Written by Coach JoyGenea with minor edits by Notion AI, image by Chat GPT
This all started with a goal in 2025 to spend more time with my husband understanding something he loves. My husband loves football. He just loves it. I know a little, but I figured with his knowledge, he could help me understand the game better and we’d have something new to share.
Stay tuned, and I’ll let you know how that goal went.
Spoiler: I ended up learning way more than just football, participating in my first year of fantasy football.
Learning New Things Can Be Fun and No Stress
It has been years since I did something I knew nothing about, didn’t study up, and just jumped in to learn on the fly. Right away in the mock drafts, I was finding out how little I understood the system.
It really reminded me of how stuffy and comfortable we can get as leaders. Just doing things the one way. The same way. The safe way.
I had a client who was going to expand a part of his business and just kept holding back. We would add it to his goals, and it would just sit there. He was stuck in comfortable. He couldn’t recall the last time he did something where he didn’t know what he was doing.
So, I tossed him into a space he didn’t know anything about- improv. He committed to four classes. He wanted to quit after the first one, until we talked about all the ways his anxiety was running the show. He enjoyed the last class. He then started that expansion to his business. He was reminded that it’s fun to play, you don’t know what you are doing until you start, and he has the skills to figure it out.
Play teaches so many leadership lessons we forget as adults.
Fresh Eyes Beat “That’s How It’s Done”
Coming in with no preconceived ideas meant I was able to learn on the fly with fresh eyes.
I got yelled at in the mock draft for picking my QB in the second round. People told me, “That is not how it is done.”
When they said that, I thought: Thank you for giving me a push. I will prove you wrong. And then I asked why. And why some more. I understood why they had that belief, but as a person with no preconceived ideas, it didn’t make sense.
I took my first QB in the fourth round of the draft. It worked out well for me.
Think of all the businesses that got started because someone knew nothing about an industry and when they came in with fresh eyes, they could see growth and missed opportunities, so they turned the industry on its head. Examples like Uber, Amazon, and Tesla.
Sometimes the “rules” everyone follows are just comfortable patterns, not actual wisdom.
Not Having Most of the Answers is OK. Just Keep Moving Forward.
I was scared and nervous the day of the draft. I was at my computer 30 minutes early and had a backup computer ready, just in case. But I loved that time limit to sit in that fear.
Too often as leaders we just sit in that fear and anxiety of not knowing, when really what we need is a time limit and a push.
The draft forced me to make decisions with incomplete information, under pressure, in real time. And you know what? I survived. More than survived.
Low Risk = Permission to Take Calculated Risks
With no fear of failure or looking unprofessional, the risk was low, so I took more calculated risks. I do the same in business all the time, but I perceive the risk to be so much greater.
That is a lie. I need to trust my skills more. And so do most leaders.
Fantasy football reminded me that most of the risks we avoid aren’t actually that risky. We just tell ourselves they are because it’s easier than being uncomfortable.
From Week One: Injuries, Reassessment, and Hidden Talent
From week one on, I had players dropping like mosquitos under a bug zapper. I learned the art of reassessing and finding hidden talent. Thursday mornings became a key meeting time for my husband and I to strategize and see what our options were.
I was reminded that teamwork matters, and that the team is only as good as the top leadership – the coach and quarterback. I studied relationships between leaders and players and watched for patterns.
Business 101: Start, Adjust, Adapt, Move Forward, Repeat
That is the basics of business, and I felt like I had forgotten that recently. The reminder was helpful and I have been passing it along to all my clients.
You don’t need the perfect plan. You need to start, pay attention, adjust based on what you learn, and keep moving. Repeat always or move on.
Stop Being Myopic – Look at the Whole Picture
Playing fantasy football got me learning players’ names, cheering for players on other teams, and having more conversations with my husband about all the teams and players.
The goal I started with, spending more time with my husband understanding something he loves? Mission accomplished. And I was reminded of the core tenets about leadership along the way.
The Results: Horned Helmeted Heroes Take Second Place
My first season is done and the Horned Helmeted Heroes (that is the name of my team) took 2nd place in my league. I lost in the Super Bowl, by a lot, it was an epic breakdown by my whole team, but I made it to the championship game.
Here is what they said about my team at the beginning of the year:
“Horned Helmeted Heroes will be looking to prove the pundits wrong. After picking last in the first round, they’re expected to finish 10th in their league. They aimed for a roster with balance at key positions, adding a quarterback, two running backs, and two wide receivers within the first five rounds. By the time all the picks were made, Horned Helmeted Heroes secured a foursome of running backs with plenty of room to grow.”
By the end they were saying: “With Some Risky Picks, Horned Helmeted Heroes Looks to Beat Back the Competition.”
Expected to finish 10th. Finished 2nd.
Trust Your Skills and Your Strengths
More than anything I was reminded to not listen to what other people say if it doesn’t add value. Trust your skills and your strengths.
One of my strengths is pattern recognition. This showed me that I don’t even have to totally understand something very well and I can still see patterns. I’ll point out- better than AI. AI would give me suggestions, and I went with my choices.
The algorithm predicted I’d finish 10th. My pattern recognition and my husband’s knowledge took me to the championship.
