Blog #410: How the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions Demonstrate Why We Can’t Be Impatien
- Jeffrey Snyder
- Feb 1, 2024
- 3 min read
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Looking back at this past weekend’s conference championship games in the National Football League, I once again see what appears to be a pair of examples that can be used in the workplace for neurodivergents. This time around, I am looking at the actions of both the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions, the two teams that lost the AFC and NFC Championship Games on Sunday.
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Beginning with the Baltimore Ravens, the biggest factor that downed them against the Kansas City Chiefs was the fact that they were not patient at times with their plays. As difficult as it is, patience is a virtue when it comes to the workforce. The fact that tasks and goals can’t be rushed at times is clearly demonstrated here. Take for example Ravens Quaterback Lamar Jackson as there were moments during the game where he acted impatient on specific plays. Now Lamar is someone who is known for his legs and players like him need to understand that you can’t do everything. You have to be more open minded and not focus on one part of yourself to get the job done.
A lot of neurodivergent workers are going to say that there is one aspect to the job that they will focus on and nothing else. That is a sign of a job that will not get done properly because of their impatience. Having patience in the job will provide benefits to all and help you achieve certain goals.
Furthermore, impatience can often make us do silly mistakes and errors that can hamper or hinder our performance as demonstrated with Wide Receiver Zay Flowers. After missing a crucial catch, he went over to the sideline and in a cloud of anger, injured his hand by slamming it down on the sideline bench. This demonstrates that there will be times when neurodivergent employees will act out of similar circumstances that could end up hurting themselves or others around them.
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Moving onto the Detroit Lions, something I noticed involves the fact that they can be too aggressive with their plays. The Lions represented throughout the season that we can’t be too aggressive or let our emotions get the better of us.
Now, don’t get me wrong about one thing, the Lions had one hell of a year. But the fact is that their emotions did get in the way and it affected their overall performance. After the loss, a lot of the players were upset and while I will say that they were devastated to be one game short of the Super Bowl, you gotta take what you learn and move on. Dwelling on something like this will affect your future performance later on and demonstrates that little things that aren’t important cannot be responsible for how you perform overall.
Plenty of neurodivergent workers do in fact let silly little mistakes hamper their performance, especially if they take great pride in what they do. Not everything we do or want is going to be perfect and we cannot let it get to our heads that we expect all that perfection because it’s not served on a silver platter.
Aggression can often lead to consequences that can affect you and the organization that you either work for or run. I will admit that there have been plenty of times where I was aggressive and in the end was left holding the bag for my actions.
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But outside of the NFL, I also will say that there is a character from the “that is a living embodiment of both impatience and aggression that is similar to the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Lions combined.
I am talking about Ivor Operatski from the “Angelina Ballerina” series that appeared in the special “The Show Must Go On: Christmas in Mouseland,” where his impatience and aggressive nature on Angelina and the other students led to his production of “Cinderella” to not run smoothly to the point of it nearly being cancelled altogether (although Angelina herself was largely to blame for being selfish and horrid). If you watch the special, you see that Ivor Operatski is a mouse with high standards, but high standards will only get you so far and that includes nothing but frustration and anger that only you yourself create.
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In conclusion, impatience and aggressive natures will NOT allow you to achieve your workplace goals and both the Ravens and Lions are clear examples of that not just to neurodivergent workers, but neurotypical workers as well.
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Catch you all later!!
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