In this episode, the SOS team talk about the idea of “being a goldfish,” inspired by the TV show Ted Lasso. The conversation explores how athletes, and anyone facing challenges, can grow stronger by letting go of mistakes, staying present, and moving forward with confidence.

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Website: LCC Athletics

Related Podcast: Coach Cut’s Corner

Takeaways:

• The podcast emphasizes the importance of being present and moving on from past mistakes, akin to the mindset of a goldfish, which symbolizes resilience in sports and life.
• The discussion highlights the significance of maintaining a positive mindset amidst adversities, particularly during challenging seasons in athletics.
• The hosts explore how Ted Lasso's leadership philosophies, particularly the notion of 'being a goldfish', can help athletes and individuals overcome setbacks.
• Listeners are encouraged to adopt strategies for quick recovery after mistakes, thereby enhancing performance and maintaining focus on upcoming challenges.
• The episode illustrates how leadership in sports parallels life, stressing the importance of emotional resilience and the ability to let go of grudges.
• The SOS team discusses practical techniques for athletes to reset their mindset during competitions, ensuring they are mentally prepared for the next play.

It's time for Stars on Sports. A podcast radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at LCC, past and present. Lansing Community College athletics has a strong tradition: 25 national championships, over 190 All Americans, 19 MCCAA All Sports Trophies. Stars on Sports will introduce you to individuals that have contributed to our program success and give you the backstory on what it takes to develop it. We'll also dive into and break down the topics and issues facing athletic departments across the nation and right here at LCC. This is Stars on Sports.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sports. I'm joined today by our assistant athletic director, Steven Cutter, and our producer, Dadalion Lowry.

And thanks, gentlemen, for joining us today, especially Coach Cutter, with spring season in the heart of it and as we talked about, just dealing with weather, makeups and field conditions on a regular basis. But we want a positive podcast today. So we're not going to talk anymore about how it's beaming 39 degrees outside.

But anyway, so if we're going to talk positive, the first thing that comes into my mind when I think of positive is Ted Lasso. So we've done some Ted Lasso podcasts in the past on here, mainly my favorite one, don't judge, be curious.

But the one we're going to talk about today is being a goldfish, which I think is an important leadership skill that is very important to a leadership success. So we'll dive into it and get your thoughts on that.

And then we'll also hit some other Ted Lasso topics in the future as we anxiously await season four coming out this spring. And that gives you a chance to watch the three seasons over Coach Cutter, if you want, before we get started,.

I'm going to have you dived into any of it.

I did episode one or season one, my wife and I did. So yeah, really liked it.

You know, turned to YouTube at this point for Ted Lasso clips and, you know, highlights of seasons and moments and things like that. So yeah, I still enjoy it and.

That that's I get the most joy is like the clips that I see on social media pieces because I've watched all three seasons. I think season one probably the best. But again, there's certain episodes from each season that are really just important in my business.

The teach leadership and how coaches should be. Is it fictional? Yes. But are there leadership traits and techniques that we can take from this show? Yes, the fictional pieces.

You know, he's a college football coach that goes over and coaches the premier soccer league and. And People just think that is, you know, crazy, which it is. But you and I have talked before on this podcast.

If you can coach, you can coach any sport. And the coaching is the, you know, the relationship, the trust, the, the building a culture, the bringing team together.

You can learn the X's and O's, which by the end of season three, Ted Lasso learns what offsides is in football. But one of my favorites is being a goldfish.

And I think, you know, we've hit on it a little bit and I'm disappointed and I'm not sure there's a hundred true. But I don't think goldfish have short term memories. I think it was just a metaphor.

Scientifically proven to have about three to five months of memory for goldfish. And this kind of came about, I think, because of the goldfish having a short term memory.

So science kind of got involved and, and goldfish are actually pretty astute and smart fish in a lot of ways because I think science has shown like they can even recognize their owners.

You know, I was gonna say they, they come up to the side of the tank when they see you.

So.