The Unconventional Leader Reminder
As unconventional leaders, I want to remind you that you need to get uncomfortable more often than you allow, so you can stay in that unconventional thinking and ahead of your competition who is just staying in the comfort zone.
Nobody wins the Super Bowl playing in the comfort zone.
When was the last time you did something you knew nothing about? When was the last time you ignored the “rules” and tried it your way? When was the last time you took a calculated risk just because the actual risk was lower than your fear?
My fantasy football season taught me to play again. To trust my instincts. To embrace the discomfort of not knowing. To adapt weekly. To ignore predictions that don’t serve me.
And honestly? That’s worth more than any trophy.
If you are feeling stuck in your comfort zone, it is time to hire someone to give you a push that knows how to do it the unconventional way.
What are you waiting for?
Coach JoyGenea
Video transcription:
Today I want to talk to you about something fun and an adventure I went on this year, how playing fantasy football reminded me to get uncomfortable, and how important that is as a leader. It’s really easy in leaderships, even for unconventional leaders, to get comfortable in their leading, and sometimes, well actually a lot of the time, we need to be reminded it’s okay to be uncomfortable, and it will definitely scare your team, but that’s no reason to not do it, and that’s definitely no reason to slow down. So there’s a few key points I want I have in my entire article. I highly recommend you read it. It’s pretty darn funny, and it talks about my adventures in my first year of playing fantasy football. So number one, learning new things can be fun and no stress. Remember that thing you used to do as a kid called play? Yeah, that’s what it felt like this year, like I was just playing. The outcomes didn’t matter, there was nothing tied to it, I could just play, and by playing in that area, I was able to pull that into my business, and it was wonderful, and I see that a lot in my clients. They have forgotten how to play, so this is a great reminder of that. Number two, fresh eyes often beat those of the this is how it’s done. Something I don’t worry too much about with my unconventional leaders and my different thinking clients I coach, but it can happen where, where we get really comfortable with a particular way something is being done and maybe we’re missing out, so listen when you have fresh eyes giving you feedback. Number three, not having most of the answers is okay, and in the if you have the end in mind. So it is okay to not know everything, especially if you know where you’re targeting and what you’re trying to make happen. So often I definitely see this, and it’s interesting, I don’t see it in unconventional different thinkers when they’re young. I see it after they’ve gone through the school systems and after they’ve come out of that. They become weary of their instincts, they become weary of those skills that they had as a child, that they were taught to question, and so I’m always encouraging, more than likely you know a whole lot more than most people do, and so it’s okay for you to take a step forward, because you probably have the end in mind. No. 4, low risk is permission to take calculated risks, because there was no major risk. I couldn’t help but be all about managing to take more risks, to be like wow, why not try this player, hey, let’s see if this works, and this, I’m gonna sit this guy on the bench, and you know it might not work, and a couple times it did not, and a few times it totally paid off. It was awesome. No. 5, from week oh yeah, ha ha ha, from Week 1, injuries reassessment and hidden talent. It reminded me as a coach and as a leader, where is the hidden gold in my team? Am I looking at all of their strengths? Am I looking at their statistics? Am I paying attention to what they’re bringing to the plate, and am I using all of that? Cause all of a sudden, I was looking at every other things in the world that way. It was, it was very helpful. Number six, it would just business 101 start, adjust, adapt, move forward, repeat the whole thing, right? Start, adjust, adapt, move forward, repeat. It’s that simple. Don’t overthink it. No. 7, stop being myopic in your view, meaning getting really tunnel visioned about things. Look at the whole picture, because my fantasy football team was not one team. It was players from multiple teams in multiple obviously positions. I was always paying attention to how other player I, it got me to pay attention to how other players were doing, and to figure and to stay broader. Maybe a quarterback went down. Well, that meant more than likely there might be shifts in how they’re, the you know, their running backs were doing, and how the wide receivers and tight ends were scoring, and maybe some, there was a new person on the bench that was gonna be coming up that would be more a greater strength and an asset, one I might want on my team, so I’d maybe want to grab them sooner than later. No. 8, the results. The results are what counts. So each week wasn’t perfect, but the end again, staying focused on that end game, the results of your actions are what counts. No. 9, trust your skills and your strengths. For me, one of my strengths is pattern recognition. It didn’t matter that I didn’t understand fantasy football. It didn’t matter that when I started the season, I really didn’t understand the difference between a running back and a receiver, okay? I didn’t understand the difference from most people outside of the quarterback and the center. I’ll be honest, I understood the difference in the offense, but I just, I didn’t really understand all of those positions. I can now tell you I know a lot more than I did when I started, um, and No. 10, this is the unconventional leader reminder. Nobody wins the Super Bowl. Nobody wins the Super Bowl playing it safe, meaning if you’re finding yourself in a bit of a rut, when you used to be so more bold, such a bigger thinker, so more engaged, you might be stuck in a rut, and it is probably time to get somebody to give you a good swift push, and that is what I do. I am an unconventional and international neurodiversity coach. I help those people that think outside of the box continue to grow, flourish, and expand in incredible ways. My name is JoyGenea. It has been a pleasure to hang out with you. I highly recommend you check out the whole article. There’s some fun stories, even ones about mosquitoes, because hey, what can I say? I’m from Minnesota, haha, bye now.