I recently re-watched all three seasons of Ted Lasso. While the series is centered around sports, it’s about much more than that. It’s really a show about learning to become a leader. Much has already been written about the many lessons the show imparts along with countless lists of leadership themes and quotes, and I won’t attempt to re-invent these here. But one repeated theme from the show that resonates with me is “Be a Goldfish”. The main character, Ted, at one point says to his team, "You know what the happiest animal on Earth is? It’s a goldfish. Do you know why? It’s got a 10-second memory.”

We are human, and we will make mistakes. How we respond to these mistakes provides the opportunity for personal growth. It’s easy to get stuck in a cycle of dwelling on past errors and fixating on analyzing what went wrong, the reasons for failure, and so on. This is where the lesson of “Be a Goldfish” comes into play. It serves as a reminder not to dwell excessively on past mistakes and not let them define us. Recognize the error, take full responsibility for it, learn from it for future endeavors, and move forward.

Now, if you research this, you’ll find that goldfish only having a 10-second memory isn’t scientifically accurate (it’s more like five months), but this doesn’t diminish the underlying concepts of the metaphor. Remembering to “Be a Goldfish” can be a valuable tool as you lead.