Yeah, yeah, makes sense. Great.

But much like the show, you know, it's the goldfish having a short term memory in the show is where it came from.

And the show is fictional as well, but has a lot of truth in it and a lot of powerful stuff telling you, like, the less you can think about what's in the past and the more you can just be present, the better off you'll be.

And that's what I want to hit on. And it does become a metaphor and it does become a saying.

Like whenever he wants them, a teammate to forget something that he wants them to move on, it's be a goldfish. So it is disappointing. A great. Hey, this is a learning podcast. We learn more than just sports on here. Well done.

Did you do the research yourself? Did you find this out? Did you, did you hear about it? What'd you do?

Well, we've talked about Ted Loud, so I feel like on this podcast and in our athletic department an awful lot, and the goldfish has come up multiple times, so I just wanted to research it and see. And when he said we were going to talk about it today, I was like, well, I actually do know a couple things about this.

So like you said, important message though it is.

And so where it starts on the, on the show is one of the players gets frustrated, gets mad at a mistake, and, you know, has a tough time practicing after. And Ted goes to him and hey, do you know the happiest animal on earth? Happiest animal on earth. And it's a goldfish. You know why?

10 Second memory, be a goldfish. So it's not saying mistakes don't matter. He's, what he's saying is they don't deserve permanent residency, which you just said.

And in sports, I think that is all too often what happened that, you know, people focus on the mistakes they made. It's hard to get them back to the present.

It's hard to, to get them to focus on the next play, which we've talked a lot about on this podcast, ero and stuff like that.

So just saying, even though it's not accurate to be a goldfish, is that saying of 10 seconds and then move on because we need you to get ready for the next play.

Not to say, you know, that we, we can learn from that mistake or, but that, that, that frustration and, and it, and it's prevalent through all of sports.

You know, the golfer who hits a bad shot, the quarterback who throws an interception, the pitcher that gives up a home run, goalkeepers that give up a goal, a fighter who takes a punch. So being a goldfish isn't about forgetting, it's about recovering. And as we both know and we talked about before, having a plan.

But it's what happens when something wrong goes with you. And we've done a lot of things. It's more the emotional thing than the physical thing of what you forgetting is to get back.

Stay in the present, be where your feet are. Those are, those are some similar things that you could use. Instead of being a goldfish, Ted chose be a goldfish.

I think, you know, one of your favorite ones that have helped me is be where your feet are. Another one, stay in the present. Why am I worrying about the future that hasn't even happened? That's the opposite of gold.

I mean, the goldfish part was about what happened to us, but we also worry about what could happen to us and just being present, being where you're at right now. So it's catchy, it's simple. It's inaccurate, unfortunately.

But, you know, being a goldfish is something you can quickly say to someone to say, hey, let's move on, let's recover, let's. You got 10 seconds.

And, you know, a lot of coaches have different philosophies on, you know, how long to celebrate a victory for or how long to, you know, get over a loss or, you know, what can you do in the next 24 hours? But after a game, you have time to reflect in that, but in the game, you have to be a lot quicker.

Quicker like you could be mad at a, you know, a bad call on a pitch, you know, that you gotta refocus, you know.

And, you know, we talked about different ways of doing that in the past, and Brian Kane has been great in helping with some of those things, you know, And I think a couple other things to help being a goldfish is really quickly think, what did you want to have happen, what happened, and what now can we do to make that happen again? Another thing is, like, when you reset, because that's what really being a goldfish is.

Is resetting is what do you look like when you're best, you know. And like I learning from Brian Kane, I had my daughter on her tennis shoe when she played tennis.

Write the thing like get back to the middle or focus with serve, you know, so that there's certain thoughts she can bring in her head that bring her back to when she's playing her best tennis that, you know.

I think Brian Kane had done a lot of things of helping us be a goldfish, of practical things, of forgetting our emotions, of not happen, because you're not going to forget what happened. And it should be a learning experience. But how to, like, pivot quickly to be ready for the next thing.

