Or at least turn it off on your next road trip.
For all you players out there—for all you road warriors riding buses, piling into minivans, traveling across the state or across the country for tournaments and games—I’ve got a challenge for you.
Throw your phone out the window.
Okay...
Maybe don't actually throw it out the window.
But turn it off.
I know how easy it is on a long road trip to plug in, put the earbuds in, stare at a screen, and disappear into your own little world.
YouTube.
TikTok.
Music.
Games.
Scrolling.
Hour after hour of noise and stimulation.
But on your next road trip, try something different.
Take one hour and just...
Sit there.
No phone.
No earbuds.
No music.
No videos.
Look out the window.
Look at the world going by.
Think about where you're going—not just where the minivan or bus is taking you, but where you're going with your life.
Where are you going with hockey?
What kind of player are you becoming?
What kind of teammate?
What kind of person?
And in all that silence, listen for that still, small voice inside your heart.
There's something that happens when we finally shut off all the noise.
You start hearing things you've been too distracted to hear.
Maybe it's something you know you need to change.
Maybe it's something you need to pursue.
Maybe it's a dream you buried.
Maybe it's a conversation you need to have.
Maybe it's just that quiet voice reminding you who you're supposed to become.
We're surrounded by noise every waking moment now.
Music.
Podcasts.
Videos.
Notifications.
Social media.
Everybody telling us what to think, what to watch, what to buy and what matters.
And sometimes I wonder...
What if all that noise causes us to miss the point?
So here's my challenge this week.
On the way to school...
On the way to practice...
Or during your next long hockey road trip...
Take an hour and unplug.
Look out the window.
Think.
Listen.
And maybe even look around the bus and strike up a conversation with one of your teammates.
A real conversation.
Face to face.
Human to human.
You might be surprised how good it feels.
There's something powerful about getting back to real human connection.
And there's something powerful about silence.
Sometimes when everything else finally gets quiet...
you can hear your destiny calling.
And next time you get out in the garage to work on your hands, try the same thing.
Turn the music off.
Turn the podcast off.
Put the phone down.
You don't have to be entertained every second of your life.
Grab your stick.
Grab your Puckaround.
And listen to nothing but the sound of that puck scraping across the concrete.
Left.
Right.
Left.
Right.
Just you, your stick, the puck, and the work.
Sometimes that's all you need.
Want to put in some quiet work on your hands? Grab a Puckaround and turn any hard surface into your own stickhandling station.
Then turn the phone off and get to work.
Knuckles up,
Bobby Robins, ex NHLer, certified savage