It Starts With One Good Day
Have you ever had one of those days where everything just clicks? One idea becomes another. One task turns into five. You suddenly find yourself accomplishing more than you thought possible.
That’s usually when Coach Dash appears.
After a busy couple of weeks starting my new job, I’ve seen more and more of that damned hamster™ than I have in a long time. He’s not new. He’s definitely been here before. But his intensity has suddenly exploded.
It’s almost like he’s been jogging alongside the ship all along, just waiting for someone to pick up speed.
Meet Coach Dash
Coach Dash “The Accelerator” is basically one of those gym guys who somehow has unlimited energy. He’s convinced every problem can be solved with one more lap, one more rep, or one more idea. Peak physical shape. Purple tracksuit. Gold whistle. Loud enough to motivate the entire ship before breakfast.
Did I mention he’s also a hamster? He’s infamous for running — particularly on his hamster wheel.
The idea came to me after the last post where I mentioned the hamster was running on the wheel with a lot of intensity. He basically takes a creative idea from The Spark, and runs with it. He imagines all the possibilities, how to make it work, what steps are involved, and so forth.
At his best, this Wild Card motivates me. He keeps me on my toes. I can get a lot of ideas thought up, written down, and figure out the steps it takes to do it. He absolutely loved the Lean Six Sigma course as it made him imagine so many possibilities and uses out of it.
At his worst… well, he doesn’t exactly know when to stop running on the wheel. Sometimes he doesn’t understand how important a good night’s sleep is in order to do all the things he wants to do. This can be problematic, as last week I had quite a lot of sleepless nights.
His favourite quote: “Don’t stop now—you’ve finally got traction!”
Dash doesn’t create momentum… he amplifies momentum that’s already there.
Coach Dash Doesn’t Start the Engine
That job belongs to The Spark. They come up with the idea. The creative spark, as it were. It’s when you get the “Ooh! I’ve got a great idea for a [fill in the blank]!”
Coach Dash doesn’t ask whether the idea is practical. He assumes it is and starts drawing up the game plan before anyone else has finished talking. He largely works with my imagination, but in a very structured way. He loves every idea The Spark comes up with. The possibilities seem like they are endless…
The Spark lights the match. Coach Dash throws another log on the fire. Ideas become action. Action becomes momentum. Momentum becomes progress.
Coach Dash vs. The Taskmaster
I know it may seem like yet another character who’s interested in accomplishing tasks. That’s not what The Coach’s role is in the Emotional Cartography ship. He’s an idea man.
The Taskmaster is very different. He’s almost always concerned about time. What steps are involved? How quickly can this be implemented? Do we have the time to do it with the mountain of other things we have to do?
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not always an antagonistic relationship between these two. Sometimes he likes the ideas that Dash comes up with. The Taskmaster is the guy that helps determine the rough timeline of the project at hand.
The Taskmaster believes in discipline first.
Coach Dash believes in energy first.
Dash asks, “How far can we take this while the energy is here?” The Taskmaster would simply ask a different question: “have you finished today’s list?”
Taskmaster keeps things moving. Coach Dash speeds them up.
Neither is better.
They simply arrive at different times.
Coach Dash vs. The Groundskeeper
So what about his twin brother, The Groundskeeper? How does Dash differ from him?
The Groundskeeper loves routines. Coach prefers breakthroughs. Groundskeeper reminds me to water the garden. The Accelerator suddenly decides it’s time to build another greenhouse.
Dash creates momentum, whereas The Groundskeeper protects consistency.
Together, they’re fantastic. While his twin is preoccupied with time, The Groundskeeper simply wants to implement a useful system in place. Dash understands that desire, but has many notes on what might work better — sometimes even at the eleventh hour.
Usually they get along famously, but there are times when that damned hamster™ even gets on the laid back Groundskeeper’s nerves.
Who Coach Dash Works Best With
The Spark – She starts the fire. Dash keeps throwing logs on it.
Lady Optimism – She reminds him everything is possible. He immediately wants to try all of it.
The Navigator – The direction she provides prevents him from wasting energy.
The Groundskeeper – He keeps Dash’s acceleration sustainable.
Left unsupervised, Coach Dash will happily start twelve exciting projects before breakfast.
Who He Doesn’t Work Well With
I think it should come as no surprise that the person who antagonizes Dash the most is clearly The Procrastinator.
The Procrastinator will never understand why we can’t just go to sleep, or watch TV, or just stare at the wall for a while. Why does the Coach have to be so intense?
Coach Dash equally doesn’t understand how you can just sit still and do nothing when we’ve got so much to work with. What do you mean, let’s do it later? With that attitude it’ll never get done!
The Procrastinator shrugs, Why would that be a bad thing, exactly? The Coach leaves the room in exasperation.
You get the idea.
Dash also doesn’t really get along with Dr. Anxiety either. The Coach wants motion. Doc wants certainty. He needs to know if we’re sure we should be doing this? What if we fail? What if it doesn’t work out the way you want it to?
Dash thinks the Doctor is a quack most of the time, and tends to ignore him.
Then there’s The Trickster. Sometimes Dash can mistaken chaos for momentum. The Trickster loves that.
Coach Dash’s Weakness
Despite what he thinks of himself, Coach Dash isn’t perfect.
Coach Dash has a few blind spots.
He…
- forgets to rest.
- overcommits.
- mistakes activity for progress.
- gets excited too quickly.
- accidentally outruns everyone else.
He isn’t reckless. Dash is just really enthusiastic. There’s a difference.
Sometimes he can just run on that treadmill wheel of his for hours at a time, without realizing that he’s keeping everyone else on the ship awake. He doesn’t mean to be rude about it.
He just felt like running!
A Lesson From This Week
I have just completed the second week working at Iconic POS & Print Shop. While the excitement about some of Coach’s ideas is still there, the intensity has gone down significantly.
One success naturally led to another. Meeting coworkers and trying to remember their names. Learning unfamiliar software. Sharing some Illustrator tricks. Thinking about process improvements. Blog ideas. That was all in the first week!
After three nights of diminished sleep, I had to take a melatonin tablet one night just so I could get that damned hamster™ to stop running for a night. I think it worked, because he has realized that he was running rampant.
My second week got more intense. I’m still learning the processes that were in place, and thinking up some ways to make them more automated. We had quite a lot of rush jobs that all needed to be done by Friday. I got more comfortable with sending invoices through QuickBooks. I worked on a few graphic design fixes or art files.
It’s been busy. I like busy, but there definitely needs to be some order to the chaos. We have some ideas on that.
Dash is doing his best to keep his running during the waking hours. There are times though he just can’t help himself and decides to go for a quick jog in the middle of the night, but he quits after an hour.
Diana’s Opinion
Diana does understand the sudden need to sprint at top speed across the house — yeah, even in the middle of the night. On some level, she totally gets Dash’s intensity.
But she also really likes The Procrastinator and finds his desire to have more naps to be inspiring. Or maybe she influenced him? Who knows…
She firmly believes acceleration should always be followed by seventeen hours of sleep.
Honestly…
She has a point.
Final Thought: Every Hero Needs a Coach
Coach Dash doesn’t shout because he thinks you’re falling behind.
He cheers because he sees what you’re capable of becoming.
The trick isn’t letting him drive all the time.
It’s knowing when the road is clear enough to let him hit the gas.
Every accelerator still needs someone to remind them where the finish line is.
Who helps you build momentum when life finally starts moving in the right direction?
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Hope you know who’s in control!
……..YOU ARE!……