When I was learning to play chess, I read a book that suggested everyone should play against better players in order to improve their game. But to gain confidence, one should play against someone less experienced.

While that might be true for chess, this approach doesn’t always apply to Debate.

Speech and Debate were my primary extracurricular activities in both high school and college.  Like many male debaters at that time, I had an outsized ego that I brought with me into competition.  I still remember poking fun at one inexperienced team because, in my opinion, they were inept.  My partner and I lost that debate, almost certainly because we were incredibly obnoxious.

Though I was a good enough to attend USC on a debate scholarship, I was not quite good enough to win many national tournaments (even if I thought I should have won every single one).

I still remember a competition held in Lawrence, Kansas.  My partner and I performed well enough to advance into the quarter-final round where we debated the merits of national health insurance against a team from Harvard.

The other team quoted Nelson Rockefeller (governor of New York at that time). My partner responded by noting Mr. Rockefeller was not a medical authority.

One of our opponents, speaking almost faster than I could comprehend, answered.

“We did not cite Governor Rockefeller as a medical authority,” he said, “but rather as a (pause for effect) financial expert.”  The audience laughed.  Sixty years later I still remember the exact words. Not surprisingly, he Harvard team went on to win the tournament.

That debater from Harvard was Laurence Tribe. He was good.  Very good.  In fact, he was so good that I involuntarily admired him even while my debate partner and I were being verbally skewered. I also admitted, if only to myself, that we rightfully lost that round. It might be the only high school or college debate where I believed the other team was clearly better.

Larry went on to become a professor at Harvard Law School.  He recently retired, but is still well known as an outstanding constitutional law scholar.  You can look him up on Wikipedia.

Appropriately, Larry was an educator for many years.  He certainly gave me one of the more memorable lessons of my life.

Alan

The last time I was bored was when I ran out of options during my summer break at the age of ten.  After all, how many times a week could I visit the Los Angeles Zoo or watch a soap opera on afternoon TV?

A Jules Feiffer cartoon published in the L.A. Times still makes me chuckle. The text is as follows:

“I went to the Laundromat with 12 shorts and 12 pairs of socks.  Got back 10 shorts and 8 pairs of socks.

“I went to the Laundromat with 10 shorts and 8 pairs of socks.  Got back 9 shorts and 4 pairs of socks.

“I went to the Laundromat with 9 shorts and 4 pairs of socks.  Got back 6 shorts, no socks, and a note – ‘Bring me more socks.  The Machine.’”

My mind is similar to “The Machine” that devoured the socks – it munches thoughts from the moment I wake up until I fall asleep.  I need a constant supply of ideas to keep it busy.

When I opened my law office on April 1, 1967 I realized that I would also need a continuous supply of new cases to keep active — and to earn enough to pay office expenses as well as cover the mortgage payments on my home loan.  I’m still a little surprised that my law partner and I never ran out of cash.  Some months we came close.

A year later I formed ACF Property Management, Inc. to buy, sell, and manage commercial real estate.  That has kept me busy ever since. When I mention that there is at least one minor disaster every single day in property management – I’m not kidding. It keeps me and my employees on our toes.

When I was thirty, I enrolled in afternoon college courses to keep my already busy mind even more occupied as I earned another degree.  At that time I wasn’t happy unless I had at least fifteen balls in the air at the same time.

Now (as I reminded Daveen today) I’m no longer 80, and keeping three or four balls in the air simultaneously is more than enough.

Of course, as I write this, I’m also responding to emails and watching football on TV.

Chapter 7 in my People Tools book is entitled “Patterns Persist.”

My multi-tasking pattern still persists.

Alan “The Juggler” Fox

There is often an elephant in the room.  By that I mean there is an important situation lurking that overshadows everything else in your life.  It could be a job interview, a surgery, or wondering if your offer on a new house will be accepted.  When the elephant enters the center of your mind, it is both exhausting and nerve-wracking to think about it all the time. It is also boring, and possibly annoying to those around you if you constantly talk about it.

So, how do you keep the elephant out of your consciousness and put it back in the jungle where it belongs?

Compartmentalization.  (I love seven syllable words.)

You simply need to sequester the elephant and fill the compartments of your mind with other ideas to temporarily distract yourself.  In other words, change the subject internally.

If you’re talking with someone, you might bring up a new topic. Try asking a question such as:

1. What was the happiest time of your life?
2. What was the most embarrassing moment of your life?
3. What’s your favorite movie or food?

If you’re by yourself and can’t stop the elephant from trampling through your thoughts, call a friend or family member to start a conversation. Turn on the TV. Read a book (you could even read the dictionary).  You just have to displace the thought of the (****) with one or more other thoughts.

Or, better yet, don’t think about the (****) at all.  This may take some practice.  For myself, when I walk out of the door of my office I have learned to leave my business concerns where they belong.  This habit has been especially helpful since March of 2020 when I began working from home.  When I leave my home office for lunch, the (****) stays in the office.  I never invite an elephant to lunch.

We have more control over our thoughts than we realize.

For example, over the past few minutes you’ve been thinking about my elephant, not yours. Right?

Alan