# Keep Your Eye on the Ball *You can only have one priority – what is it?* By [CURIOUS AF](https://paragraph.com/@curious_af) · 2026-07-07 ai, words, brand, trademark, trademarks, meaning --- I didn't watch the USMNT World Cup game against Belgium. The Americans lost long before they took the field. So did their fans and their country. My country. Ugh. What an embarrassment. If that sounds harsh, it's only because we have moved so far away from foundational guiding principles that have been proven to make people and teams successful in the first place. Allow me to explain. ![](https://paragraph.com/editor/callout/tip-icon.png) Open-Source Learning is **yours**. Free. [Get the white paper here](https://48380173.hs-sites.com/open-source-learning-white-paper) Before basketball took over my life in high school, I played nine years of AYSO and club soccer, mostly with teammates of Mexican and Central/South American descent. My Uncle Charles, who lived in England after escaping WWII Austria, was a Manchester United fan except when Pelé was playing – and then Uncle Charles was all Santos, Brazil, and even New York Cosmos. I started playing soccer for one simple reason: no money. You only need a ball (or a wadded up bunch of something) for a couple dozen people to play. It's easy to construct a goal: "Between this rock and that trashcan!" And because all the players are (a) prideful, and (b) want to win and play on instead of waiting for the next game, you quickly learn how to build a team, navigate politics, and manage disputes. You figure it out. You do your best and you accept the outcome. You don't cry to the referee because there isn't one. You either work within the system because you acknowledge that the game is bigger than the players, or at some point you find yourself ostracized or receiving a whole lot of attention you don't want. When I started playing in a league, all of my soccer coaches had two things in common: 1) they were constantly in players' faces about doing the right things and avoiding the wrong things; and 2) they cared about winning, but not as much as they cared about character, hard work, and commitment. Sports are a powerful metaphor for life and a powerful teacher of some of life's most important messages only because their models of success depend on clear rules of engagement. Even when coaches invoke abstract concepts, they keep the message simple and align it with observable action. Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success stands right next to my office desk; every single day I am reminded of the many ways it applies to business and life. Coach and my other role models in sports succeeded because they defined success with vision and core values, and then they totally dedicated themselves to the process and demanded their players do likewise. That meant rejecting anything that didn't fit, even if it seemed positive for other reasons. **What defines USMNT?** USMNT had a golden teachable moment, a real chance to answer that question, and instead it fumbled the ball and scored an own goal. When POTUS intervened (OMG, can you imagine your mom calling the league to get you back in the game?), all USMNT Coach Maricio Pochettino had to do was say, "No thanks, Mr. President and FIFA. We don't need that kind of help. While we support our player and we disagree with that call, that was the ruling on the field and we'll live with it. That's what we do. We trained for this and we're ready for Belgium. Play on." I've always admired athletes and people in walks of life who are resilient, adaptable, and determined in the face of adversity. These are values I've always aspired to; I've tried to model them for my clients, employees, and even my own children. If USMNT had refused the favor, their game against Belgium would have been a victory no matter what. USMNT would have stood for something. Even in defeat, soccer coaches – and teachers, and parents, and even the occasional management consultant – all over the world would have pointed to their example and said something like, "When politicians were willing to do the wrong thing, those guys stood up and did the right thing." Instead, as soon as USMNT accepted the gift, they lost. Had they won the game, the result would have been posted with a big fat blemish of an asterisk that said, "Yeah, cause their president daddy made a phone call." The 4-1 defeat to an aging Belgium team is even worse now: "Maybe their president daddy should've changed another rule too, or just told FIFA to put Messi on their team." Your organization – your family, your school, your company – can only have one priority. That's the definition of the word _priority_: something that comes before (prior to) everything else because it's more important. This is why every organization must have something like a vision and a value system. Opportunities and circumstances may change, but credibility, trust, and respect are built over time on a foundation of principle. So ask yourself what's most essential. Find your North Star. And stay focused. Integrity that comes from clarity and consistency over time is the truest victory. