Roll With the Changes

byjetrbby80316

5K followers

Updated 7 years ago

As the iconic 1969 Rolling Stones song off of the album “Let It Bleed” written by Jagger/ Richards patently states, "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

Stuff happens in life that we feel isn't fair both in business and in competition.

However, at times no matter how much we disagree, as best described by Kevin Cronin from REO Speedwagon from their 1980s hit namesake, it's best to just roll with the changes.

On June 5, we played a league team 8 Ball match, where we had ALL 5 of our players show up, and where the opponent team had only one player show up to play.

That same morning, the Local League Operator who runs the league emailed me this:

“You guys are playing some new players tonight. Can you come a little early and help them with the procedure and help them get started? I will be there at some point but it may not be by 7. Something from work may hold me up”.

The local league operator of APAnyc who “threw” together this team and frankly dropped the ball, was not present at this match as he said he would be. The only player who showed up to play, a 1st time newbie to the league, did not even know who the rest of his team was, even though his other 4 team members were printed on the scoresheet.

Also one player present that night at the pool hall playing in a different league who was published on the score sheet as “on the team” did not even KNOW he was on the team!

When I asked him to play 2nd, he said “I don’t play in this league!”

I replied, “But look at the opponent team scoresheet, your name is on it!”

He said, “Wha>%$#@??!!!”

The First Match: June 5

One of our players played the first match vs. their only player and our player won 3-0. The last 4 matches the opponent team didn't have any players and we had 4 players waiting to play, so by forfeit default we won (or apparently should have won) 2-0 for each forfeit, ostensibly winning the night by a score of 11-0.

So here is the scoresheet from Week 1 played on June 5 signed by both captain's confirming our 11-0 win.

Here is the rule from the Official Team Manual of the APA:

If your opponent does not have a player present for the next individual match, then two forfeit points are awarded to your team. These points are awarded only if your team has a player present for the match in question. In the event neither team can field a player for the match, the points will not be awarded to either team. For example, if one team can field four players and the opposing team can only field three players, only two forfeit points are awarded. The name of the player present, his team number and his player number must be written down on the scoresheet and forfeit written in place of the opponent’s name. The player chosen to receive the forfeit points must not cause the team to violate the 23-Rule.

Well, that should be a CLEAR win in the books for our team, right? That is not what happened.

Six weeks later, I received an email from the league operator, asking if WE would replay the entire match. He said, “Kaju. I really need you to schedule a partial makeup for week one. That team was really not whole that week and we can just play 4 matches”.

I couldn’t believe he would make such an outrageous request, this was unprecedented; I’d never seen a makeup match played in the APA league for 7 years!

More than this, it was totally disrespectful toward my 4 players who all commuted on June 5 for over one hour to NYC to arrive to play that match. And I let him know it.

I didn't like I it. It wasn't fair.

And it was simply against the league rulebook.

YES I protested. Three times. And yes I clearly expressed my displeasure bordering on unadulterated outrage to this league operator.

However, it had fallen on deaf ears.

In the end, we were forced rather unfairly by the same league operator who “dropped the ball” to replay a match that never should have been allowed to happen.

We had fairly won that match on June 5 by a score of 11-0 (3-0, 2-0 forfeit, 2-0 forfeit, 2-0 forfeit, 2-0 forfeit) in clear accordance with the APA Official Team Rulebook.

However, as team captain rather than further protesting, I decided to comply and replay the match. Oh yes, I was determined to beat this team at the table, as I later found out their team captain was extremely influential toward the local league operator’s unfair decision which only fueled my desire.

Well, on August 25, we “replayed” the final 4 sets of this unfair makeup match we were forced to play that never should have happened.

The Replayed Match: August 25

Once I made the decision, I no longer focused on the fact that we were utterly cheated, I channeled ALL of my FOCUS and frustration by ONLY focusing on the new task at hand, which was to “annihilate” that opponent team at the table.

The result: it was an absolute TOTAL domination – that night we CRUSHED that opponent team by a score of 12-2!

Going into the last match we were already up 9-2, then I played the last match vs. the opposing team captain in 6-2 race (the opponent only had to win 2 racks, I had to win 6!), and I still crushed him 6-0!

Here is the August 25 scoresheet:

That was even an improvement over the original 11-0 win had we not replayed the match!

The Ultimate Lesson

YES, I could have protested not to play this makeup match with a higher authority - in this case the APA National Office in St. Louis, Mo - once the local league operator “strong armed” me into playing the rematch against the league rulebook.

Instead once I made the decision, I focused all of my attention and effort into winning the match. The end result: our team WON by an even larger margin, and I destroyed my opponent by a score of 6-0.

So here is the Ultimate 6-Step Lesson I would like to share from this story:

• Make a carefully informed decision and stay committed to it.
• Once you commit to that decision, keep all of your focus on that task ahead.
• Don’t whine about the past, the past is irrelevant.
• Figure out how you can WIN in the NEW reality.
• Devise a New Game Plan
• Implement, and Repeat!

In recent weeks, we have been exposed to radical changes here at Wealthy Affiliate. Many of these changes were necessary as deemed by the founders.

Some have welcomed the new changes, while others have felt terribly aggrieved by them as their rankings have fallen hard being hit by an avalanche with the new ranking algorithm.

But these changes are here to stay (at least for a while) so you might as well get used to them all. Follow my 6-step blueprint and everything will be fine in the longer run.

Understand that CHANGE is the only constant both in our personal and business lives.

So my Dear Friends, you are all resilient beings, you are flexible, and you are winners. Summon all of your strength, creativity and ingenuity, and figure out what you need to do and shift gears.

And always remember one thing:

Roll with the Changes.

Thank you for your ultimate survivorship. Stay strong and keep it moving!

Your comments are always welcomed here.

Cheers,

Kaju