Because the one thing we learn in sports, it doesn't stop. I mean, they're not unless you take a timeout.

And some coaches do take time out, you know, pitchers or hit or step out of the batter's box to recover, recuperate. But, um, I think it can start with. And that's where I really like the. The catchy phrase that Ted Lasso uses is be a goldfish.

So I'm gonna let you two. I talk forever. You two elaborate on your thoughts on that.

Well, staying with the theme, one of the more important things about it is just keep swimming. And often it feels like you are going upstream. But with the goldfish theme, just keep swimming. I think that's the most important thing.

Yeah, I actually had the opportunity to explore this concept last Friday. I think it was last Friday I got to play my first game of golf, what, in over almost a half a year.

And sure enough, the very first swing I had, it was basically duff2 right off the tee, and I had to brush it off. And I did, you know, as I moved forward, I mean, by the end of the day, I can tell you my drives were my strongest point.

By the time I was done, I had some great Drives straight out there. I don't have it handy. I actually took it off there anyway. Yeah, I mean, I was doing that.

But what I want to say more than anything is this applies, as always, not just to sports, but life as well. These are things that you can do actually, just to make yourself feel a little bit more happy, first of all.

But one of the things that I know that I've done in the past is I will make a comment to somebody that I didn't mean came off wrong, and I ruminate on that. And I've had to teach myself over the years, you can't do that, otherwise you're just gonna make yourself unhappy. So, yeah, applies to life, too.

Yeah. And again, both good points continuing to go. I mean, that's what helping, I think, by forgetting or being a goldfish allows us to do.

It does happen in every facet of life. You know, it's helping forget frustration. It's helped, you know, so you can get your confidence back on track. In the end, mistakes can be lessons.

They can become improvement, which builds trust. But there are certain ways of handling it. But to your point, Dalian, I agree. I think it's an important part of leadership.

And where I think it's important is the word grudge. I think too many people hold grudges nowadays and I think it impacts their behaviors and leadership moving forward.

Where if you're a goldfish and have short term memory, you forget about the little things. Forget, you know, if it's a big thing and you need to work through it, I get it.

But you know, in our business, you know, holding a grudge against the coach that might have not played a son or daughter enough time in one game, where you look over the history, they average so many times a game, or holding a grudge because they said something or holding a grudge because they did, you know, made a mistake or an error.

Holding a grudge when you have an argument with somebody and you know, I had a mentor teach me once that, you know, and I've shared this before on the podcast, but I just live by it. So just don't give criticism harshly, don't take criticism harshly, and don't hold a grudge either way.

And I think by having a short term memory, by just moving on and, you know, like, I even think of my own self. Like I have a good long term memory, but I have to.

Like, if someone gives me a number, I just practice it a lot and then I can remember it long term or I write things down. But I also have A bad short term memory, which I think helped me in leadership, that I forget it, you know, if not important to me, I move on.

And I don't. I try not to hold grudges. I try and see the positive in things.

So.

And I think it's really helped me be happier and more successful in life, especially in my leadership, by not holding a grudge and just, you know, having that short term memory and just moving on. Because, like, I can get in a debate or a discussion with you, but we still got to work together.

So, you know, 10 minutes later, we got to move on and deal with the next issue.

And I think too many people often hold grudges, whether personally or professionally, that I think this mantra helped apply to that and would help people be happier in life if they were just being a goldfish and moving on.

That, you know, like, even when I've told my kids, parenting, like, I'll yell at them or discipline them or help correct them, and I could be mad, but 10 minutes later I'm gonna like, let's find a positive thing to build on. And they're like, oh, you just yelled at me. Hey, that was. That's the path that. Let's move on. Yes, that was our 10 minutes. I got my point across.

Let's move on. And they struggled sometimes with like, you know, changing personalities or whatever, but it really.

Was that what they call it or what you call it?

