Tips & Talk 78 -10 Things I Learned as a Chicago Bears NFL Cheerleader
This cheerleading thing probably comes as no surprise if you’ve been hanging out with me for a while. I’m an eternal optimist. I love to cheer people on. I’m okay with attention and I love football. I’ve thought about sharing this NFL cheerleading experience with you for a while.
As I reflect on my journey there, I realize so much of what I experienced and learned applies to being a small business owner too. I’m going to drop the lessons here but listening to the show will give it context and better understanding.
- Learning 1 – To accomplish anything you need to put yourself out there. Take the chance.
- Learning 2 – Just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you have the passion to invest a major portion of your life to it.
- Learning 3 – Don’t force your passion onto someone else if it doesn’t resonate with them.
- Learning 4 – Jump on opportunities when they spring up.
- Learning 5 – It’s truly who you know at various points along the way.
- Learning 6 – Work through setbacks and swallow your pride if you have to in pursuit of your goals.
- Learning 7 – The work doesn’t end when an achievement is reached.
- Learning 8 – Don’t ever get overly confident of your position or expect the same results time after time. They aren’t guaranteed.
- Learning 9 – Observe the roles you naturally gravitate to. You may discover new potential.
- Learning 10 – The value is in the journey, it’s not discovered only when you reach your destination.
Here’s to you stretching. You may be surprised how far you can go!
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Transcript
Hi there.
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Speaker:Hey, Hey,
Speaker:perfect timing football season is upon us.
Speaker:This cheerleading thing probably comes as no surprise to you.
Speaker:If you've been hanging out with me for a while,
Speaker:I'm an eternal optimist.
Speaker:I love to cheer people on I'm okay with attention.
Speaker:And I love football.
Speaker:My entrance into professional cheerleading was prompted by my lack of
Speaker:excitement for my career situation.
Speaker:Right after college,
Speaker:I worked at an advertising agency in downtown Chicago,
Speaker:starting at the bottom and determined to rise up those ranks.
Speaker:While I picked up a lot of great learning by observation,
Speaker:my tasks were mundane and challenging.
Speaker:I knew my stint.
Speaker:There would be short-lived by my own choosing,
Speaker:but I wanted to put in the time and get what
Speaker:I could out of it.
Speaker:So really this cheerleading idea was to add some spice to
Speaker:my life because my slow career start,
Speaker:wasn't cutting it.
Speaker:The possibility of making a spat on the Chicago beers cheerleading
Speaker:team was a long shot.
Speaker:I admit it,
Speaker:but who cares?
Speaker:My parents were the only ones who really knew about it
Speaker:since I was still living at home,
Speaker:newly out of college and all they'd always supported me in
Speaker:the past,
Speaker:but I could tell they were uncertain about this plan of
Speaker:mine. No parent wants to see their child hurt or disappointed,
Speaker:but my attitude was so what if I don't make it
Speaker:it's worth a try.
Speaker:Anyway, I made the first cut.
Speaker:Then the second only one more to go.
Speaker:This really got my parents nervous because they knew my hopes
Speaker:were rising too.
Speaker:I was beginning to believe that maybe I could make the
Speaker:squad, the pinnacle of my cheerleading career.
Speaker:It would be really fulfilling to reach the top of that
Speaker:cheerleading pyramid as I saw it anyway,
Speaker:I tried to play it cool,
Speaker:but clearly I wasn't.
Speaker:The final day of tryouts.
Speaker:I was so nervous that I left my keys in the
Speaker:car and kept it running by the way,
Speaker:as I walked away for the final tryouts,
Speaker:without even getting a valet pickup ticket.
Speaker:Luckily my car was still there.
Speaker:When I returned hours later,
Speaker:I was lucky in another way that day too,
Speaker:I made the team.
Speaker:It was pretty surreal with all the TV cameras interviews and
Speaker:the new team photos highlighting the quote unquote new girls had.
Speaker:I doubted my abilities or been afraid of taking the chance.
Speaker:I would never have tried out at all.
Speaker:Learning number one to accomplish anything.
Speaker:You need to put yourself out there.
Speaker:You need to take the chance.
Speaker:I'll tell you more about my time with the Chicago bears
Speaker:later, but let me back up to the beginning because as
Speaker:I reflect my learnings started there as a child.
Speaker:My time was spent taking piano and violin lessons.
Speaker:My mom not so secretly wanted me to be first violin
Speaker:in the Chicago symphony,
Speaker:a passion.
Speaker:I didn't share somewhere along the way.
Speaker:One of my teachers said I had musical talent.
Speaker:That should be pursued because of my mom's interest.
Speaker:I was accepted into a violin focused study at Northwestern university.
