justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

I’m Tall Sitting Down

I’ve not been blessed with a great deal of height and I vividly remember how happy I was to reach 5 feet upon entering the eighth grade! I grew very slowly over the next few years, topping out at 5 feet, 6 inches tall. (It’s been reported that North American women have an average height of about 5 feet 4.6 inches – just 1.4 inches less than my maximum height.)

This height did not serve me well as I was very interested in basketball and football, which in most cases, required players who were taller.  So I remember playing one game of basketball at my local Boy’s Club (we only had seven players). I remember playing one season as the third string quarterback on our high school junior varsity football team too – playing when we were either so far ahead or far behind there was no danger that I’d impact the outcome. But I loved it! (To be forthright, in addition to being small for my favorite events, I was not very skilled or coordinated.)

I’ve lived most of my long life either tolerating or ignoring this condition and I must admit I really had no choice – but I occasionally experienced situations where I forgot just how short I was.

Moving forward into my career in the corporate world, I remember one particular day when I was in a business meeting with other managers.  I was enjoying a conversation with another manager sitting by my side, speaking to him “eye to eye”. As he was already sitting down when I entered the room, I didn’t notice whether he was taller than me or not – until he stood to leave the room. He kept standing up until reaching his full height of 6 feet, 3 inches, which as you can imagine, was a surprise to me.

From that time forward I realized that I was really taller than I imagined – sitting down – which gave me a tiny bit of solace from my concern over my lack of physical stature.

Looking back, I’m sure I tried to compensate for this physical liability by being over productive and trying not to experience the so called “small man’s disease”, which can be irritating and put offing at the least.

Best to consistently remember the advice I’ve shared with others as a mentor and coach:

It’s not what you’ve got. It’s what you do with it!