I am not a skier although I have done both downhill and cross country with very little enthusiasm, I know nothing about freestyle skiing and this means my knowledge of the existence of Filip Flisar was nil. Note the past tense, because last night I found myself with my 3 little boys cheering for him. Actually, still my knowledge of this guy is as close to nil. All I know is: 1) He is very good at freestyle skiing ( dude made it to the Olympics and pushed onto the semi-finals) 2) He is from Slovenia 3) He sports an awesome mustache ( well at least last night he did) with a nutty, mischievous, fun smile.
It is for point #3 that my kids ended up cheering for him, making a song with a dance called " Mr. Mustache", being so delighted with him that they rooted for him over their own Canadians. A little bit of goofiness and smile can take some one surprisingly far and mix that with hard- work and a person can shoot into the sky.
I see bit of that Flisar effect in my own life. I have unintentionally made a career for myself. It started with doing a couple of special events for a big company, everything was given so I did as I was told, it was a bit exhausting. I moved, married, had a baby and wanted to do a little work for stimulation and remembered the big national company and contacted them. Go figure, they really needed me for quite a lot of events. My boss ended up being the most encouraging person ever with a great vision. I was the only one with the enthusiasm to go along with it. So, during that period, I ended up developing a quirky, fun way to inject something special into these standard events. When I moved, I was told I was the highest ranked native English teacher that the region has EVER had. I moved to the bigger region of Tokyo and Kanagawa. I applied all that I learned ( which also made my work much more fun too) so when I moved again, the Tokyo office said they were getting event requests specifying they wanted me. Which brings me to now. The quantity of work directly from the company is not enough to support a person but somehow I have managed to make something that resembles a career. Over the years, due to my events I have been asked to do sub- events for individual classrooms, I have been asked by the teachers to teach them privately and now have a roster of students made up of that unique group.
I am not a particularly talented teacher but a bit of goof and a lot of smile has brought me an incredible amount of work. Yesterday, a student blurted out " you are funny...I love you ". That is the second time in a few days I had that comment. I had finished testing a group of 30 kids and as I left the room, the teacher grabbed me and said " my kids were so happy you were their tester this year. THEY LOVE YOU. " One of my colleagues walked by and said " all the teachers and students love you". During this season I test over 2000 kids in 2 months. The work can get mundane if you let it. Last year I taught each group of kids the chicken dance to relax them before the test. This year so many kids and their teachers asked me if I would do it again...I didn't because every year I inject a little different crazy into it to keep them anticipating. So I pulled out some gags during the test. We have fun and the kids do awesome. It seems so simple but actually the kids and their teachers remember me and because of that my seasonal event work has turned into something that keeps me busy enough all year through.
That is what Flisar did last night. Among the best but certainly not the best, from a country we have no connection with, he made an impression and won our hearts. Long past the beautiful clean, fast ski of those who stood on the podium we will think of " Mr. Mustache" and smile. Flisar didn't need a gold, with that attitude of picking himself off the ground and then laughing with the winners he already is gold. Trust that many looked dejected after crashing, he had his fleeting disappointment but went back to what looked from our screen, joking with others.
Time to put more of that Flisar technique in my life not just during work. Doesn't it go something like this " When you are smiling, the whole world smiles with you". Humor and gratitude are a magical combo. I might just write a message to Flisar so he knows that he is loved by these little kids and their Mom in Japan.