Well, we'll have them on there someday and ask them, but they said struggle with that. And I just thought, well, I'm moving on. I was mad for a minute, but, you know, deal with it and move on.

I always tell them, as I've told before, if the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn't, then don't apply it and forget about it and move on. And I think those things are all part of Ted Lasso.

Being a goldfish that can help us be happier and successful moving forward. So when you be a goldfish, you know, again, breathing is one thing we've talked about, is always a way to help, like, forget we've talked about.

You know, it's also like taking care of yourself too. Like, what are those things you can do to get you back to the present?

And, you know, breathing is the thing we've learned a lot about through mental performance of, you know, different breathing techniques.

I'm still a big fan of. What would you call it? Be where your feet are.

Be where your feet are. Be where your eyes are. I mean, so just be where you're at.

Sending awareness to my feet, where I can feel like my feet, like right now. I'm doing it as we talk.

Right? Yeah. But again, the other thing we have learned that can help you be a goldfish, be where your feet are.

You know, there are certain things, you know, like clapping your hands or, you know, tapping your chest or also naming it, you know, putting a name to it, acknowledging it, you know, making it something, you know, because that's the other thing. We always, like, focus on our errors that don't make it an error. We talked about that a little bit before of, you know, make it a learning lesson.

Make it, you know, like, instead of. I can't think of a good example now, but I missed the ball.

You know, being hard on yourself, find a different way of labeling it so that it can be a learning experience.

It's harder for, you know, people that are competitive, and athletes typically are pretty competitive. So the hard things, it's harder to let go of just because of the competitiveness of it. And it doesn't have to be in sports. It can be in life.

And it's one of those things where at some point you got to realize, okay, if I'm still hanging on to stuff in the past, whether that past was 10 minutes ago or 10 days ago, and I've still got things happening to me in the present and things coming right at me, it often feels like you're living life and fast forward, and that's where it just becomes overwhelming at times. And so that's where bringing it back to where your eyes or where your feet are just where you're at is incredibly powerful.

And it is powerful because that's a culture thing in the sense of, you know, if we let people hold on to too many things. And again, some things you should hold on to, I mean, depending on the, the scale and the importance or if it's a safety issue or a health issue.

I'm not saying forget, you know, that you sprained your ankle 10 seconds ago. But it's for those things that, again, we were in the heat of the battle because we are competitive. You're right. And you, you want perfection.

And when you aim to for excellence and when you don't get it, that's what we tend to focus on where I think this changes that perspective a little bit and helps us manage it, because it is a managed thing because. But it also culture where you, you know, we focus on people's mistakes, we label people nowadays.

You know, we always have in society of, you know, looking at them and, you know, Whereas if you have that culture where mistakes are accepted and part of the learning process, I think it helps being a coldfish better that, you know, it's. It's, you know, because some people, you know, kids get tight, they get under.

They get pressure, they feel pressure if they're going to make a mistake.

We've heard of a lot of examples in our business of, well, I made one mistake and I get pulled out of the game or I strike out and I get a pinch hitter.

And so those scenarios or those environments can lead to the tightness, to pressure, to underperformance, to negative experiences, where, if you focus around the mantra of being a goldfish, I think it can be a more positive way to let players play more freely, to play loose, to play to their best.

To your point of golf, the Dalian that, you know, if you focus on the last hole all the time, it struggled to be looking at that next hole and you're tight or you're over the ball thinking, I'm here pretending I'm golfing.

Well, yeah, that was. The thing is, I got to the next hole and I still was suffering a little bit. And it was.

A lot of it had to do with the fact that I kept refocusing on the fact that I'm like, okay, it's been six months since I played and I'm kind of out of practice. And I think it was around the third or fourth hole. That's when all of a sudden I was like, okay, yeah, you've got to drop this.

You know how to play this game. And, you know the number one thing, keep your head down. That is the number one thing.

And it was the one thing I kept doing, kept moving my head because I was just. I was all pressured to see where it was going to go and how it was going to do instead of just, like, letting the swing do its thing.

