Invest Like Messi

Are you watching the Copa America? I’m a moderate soccer fan, but my whole family watched the Argentina vs Panama game during which famed soccer player Lionel Messi put on a show scoring three goals in 25 minutes.

We were thoroughly impressed with his soccer skills. He seemed unstoppable. A scoring machine. Yet something else about his play was more impressive. In the 77th minute we watched a player from Panama commit a foul and then rake his nails into Messi, deeply scratching Messi’s neck and arms. Vicious! This fine action earned Panama a yellow card and Messi a free kick resulting in a GOAL!

What was so stunning about this 15 seconds of play was how Messi dealt with the problem. He noticed the scratch, but did not seem bothered. We didn’t see any of the dramatic play acting so common in soccer. Messi didn’t stand up, let his emotions boil over, and start accusing, attacking, or … anything. Messi didn’t create a second problem for himself. He resisted the emotional reaction and subsequent deluge of hormones that come with letting your emotions explode. Those hormones do unhelpful things like give you tunnel vision and turn your rational brain off. Instead, he let the numbers do the talking. He promptly placed the next ball he kicked in the goal.

How many times have you faced adversity, and in doing so you created a second problem? Not only did you have to deal with the original problem, but also the problem you created with your emotional reaction. Adrenaline is an ineffective tool for solving most first world problems. Did you perhaps make a third problem by attacking someone even if they were to blame?

We can all be a little like Messi. Don’t create problems where they don’t need to exist. Immediately move to solution mode with the most effective use of our energy: make the numbers indisputable.