Speaker:I was nine at the time.
Speaker:And mind you included in my program was an hour of
Speaker:music theory,
Speaker:an hour of quartet practice one hour in solo lessons,
Speaker:not to mention daily hour practices every single day of the
Speaker:week. That along with schoolwork,
Speaker:didn't leave much time for me to expand my horizons,
Speaker:to try other things.
Speaker:This story could go on and on.
Speaker:So I'm going to cut it off here and jump straight
Speaker:to learning number two,
Speaker:just because you're good at something doesn't mean you have the
Speaker:passion to invest a majority of your life to it.
Speaker:I love my mom,
Speaker:but one of the happiest days of my youth was finally
Speaker:breaking free of music,
Speaker:which didn't completely happen until I was a junior in high
Speaker:school. And I'll say a connected learning here is don't force
Speaker:your passion onto someone else.
Speaker:If it doesn't resonate with them now to pacify me,
Speaker:my mom did let me take acrobatics at the local park
Speaker:district. I love the challenge of working hard at a new
Speaker:trick, pushing past the fear of getting hurt and finally conquering
Speaker:it. Aerials.
Speaker:Flip-flops all of that was so fun and rewarding,
Speaker:but not in the beginning.
Speaker:It took weeks for me to actually do some of the
Speaker:tricks, much less perfect them learning number three,
Speaker:you aren't good at things right from the start.
Speaker:Although that development and expertise will click in my cheerleading experience
Speaker:started at the early age of 10 early for those times.
Speaker:Anyway, there were no cheerleading camps or competitions back then,
Speaker:like there are today.
Speaker:These were the days when you fought with your siblings over,
Speaker:who could use the house phone in one of my hours
Speaker:long chats with my dear friend Patty,
Speaker:she asked me a life-changing question.
Speaker:So can you do the splits?
Speaker:Yeah. All versions.
Speaker:I was in acrobatics.
Speaker:Remember upon confirmation,
Speaker:she explained that she was forming a cheerleading squad for the
Speaker:fifth grade and asked if I wanted to be on it.
Speaker:Yes, of course.
Speaker:This was a life changing question because it led to so
Speaker:many other things that happened in my life after that new
Speaker:friendships and learning how to perform in front of a crowd,
Speaker:our book,
Speaker:two wonderful outcomes of my saying yes to cheerleading learning number
Speaker:four, jump on opportunities when they spring up and five,
Speaker:it is truly who,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I knew Patty.
Speaker:She knew me and the offer was made.
Speaker:My cheerleading career was launched.
Speaker:It would be nice to say that it was all smooth
Speaker:sailing from there,
Speaker:but I hit a major road bump in seventh grade in
Speaker:middle school.
Speaker:That was the start of having to try out for cheerleading
Speaker:teams much to everyone's surprise.
Speaker:I didn't make it.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:I was the very next one on the list.
Speaker:Devastated is an understatement.
Speaker:All my friends were on the squad and you know how
Speaker:it is in your teen years,
Speaker:friends are everything.
Speaker:Not only was it embarrassing?
Speaker:I was afraid I'd lose the closeness that we had established
Speaker:because I'd no longer be spending hours with them at practice
Speaker:and the games to my good fortune.
Speaker:I was offered the job as manager,
Speaker:not my favorite thing,
Speaker:but at least a way to stay involved.
Speaker:It was hard though.
Speaker:I have to say seeing my friends in their uniforms on
Speaker:Fridays and being with them,
Speaker:but not if that makes any sense.
Speaker:Plus I just loved the cheering part.
Speaker:This part of my journey ended well though.
Speaker:Oh, maybe I shouldn't say that.
Speaker:One of the girls,
Speaker:my dear friend got hurt and had to sit out the
Speaker:rest of the year since I was next in line,
Speaker:halfway through the season,
Speaker:I was on that basketball court cheering again.
Speaker:In those days you cheered for both football and basketball,
Speaker:learning number six,
Speaker:work through setbacks and swallow your pride.
Speaker:If you have to in pursuit of your goals,
Speaker:I'm happy to say that from here on out,
Speaker:I made every team I tried out for,
Speaker:but due to the experience of not making the team,
Speaker:I never took for granted that a spot would be mine.
Speaker:I worked hard before every tryout stayed humble.
Speaker:When my name was on the list and lifted up those
Speaker:who had their heart set and didn't make it.
Speaker:I knew how it felt.
Speaker:I'd been there learning number seven,
Speaker:the work doesn't end when an achievement is reached,
Speaker:you must continue to put in the energy to stay where
Speaker:you are and even more to advance and learning number eight
Speaker:don't ever get so overly confident in your position or expect
Speaker:the same results.
