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| Nile Kinnick, 1939 Heisman Winner |
It is Anything Goes Thursday, and I don't have much, but I got this. Nile Kinnick was a student and a college football player at the University of Iowa. He won the 1939 Heisman Trophy and was a consensus All-American. He died during a training flight while serving as a United States Navy aviator in World War II.
My good friend Jerry Ellis is a Hawkeye and he recently sent this quote to our Rudy's 360 Men's Group. Nile wrote this in a letter two days before he died:
“How I wish I could sing and play the piano! It is a sad mistake to be the head man in everything you attempt. The axiom ‘If it’s worth doing at all, it’s worth doing well’ has its limitations. Stay on the ball most of the time, but learn to coast between moments of all-out effort.”Kinnick's quote reminded me of Kyle and his buddies learning to play the piano after football practice at Yale. Nile seemed to understand, at a young age, that life is short, so stop and smell the roses. While it is wise to be focused and driven towards specific goals, perfection in every area is not something that has to be obtained, especially at the expense of taking time to try new things.
There is also an element of Jim Loehr's teachings in Kinnick's quote. Jim, along with Tony Schwartz, wrote one of my favorite books, The Power of Full Engagement, subtitled 'Managing Energy, not Time is the Key to High Perfomance and Personal Renewal'. Here and below is a great video discussing the importance of recovery rituals and how we keep our four energy forces healthy and full. I bet you can guess what those four energy focuses are? Take nine minutes to watch and think about the video one day soon.
Stay on the ball but learn to coast and recover Lu!
Speaking of, How's your Zoomba class?
Dad
