”
Sure enough, a week and half later, the Brooklyn Dodgers traded this man away.
Something interesting happened. A group of individuals changed their focus from, “How can I continue to get what I want?” to “How can I support my partners, my team mates in being the best they can possibly be?”
With this simple change in focus, history began to be made. All of a sudden the Brooklyn Dodgers found that 1 +1 does not equal 2 when it means human beings. 1 + 1 with humans leads to synergy which is something much bigger than just the two of you put together.
All of a sudden this team started winning ball game after ball game after ball game. Started going to championship, after championship after championship. World series after world series after world series. One unit, who’s whole focus was on getting each other in a positive state of mind.
Their entire focus was on how they could get each other into the best possible state of mind possible and staying in that state. They went to world series after world series after world series and finally, they beat the Yankees.
Had this film ended here it would’ve been a powerful metaphor on the concept of team in and of itself but where I got my lesson came when they interviewed the players 30 years later.
Here’s the lesson I got . . .
They go interview these players and they ask one of these guys, “What was it like playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers?” and it was like you turned on a light switch in his face and this beam of happy energy comes shining out and he says, “Oh god, it was incredible!!!” and they’re talking about this and this and this and that and this happy energy is pouring out of them.
Now it’s interesting. What do you think they talked about when they were lit up like this? Did they talk about their hits or catches they made? Their World Series rings? Is that what they talked about? No.
The one word every one of these guys said as they lit up that they said over and over again was the word, team.
They kept talking about their relationships with each other, what they created and what it was like to be a part of that team and to be connected with each other.
But here’s the lesson . . .
They interviewed each player and eventually asked them, “So what’re you doing now?” and the guy goes from being lit up like a Christmas tree to droopy and “normal” and ho hum and would say something like, “I’m a president of a bank.”
And I’m going, “WHAT? This guy looks like he’s depressed because he’s the president of a bank!”
They go to the second guy and it’s the same thing, lit up like a Christmas tree when talking about his experience with the Dodgers and then they ask, “What’re you doing now?” and he un-excitedly says “Now I’m real successful and a multi-millionaire. I own 7 companies and I travel all around the world and I’m very happy.”
And I looked at this and I’m asking, “WHAT?!? What is going on?” After I listened to more them talk more and more I finally got it. The problem is that they no longer feel like they’re part of a team.
They have the mistaken notion that the only way to be on a team was to play baseball. And there’s no bigger lie. I’ll tell you what. If you think you’re gonna go out and succeed on your own climbing success mountain and you get to the top by yourself, you’ll probably jump off.
That what people like Freddy Prince did. Elvis Pressley. John Belushi.
And so some people will hear this and say, “Well I don’t want to be at the top because it’s lonely there.” It’s only lonely at the top if you don’t take your friends. That’s when it’s lonely.
It isn’t lonely at the top. There’s plenty of people up there. It’s true that the bottom is more crowded.
These ex-ball players have the success but they don’t feel the connection which is evident when they fully come alive when they talk about their experience of an organized team they played on.
The bigger lesson . . .
They interviewed one of the players and it was so clear that he was unhappy.
They asked him, “What was it like being on the Brooklyn Dodgers?” and he said, “It was fine.” This guys facial expression and rigidity of his body was the illustration of resentment and pent up aggression.
They said, “Well tell us more . . .” and he said, “Well I made some of the best hits that they ever had. I made that one catch in the world series that probably saved the game.” And he went on and on and on and had this anger oozing out of him.
He was the only one who didn’t light up and he was the only one who one who never mentioned the word, team.
So because the interviewer was so used to how everyone else responded, he probed deeper and asked, “Well, how was it being on this team with these guys?”
He said, “To tell you the truth, I never really felt like I was a part of the team. Didn’t bother me though.” Meanwhile, you could see these massive contortions in his face and the veins are pulsating out of his head. He’s so incongruent it’s a joke.
So as a result of this, they go back and interview the other players and they say, “This guy didn’t feel like he was a part of the team, how’d you feel about him?”
