How Many Sides Does a Box Have?
Have you ever been so completely wowed by a situation that you have no other response besides, “Crazy how things work sometimes”?
BRING THE JUICE
Well this happened to me the other day. I’m out consulting, and I get the team I’m working with completely riled up. I’m talking about energy level 10/10. The JUICE (Jacked Up Insane Contagious Energy) was real!
Then, I ask this athlete to partake in some “experiential learning”.
He was so hyped up and absolutely ready to crush the task at hand. Everyone found something deeper inside them and brought out even more energy! By the time we were done, everyone was sweating, heart rates were through the roof, and the adrenaline was pumping. (If you want to see videos, check out my instagram here)
The wow moment
At the end of the session I asked the athletes for their #1 take away from our session that night. The athlete that helped me out said, “I can do anything if I put my mind to it.”
Now, that’s a pretty average answer, but what made it awesome is this athlete’s story.
Turns out, not more than a month beforehand, he had a plan to end his life…
So how many sides does a box have?
It reminded me of this question my mentor asked me months ago while we were packing up his house to move across the country.
We finish packing up this box, close the top, and tape it up. He then says to me, “How many sides does this box have?”
I look at him, knowing full well that there was something behind this, and say, “Six.”
He fires back, “Nope. Twelve.”
“What do you mean twelve?” As I looked at him baffled.
He continues, “There is an inside to the box as well. Don’t worry, I said the same thing when my friend asked me this question. The question is meant to provoke thought and discussion on perspective. This question might be referring to an object, but it applies to human beings as well. We never know exactly what is going on in someone else’s life and we’ll NEVER know exactly what they’re thinking. We have 40 to 60 thousand thoughts a day for heaven’s sake. Your job is to try and gain as much perspective and keep yourself as open as possible to the world in order to build awareness. Doing this will, over time, help you perceive others better and see maybe one more side to them that you had no idea was there in the first place.”
The Answer
He paused and then said, “There are always more sides to the box so be careful with what you’re doing. You literally have people’s lives in your hands when you go speak to them.”
Perspective, viewpoint, vantage point. I had no idea about this kid, but I couldn’t have picked a better one to help me out. Hopefully he wasn’t kidding about his number one take away being that he can do anything, because he can. It just takes insane hustle, discipline, and commitment. No one knows what the future holds, but if you just keep putting one foot in front of the other, you can climb mountains.
Keep your mind open and your eyes up. One interaction can change the course of a life.
