Position changes and lesson application

I had Position Identity Disorder. Commonly known as PID.

Ever since I was a little boy at the age of 3, I wanted to play football. And more specifically, I saw myself as the quarterback. The signs were everywhere. I could throw. I was athletic. I understood and studied the game and had a high football IQ. Two great NFL QBs named Bob Griese and Fran Tarkenton each had my same birthday. It was … obviously … destiny.

My identity disorder was promoted by my early years of playing. I WAS the QB. And I was really good. I got older. There were other good QBs too. I would occasionally get moved to a different position because of my athleticism but always returned to QB. As a high school sophomore, I was the JV starter but only 1 year behind the varsity starter (who would later play at Ohio State). So my junior year I played varsity WR, RB, and DB. My senior season was to be my QB year. But a glitch in the matrix. I was beaten out for the job, and told to report for duty as a DB, WR, kick returner, punt returner, and placekick holder. I rarely left the field. 

My athleticism earned some attention from college scouts. I continued to insist that I was a QB trapped in a non-QB body. I was only 5’11”. Weighed maybe 160. But I could throw and run. Davidson College (Division I-AA or what they call FCS today) took a chance on me. I showed up the first day and started doing agility drills with 8 other QBs. The DB coach named Gerald Carr (he later became the OC for North Carolina and then WR coach for the Philadelphia Eagles), came over, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “son, come with me; you’re a defensive back now.”

As a freshman, they played me at safety. 5 games into the season, I became the starter. But I didn’t like it. I was still out of place. They moved me to cornerback as a sophomore. I found my “home.” And once I let go of my fierce clinging to what I thought I was, I became free. Embraced it. And I applied the lessons I had learned from playing other positions to playing CB. I understood how receivers would run routes and try to attack my leverage. I understood the passing game and how QB reads progressed. The lessons learned from all of my previous positions served me well.

Maybe you are absolutely sure what you are meant to be. Or maybe you have a strong desire to pursue it. You should do so, but also don’t be surprised if you get the metaphorical shoulder tap along the way that it’s time to find a different position. Be flexible, willing, and open. You think you want to be a criminal trial lawyer. Then you find out how well you research and write. So maybe to maximize your gifts, you need to become an appellate lawyer. You think you want to be in the prestige of BigLaw. Then you discover that you have a nose for business and a desire for independence that supersedes the importance of money and prestige. So you start your own firm. Take the lessons from your misplacement and apply them to your new role. That way, nothing you spent time doing before will be wasted.

Don’t let PID hold you back.