At one of my son’s POP WARNER football games, a father (let’s call him Bob) volunteered to run the game clock. 30 seconds into the game he shouted to no one in particular, “When do I start and stop the clock?” Critical information the CLOCK GUY ought to posses. Within seconds, he had five different answers from five different dads. Not surprising.

Speaking over the answers, Bob quickly says, “No one told me how to do this!” It was evident he didn’t hear anyone’s answer: within 10 minutes he was starting and stopping the clock at random intervals. Our team was losing, and about the score at the end of the half. In the final minutes, the TENSION in the stands thickened. Bob had made a few critical mistakes and the time went out before we could score. A few dads made critical remarks, to which Bob shouted back, “I don’t appreciate all the negative feedback!”

The situation was more awkward than a 7th grade dance, so it got me thinking:

Am I fearful to ask for help when I know I need it?
Am I fearful to appear ignorant?
Do I quickly deflect responsibility and make excuses?
Do I quickly turn to anger to mask the fear of appearing ignorant?

I want to abnormalize my IGNORANCE RESPONSE

my insight
Ignorance magnifies insecurity, and this will lead to deflecting responsibility or an easily found anger. For the confident, ignorance is an opportunity to grow, to be different. It’s not much more than choosing one of the other.

my interruption
I will ignore the strong instinct to appear like I know everything, and need nothing. Ignorance is a chance to grow, and it’s ok if others see me growing.

+mattmcgill