And again, that phrase, keeping your head down hopefully resets. It brings you back to the being over the ball now instead of thinking what I did on the drive on my last hole.

So, again, that is a good example of a phrase that helps you be a goldfish coach. Do you have any tips you help your kids with when. I mean, is stepping out of the batter's box a big one or you.

Really can't do that anymore?

Right. Because of the pitch clock and the time.

Time constraints.

But, you know, as the dalian was talking about it, it took him three or four holes, and that's incredible that he was able to make that transition the best of the Best are able to do it after a pitch or a failure, you know, and they're able to do it almost immediately. And so it's one of those things, like, you're not born with it. You're. You're gonna. You're gonna.

You have all these emotions and everything else, and you're going to experience joy and sadness and frustration and all these things. And it's.

It's just about working on stuff, trying to get better and trying to understand that a lot of times, as we bring it back to the goldfish, a lot of times you're going to be feeling like you're swimming upstream.

But the most important thing, no matter how hard it is, is just understanding, like, keep swimming, you know, and that applies to just keep your head down or keep your eyes on the ball or anything else. That's where you can really make a difference.

And as the Dalian said, find some joy in what you're doing, because at the end of the day, that's one of the more important things to life, is finding joy in wherever you're at and with whom that you're with.

Yeah, I think joy is a big result of being a goldfish. And if you're not having joy, I think it adds to the pressure, the tightness, the thinking of your performance.

And, you know, you made a great point that I just want to hit on before we wrap up, too, is being the best competitor is not making less mistakes, but how you handle those mistakes and the best ones do move on or.

And that's a separator, and it is practice and training because, you know, like, even Michael Jordan talks about how many game winning shots he's missed, or Roger Federer in tennis talks about how many points he lost in a match. But they found ways to move on. And for some people, it takes 18 holes and they never get there.

For some, the best ones is one swing, and then there's all of us that are in between. But the key is finding what gets you there.

And the phrase be a goldfish, I think is a great one because even though it's not true, he made it about being 10 seconds, but there's also, as you mentioned, physical ways of doing it, mental ways of doing it, and just finding, practicing what works for you.

Because, like, you know, we just wrapped up the college basketball championship tournaments and free throws down the stretch of missing that first one. How do you, you know, refocus and visit with all the distractions around you and then, you know, get moving on to that next play quickly?

I think that'd be a great podcast.

I was enamored with D the national championship on the men's basketball side because you had two completely different mannered coaches and Danny Hurley.

And I sent you a text this morning about and frankly, I wasn't a Danny Hurley fan until watching him in the tournament because I my perception of Danny Hurley was that he was very animated with official.

He's done really well with animation and his fire and everything else. And then on the opposite side with Michigan that you know, he was pretty calm, cool, collected and and both of them are extremely successful.

So when you're trying to model like saying this is one way, whether it's the Danny Hurley, the Bobby Knights, you know that mentality, that's the only way to have success.

And then you see it on the opposite side that I mean you can have success both ways, but ultimately you got to keep swimming during those tough times.

And we will talk about it.

I think that's a great because again, the one thing I do want to do with this podcast, talk more about some questions, coaching philosophies and and things like that. And I've learned a lot about Danny Hurley and his thing that I would like to hit on there.

We've talked about Kirk Sinetti a little bit, which Dusty's getting compared to a little bit. I just wonder if college basketball will change Dusty and bring him more to the animated side because that's seems to do with coaches.

But you know, I think he is be a goldfish guy and that helps to be more a little level and on the playing field. So again, one of my favorite mantras from Ted Lasso and I love Ted Lasso.

You know, I've had kids come, you know, Griffin, your baseball player, I had a track kid in last week. I have the Ted Lasso believe sign in my office in two spots. I have a little military men so people know I'm a Ted Lasso fan.

And it's a great conversation even for our college student athlete that seem to watch that show too because I think regardless if you're a coach, an administrator or a player, the show resonates with positivity, with belief, with being curious and also being a goldfish.