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ **_What happened when honoring your personal or organizational priority led you to make a hard choice? Drop me a line – I’m curious!_** \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_  Open-Source Learning is yours. Free. [Get the white paper here](https://48380173.hs-sites.com/open-source-learning-white-paper). Use what works and customize whatever you need, however you want. I’m here to help. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ Curiosity is worth practicing. That’s how we get better at it. When it’s done particularly well, curiosity can be elevated to an art form. Curiosity makes life worth living. I am literally Curious AF. And now you can be too! Click [HERE](https://app.unlock-protocol.com/checkout?id=68023463-6e71-4d4a-a2b5-7b9f2af78ead) to unlock your free membership subscription.  Here is a taste of what I’m doing, reading, watching, and thinking about. **What I'm Seeing –** Spotted this in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles last week: ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/85015f76d3ee4062e2f25cc2393eb27a5c7a7513432869e57d6e3fb043e9c8b2.jpg) **What I’m Reading –** It's been a while since I read a novel, and thanks to a book fair outside Ackerman Union at UCLA I picked up a copy of William Gibson's [_Agency_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_\(novel\)). It's brilliant. From [_The Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jan/22/agency-william-gibson-review): "Along with trust, a sense of individual agency – heroic centrality in your own story, the ability to make and carry out choices of your own, the “capacity to act” – is the central offer of most Hollywood dreams, and the product sold to us by the majority of corporate ads; but it’s the least likely attribute most of us will ever possess. Like it or not – know it or not – we tend to do what nudge and soft power would prefer. From his beginnings in 1984’s _Neuromancer,_ Gibson has offered the struggle for agency as an unacknowledged, quietly devastating war – fought by hackers, gig economy workers, off-gridders and their networks – against the algorithm, against the manipulation of our needs, our personal information and our appetites, by big data and gangster capital. If he was “prescient” back then, he’s right on the ball now, when it’s so much harder to believe in those loose human associations he imagined in the 1990s, whose combination of technical nous and cultural know-how enabled them to quickly distinguish the real from the sucker fantasy." **What I’m Watching –** Based on my daughter's recommendation, I'm going to have to read Anthony Doerr's [_All the Light We Cannot See_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_Light_We_Cannot_See). In the meantime, we're watching [the four-episode miniseries on Netflix](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15320362). The book won a Pulitzer and sold 15 million copies. [_Time_](https://time.com/6330434/all-the-light-we-cannot-see-review-netflix/) magazine called the show "a schmaltzy, incompetent, borderline offensive mess whose mere existence tarnishes the book’s legacy." We've enjoyed watching and discussing the first three episodes, which makes this one of those rare moments when I'm glad to watch a show before reading the 544-page novel that inspired it. **Quote I’m pondering –** **Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and rural sounds, exceed in interest a knock at the door.** **\- Charles Lamb** Thank you for reading! This publication is a lovingly cultivated, hand-rolled, barrel-aged, ad-free, AI-free, 100% organic, anti-algorithm, zero calorie, high protein, completely reader-supported publication that is not paid to endorse any political party, world religion, sports team, product or service. Please help keep it going by [buying my book](https://www.amazon.com/Academy-One-Promise-Open-Source-Learning-ebook/dp/B08Q778R55), [hiring me to speak](https://davidpreston.net/speaking/), or becoming a paid subscriber, which will also entitle you to upcoming web events, free consultations, discounted merchandise, and generally being the coolest person your friends know: [Upgrade to paid](https://app.unlock-protocol.com/checkout?id=68023463-6e71-4d4a-a2b5-7b9f2af78ead) Best, ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/55d429aca45753b9a006e8e65c43d19e.jpg) * * * _Know someone who is also Curious AF? Please share this edition with them!_ [Share](https://paragraph.xyz/@ccarfi/SOMikmYXktE1kPZuskHb) * * * ![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/eeb684ffdee657a1dffe1f9c76e9cb9b.jpg) **David Preston** Educator & Author ​[**https://davidpreston.net**​](https://davidpreston.net​) Latest book: [**ACADEMY OF ONE**](https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781475859041/Academy-of-One-The-Power-and-Promise-of-Open-Source-Learning) * * * _Header image:_ [_https://pixabay.com/photos/balls-metal-balls-marbles-7749825/_](https://pixabay.com/photos/balls-metal-balls-marbles-7749825/) --- *Originally published on [CURIOUS AF](https://paragraph.com/@curious_af/keep-your-eye-on-the-ball)*