Maria Taylor is a reporter for ESPN. A few weeks ago, she was working at the 2016 Rose Bowl game between Stanford and Iowa. Stanford won big time, and one of their players, Christian McCaffrey, put on an amazing display of talent. When the game ended, Maria found the young man on the field and interviewed him live on tv. In the midst of praising him for such a tremendous performance, she accidentally mixed up a couple of words and asked him about his "productition" during the game. When she said it, my buddy and I looked at each other and started laughing. "Productition" is not even a word. To make sure we heard it right, we jumped on Twitter, and people were joking about it all over the country. "Productition" immediately became the new buzzword, and of course we used it several times during the rest of the day.
A little later, after she realized what she had done, Maria took charge of the situation and handled it brilliantly. On Twitter she explained that she accidentally combined the words "productivity" and "production". That's how she wound up with "productition". But she also laughed at herself and took it all in stride.
I admire how Maria handled that. She owned up to her little mistake, laughed it off, and demonstrated a great attitude. Instead of getting upset or defensive at the reaction of people, she stepped up to the plate and dealt with it in an admirable way. And here's what happened after that: Talked died down, people mostly forgot about it, and everyone moved on with their lives. No big deal!
It seems to me that we all can learn something from Maria here. When we mess up little things in life, let's be secure enough to claim it, learn from it, and get on with the day. Sure, some folks may pick on us for a little while, but that's not the end of the world. Their doing that is just a reminder that we're normal human beings who should keep a humble heart.
Perhaps another moral to the story is this: Let's not take ourselves too seriously. God is perfect, and we are not. We're far from it. "Works in progress" is how we all can be described. While we strive for excellence and give our best, our flawed humanity reveals itself from time to time. And that's alright. God loves us anyway. Besides, mistakes are good opportunities to learn and do better next time.
Are folks laughing over something you said or did? It's ok. Just share a laugh with them. You're human, and you're going to make mistakes. Just like the rest of us. It doesn't mean you're a failure or a flop. It just means you're like everyone else on the planet. You're learning and growing, and that's what matters.
I tip my hat to Maria. She did it right! May we all follow her example.
And you know what? I kind of like her word "productition". It's actually a pretty cool word! :)
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