And invariably they would say, “He was a really great player,” with no emotion. Another guy said, “He deserves to be in the hall of fame but he’s not there yet.” No emotion.
Then the interviewer asked, “How’d you feel about him personally?” And the response was always something to the tone of, “Well, he never let you get close. Every time you tried to get close to him, he’d push you away. You’d say, ‘Great job!’ and he’d say, ‘Shut up.’ or you’d pat him on the back and he’d smack your arm away. Or if we’d invite him to parties, and in seven years he never showed up to one. Kinda hard to connect with but he was a really great player and he does deserve to be recognized.”
But they had no emotional connection.
They went back to the pissed off dude and said, “These guys said they really liked you but that you didn’t let them get close.” He said, “Oh yes I did.” They said, “You never went to a party with the team in 7 years.” He said, “All the parties were in New York. What am I supposed to drive all the way there?” They said, “Preacher Rowe lived twice as far from New York as you and he never missed one party in 7 years.” He said, “WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE, PREACHER ROWE!?!” I TOLD YOU, IT DOESN’T BOTHER ME!”
Why is this man so unhappy? Because he’s never felt like he was a part of a team.
By the way, who’s responsible for whether you feel like you’re a part of a team or not? Yours. If you don’t feel like you’re a part of a team, you’ve got to be the one to change it.
Sometimes to be part of a team, you’ve got to drive. Sometimes you’ve got to climb. Sometimes you’ve got to fly. Sometimes you’ve got to get up early and stay up late.
But I’ve gotta tell you something. You are worth it. Because as much as you give to a team, you always get back much more than you give.
The value of putting yourself on the line for a team is what it makes of you. It will make you grow, which means you’ll be happy and wealthy long term in life.
And if you don’t join a team and commit to giving you best to it, then you pay the ultimate cost of not being who you really are long term and you pay the cost of knowing that.
I believe everyone in life ends up being a warning or an example.
And one way to be a warning is to not join a team and commit to giving it your all. One way to be a warning is to go off by yourself and hide out. It will good for a while but sooner or later, you’ve got to come back and ask, “How much are you really contributing?” and if your ansswer is “Not much,” you’re not gonna feel very good about yourself.
Plus, you’ll miss out on all the laughter and fun and the memories of breaking through challenges in life with people you care about.
Some people will whine, “But I don’t have a team. I’d like to but it’s not easy to find a team these days.”
Come on. Everyone in this room is on a team. One of those teams is your family. One team you’re on is your business or the people you work with. One is the city you live in. One is the United States of America or whatever country you live in. One team that everyone reading this is on is humanity.
The question is not if you’re on a team or not. The question is are you out there playing the game or are you sitting on the bench?
Are you swinging the bat or are you picking your ass? Think about it. Some people have been sitting on the bench so long in their life that their ass is welded to the bench.
If you’re sitting on the bench and not contributing to the team, you’re gonna get bored. What people do who get bored sitting on the bench is get a TV set. This is the first sign of a lack of contribution. The second sign is that you watch it. The third sign is that start getting hungry a lot when you’re sitting on the bench. If you’re busy doing shit, you tend to not get hungry as much as if you’re sitting on your ass doing nothing but killing time.
It’s real boring on the bench. It’s real frustrating on the bench. You might whine, “But Tony, what can I do? I’m only one person. What can one little person do? What if I strike out?”
Let the record book show you lost. Let it show you won. Let it show strike outs. Let it show hits. But don’t let it show you didn’t play. How would you ever explain that?
You’re on a team so the question is, you gonna swing the bat or sit on the bench.
What if when you went to the grocery store, you actually noticed humans around you and you actually connected with them in a way that made them feel better?
What if you went through the check out and the checker is running your items over the scanner in a deep trance, what if you broke their trance and made them feel good about themselves by saying, “Can I see your teeth?” and if they ask what for, you can say, “Because I like to see people smile.”
By asking someone, “I’m curious. What are you really happy about in your life right now?” Or, “What are you proud of in your life right now?” you can give them the gift of changing their state of mind.
And if you do this, does it end here? Nope. The next person they interact with is going to be touched by their positive vibe.
