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Hi Reader, Welcome to Your Dose of Mana — a quick, weekly note with: Know When to Fail 1 Real Story I didn’t drop. Four years, year-round, morning practices, sometimes doubles. My senior year, I woke up at 5:11 a.m (not 5:10, not 5:15) because when you’re rowing at dawn, every minute of sleep counts. And I never hit the snooze button. Still don’t. These days, I don’t use an alarm unless I’m traveling. Even then, I wake up before the alarm goes off. I have a bizarre internal clock. I digress. Anyway, when I wake up, I’m up. (Trust me, it’s not always a blessing.) Missing practice wasn’t an option. There were serious consequences if you did. And so, day after day, I ran through the quiet of town to the boathouse. That year, our coach—a former Ithaca rower himself—faced a tough decision: protect the sanctity of the varsity boat being the fastest, or keep the novices, novices. He chose the former. I was one of six novices in the varsity boat. Competing against experienced varsity crews, some of whom had been together for 3+ years, was tough. As such, we lost, over and over, and over while the first novice boat kept winning.
It was hard. And it was formative. Pulling through freezing mornings on Cayuga Lake and cracking the ice off our oar locks at the end of practice built grit, determination, and the discipline to keep showing up, no matter what. Plus, seeing the sunrise during practice–priceless. 1 Leadership Insight Let me be clear, our record sucked, but the lessons carried forward—to me as a leader, to our coach, and to women’s rowing at Ithaca as a program. 1 Practical Takeaway Ask yourself:
Even after the coldest, darkest mornings, the sun always rises. And the people who keep showing up for those moments are the ones you can count on. See you next week with another Dose. – Amy Even though this is a “mass email” I mean it when I say—let me know what you are up to. Reply, book a Zoom, pick up the phone. I’d love to catch up. Thanks for letting me show up in your inbox. More joy. Less friction. Always. |