No Ted Lasso, No

At the beginning of the TV series “Ted Lasso”, Ted, the coach, tells Sam Obisanya, the player, to be like a goldfish after making several mistakes and after being repeatedly taunting by his teammate, Jamie Tartt. Ted explained that the gold fish is the happiest animal on earth because it has a 10-second memory. Basically saying repress, suppress, dissociate, or "Tough it Out"

BUT, Remember what Carl Jung said: "What you resist will not only persist, but grows in size"

Since I am a HUGE Ted Lasso fan, here is a little defense of him. During a sporting event, there is no time to stop and process feelings, so suppressing creates momentary relief in order to keep playing.

HOWEVER, a Healthier and a more Productive strategy is replacing negative thoughts with positive thoughts, remembering all the preparation and relying on talents. Reflecting, learning, and processing comes after the event is over so that growth from mistakes happen.

To take Ted's underwater animal analogy a little further, be more like the Octopus. It possess both short-term and long-term memory systems that operate in separate parts of their brain.

The Octopus are famous for solving puzzles, navigating mazes, and opening jars to reach food. They can store memories for months even though their life span is between 1 and 5 years. Just like many humans, the Octopus uses visual landmarks to create mental maps, allowing them to find their way back to a home den after long hunting trips. Finally, their long-term memory and short-term memory system work together to learn, cope and thrive in risky environments. 

Here is the Take Away:

• Being a gold fish can help during a game, but the experience needs to be processed afterwards.

• Processing experiences is how people grow, learn, and build confidence.

Be more like the octopus not the golf fish