What Can a Mexican Teddy Bear Teach You About Team?
When I was a 15 year old kid I got a job as a construction laborer.
I’d never even touched a tool before outside of a screw driver to put batteries inside my remote control cars. Even with mom having a non-stop line up of piece of shit cars did I ever wield anything resembling a tool besides the jumper cables.
So when I go onto my first job site, I see tools everywhere. Tools I’d only seen on TV before. I also heard all kinds of terms that I didn’t know what the fuck they meant.
In my first week, one of the guys thought it’d be funny to send me on the search for “Sky hooks”. I go to the tool shed and I’m looking all over and finally ask the super intendant if he can help me and he tells me the guys are fucking with me and that there might be sky hooks for some other purpose but none for this job.
But there was one guy who worked for this company who never wanted to play jokes on me. His name was Fernando. He was an immigrant from Culican, Mexico who spoke very little English. The one time Dexter met him, he said he looked like a Mexican teddy bear.
Fernando had carpenter skills and he did some of the higher level stuff but for the most part got stuck doing the shit work the white boys didn’t want to do like shoveling, jack hammering, tying rebar, etc. So being that I was a newbie who didn’t know shit, I was teamed up with him.
On the first day when my dad picked me up, he saw me talking to Fernando and started speaking Spanish to him. I didn’t know what they were saying to each other because I don’t speak Spanish. Come to find later that my dad asked him to look out for me. And you know what? He did.
We were a two man team inside of a bigger team.
It was the two brown guys stuck in the same trenches who had something to prove through how much we could contribute. Yeah, we couldn’t do the high level stuff more experienced guys could but we earned our spot on the team with our muscle.
Fernando turned me into a beast.
Fernando had to kick ass. He knew he wasn’t qualified to do any other work and that it’d be hard to find a job that paid him $12 dollars an hour. I could tell he had a natural desire to excel at what did but it didn’t hurt that his wife and kids were depending on him to bring the money home.
By doing my best to keep up with him, I saw and felt what it was like to be proud of doing your best to contribute and seeing it make a difference right before your very eyes.
Through the 7 years I worked for this company, whenever we ended up on a site together, we’d get off on pushing each other tirelessly demonstrating with a sledgehammer, wheelbarrow, shovel or through any of the other work that lazy, fat motherfuckers couldn’t do, that we were a invaluable contribution to the team.
Sometimes we’d whine about how lazy some of the guys we worked where but we always knew their laziness made us look good. And I don’t know about Fernando but for me, I always felt like without me, the team would be incomplete.
Even though you could hire cheap laborers from a temp agency, the drunk homeless bums that showed up were never shit compared to us. Especially as we grew and learned to more of the technical stuff also.
And through all of this hard work, freezing our balls off in the winter and roasting our balls of in the summer, I formed a strong bond with Fernando. I haven’t seen him for years now but I know if we saw each other, all the positive memories of the years our comradeship in the muck would flood over us and it’d be a happy reunion.
Fernando had a son my age and I can imagine him seeing me and still referring to me as he did all those years ago, as “Son.”
This is why I’ll always have pleasant memories of my years in construction. Even though I spent the entire time at the bottom of the totem pole, I still have a nothing but gratitude for what this experience of having a “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” experience that showed me what being a valued member of a team could mean that no sports team I ever played on or office I’ve worked in before or since has ever matched.
Even though I finally discovered my fingers and mind power are better suited to a keyboard than a saw, Fernando ended up being an example for me on how to kick some serious ass and created a lifelong friend in the process.
I hope you’re doing the same thing for at least one person who’s on one of your teams.
Talk soon,
Lewis LaLanne aka Note Taking Nerd #2 aka L.L. Cool Nerd
PS. If you’re a total Tony Robbins and personal improvement junkie like me and want to hear another of his brilliant stories about why renegade entrepreneurs win the game of life and business, you’ll definitely want to go see this post here. And if you want to hear the stories Tony told at at his Ultimate Business Mastery Seminar about how getting your mind right directly affects your business, you want to click here now to go put your hands on the full notes for this course . . .
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