Speaker:Time after time.
Speaker:They're not guaranteed.
Speaker:I cheered all the way through high school and put myself
Speaker:out there again in college.
Speaker:That was a scary proposition because it's a level up.
Speaker:I was an unknown amongst everyone else.
Speaker:So my chances of claiming a spot dropped back to neutral,
Speaker:at least in my prior years,
Speaker:I had a track record going for me to migrate fortune.
Speaker:I made it Eastern Illinois,
Speaker:pink Panthers here I come at the university level.
Speaker:It's different.
Speaker:Again, new friendships were formed and my love of cheering was
Speaker:still there.
Speaker:Something else came to the forefront then to my interest in
Speaker:leading the team,
Speaker:being a captain,
Speaker:actually, there were always two of us.
Speaker:Co-captains being in charge,
Speaker:having responsibility over actions of others,
Speaker:learning to manage and work through interpersonal issues were all skills
Speaker:that I learned then that served me well in my professional
Speaker:world, I was a co-captain for three years,
Speaker:so had plenty of time to do things wrong.
Speaker:Perfect. My ways and test my leadership capabilities that leads to
Speaker:learning number nine,
Speaker:observing the role you naturally gravitate to in group settings could
Speaker:lead to new opportunities that you may not have considered before.
Speaker:And finally,
Speaker:let's get back to the Chicago bears experience.
Speaker:This is the big leagues,
Speaker:right? The golden nugget,
Speaker:the pinnacle of success.
Speaker:Okay, true.
Speaker:And I did enjoy my time on the squad.
Speaker:There were nuances of being on a professional squad that were
Speaker:fun, way more upscale and sophisticated dance choreography,
Speaker:which I found really challenging and exciting stretched my limits.
Speaker:Being in the limelight and being asked for autographs and recognized
Speaker:on the street,
Speaker:gave me a peek into being a celebrity on a small
Speaker:level. Didn't feel comfortable with that at all.
Speaker:Too much.
Speaker:Recognition is a little unsettling to me.
Speaker:I will say that being on the field and the energy
Speaker:that you only understand if you're there was unbelievable.
Speaker:The impact of pads on pads is really intense when you're
Speaker:close up to the action.
Speaker:And our locker room at soldier field was right across the
Speaker:hall from the opposing team.
Speaker:So running out onto the field with them was so exciting.
Speaker:Their size and strength was incredible.
Speaker:Here we are these small girls moving alongside these massive beasts.
Speaker:And I say that in only a good way,
Speaker:these were experiences.
Speaker:I am so happy to have had.
Speaker:And then there was the business end of being an NFL
Speaker:cheerleader, no fraternizing with the players because they have a much
Speaker:bigger job to do.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:the rules,
Speaker:the unhealthy girl,
Speaker:competitive drama,
Speaker:and the safety concerns that I hadn't expected.
Speaker:This comes with the big leagues of any profession,
Speaker:I guess,
Speaker:but it's the first time I encountered it,
Speaker:which leads to the biggest learning.
Speaker:I want to tell you,
Speaker:I discovered in my cheerleading journey,
Speaker:the farther along I progressed,
Speaker:the more complicated and less fun it was my grade school,
Speaker:middle school and high school,
Speaker:years of cheerleading where the best college was fine too,
Speaker:but it didn't have the same feel as before.
Speaker:And being an NFL cheerleader was also fun,
Speaker:but truly a job.
Speaker:One that I didn't control,
Speaker:do I regret doing it?
Speaker:Not for a second.
Speaker:My pompoms still sit in my basement and many decades later
Speaker:is this.
Speaker:And it's also really helped me to understand something super important.
Speaker:Learning number 10,
Speaker:the value is in the journey.
Speaker:It's not only discovered when you reach the destination,
Speaker:no matter where you are today in your handmade product business
Speaker:experience. Please take the time to reflect and bring joy to
Speaker:each stage.
Speaker:It's not necessary to rush,
Speaker:to get to the next level and do a happiness check
Speaker:along the way.
Speaker:Unlike my final stop with the Chicago bears,
Speaker:where I had no control over the demands,
Speaker:we were required to live up to.
Speaker:You have complete control over your business experience,
Speaker:check in with yourself regularly and make sure it feels right,
Speaker:that you're still excited about the possibilities.
Speaker:And if not make some changes,
Speaker:that's the true beauty of owning your own business.
Speaker:There's reward at each step,
Speaker:along the way and enjoying it all is the key to
Speaker:fulfillment and joy in your journey.
Speaker:That's a wrap.
Speaker:I'm a get to the point kind of girl.
Speaker:And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek
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Speaker:of yours.
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