Agreed.

So good stuff. That went much better than I. I think we'll wait to see what the our poll from our listener said, but all right. Okay.

So is it time?

It is time.

Greg's Food Question.

How's that cutter, huh? Look at that. Look, we got our own segment music now. I love it today.

That's why the best Producer in the business.

I don't do it again.

So he does this.

I gotta. I gotta create something for this.

That's awesome. So the question. Okay, I was gonna go a different way, but now if we talk, we're gonna talk nachos. You know, we just had the. The March Madness.

And, you know, I think one of the, you know, when you think of March Madness, you think a lot of games and a lot of weekends, and you think of maybe going to watch games on tv. That nachos is, I think, is a pretty popular, you know, meal when you go to a restaurant to watch a sporting event.

And, you know, I like nachos myself. So my question is, what's your go to nachos look like? You know, mine would be with just like a regular cheddar cheese, ground beef.

Seemed like pork is a lot on nachos nowadays and just the traditional toppings. But, you know, the one thing I like is jalapenos, which I'm not a jalapeno person, but I do like them on my nachos.

Not like a whole bunch of them, but spread out. But it'd just be a traditional nacho with the ground beef.

And again, nachos, I think, have become like salads nowadays where it's interesting how they've added different ingredients and come up with different names for nachos. Again, mine would be more the traditional taco of ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion.

But I also do like, you know, throwing a little jalapeno on there.

So I really believe the best nachos are the ones that you can share with somebody else.

Oh.

And oftentimes they make those in, you know, plentiful portions. So, yeah, I think it's about all who you share them with. But.

Yeah, how do you top that answer to dallian? I mean, that is actually a great answer.

It was a very Ted Lasso ish answer.

It was.

The key to this, though, is, as you said, my go to.

Right.

And so, because when it comes to nachos, I really like to mix things up. It's kind of like a pizza. I don't necessarily want the same thing.

All the time, but for a go.

To a go to type of situation where I'm like, hey, I've only got a little bit of time. I'm gonna make my essentials. Yeah, it'd be the cheddar cheese, it'd be the ground beef, it would be the jalapenos.

As you guys know, I love some jalapenos and probably some Lettuce and tomato on there too. And then I will mention it one more time.

Sprinkle a little fish on it.

Not that I'm out to promote the.

Company, but it is what they call a hell of a good dip. And it's a jalapeno cheese flavored hell of a good dip. It's excellent on nachos.

Yeah, I agree. I kind of like the already melted cheese dips or whatever give it a better nature.

I know you gave a great answer cut, but I want to dig a little deep. Is it like, do you prefer pork, chicken or ground beef? Do you prefer traditional nachos? Are you a nacho person?

Because I write my wife and I will go to the restaurant and we'll share. It's on the appetizer menu. But we've done that probably two or three times in the last month of just.

And now we even make it at home that we just share and don't even really put them on the plates. We just grab them and eat them.

Yeah, I love that. I'm more of a ground beef kind of guy and pretty traditional. I like the jalapenos hot sauce. You know, things like hot sauce.

Okay.

Things like that. But yeah, it's. It's something about sharing a plate with somebody is. Is a connection things and same thing with like touch and stuff like that.

Yes.

Talked about touch a lot in our, our program and, and how important that is at different points. But yeah, just sharing a plate is.

And nachos is both a go to for you. Is that something you guys would order?

I think it's plentiful. It's a lot more plentiful than like cheese sticks.

I will say, a lot of the times that I do order, it's actually when somebody else is agreeing to share because it'd usually be at a restaurant or if I'm doing it at home, always oven bake it. So.

Yep, agree. Great conversation. Until next time, be a goldfish and go stars.

Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ studio.

Engineering and production assistants are provided by D'Dalion Lowry and you can listen to the episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand@lcccconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit lccstars.com thanks for listening. Be sure to join us next time for more Stars on Sports. Go Stars.