In the abc’s of building a better business – W is for Winning! In sports, it is always easy to clarify winning; whether you’re playing football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer or whatever sport you like or participate in, it’s all about the final score up on the board.
However, what does it really take to win? What does it take to consistently stand out as one of the best? What does it take to never lose that mojo as they say? I believe that the ingredient is that when you compete against the best you that you can possibly be.
When an Olympic athlete hires a coach, he or she hires that coach to help them win the gold, not the silver or the bronze. They hire that coach to help them be maybe just 1/100 of a second faster than the other competitors. They hire that coach to help them become the absolute best of the best. However until they actually make it to the event to compete who are they actually competing against? They are competing against the best of them. They are competing against themselves at the absolute best they can be. A great coach once asked me “What would the Best you do?” That question really made me ponder for a bit. So, what would the best you do?
Like him or not, Tom Brady is an excellent example of competing against the best of himself. Something you may or may not know about Tom Brady is that he was absolutely dead last in the 2000 NFL combine. Tom Brady with a time of 5.28 was the slowest ever of any quarterback in the 40 yard dash of any NFL combine. Tom Brady was not even an afterthought of any of those coaches at the combine. However, Tom Brady competed against the best he could ever be and because of that he is now one of the best to ever strap up the cleats. Not to mentioned that he has also never stopped competing to be the best he can be.
Tom Brady is also fortunate that he has one of the best coaches in the NFL; isn’t that interesting. A coach will help you tap into that hidden power that you haven’t let out yet. A coach will see the best in you when you can’t. A coach will not only get you to recognize that hidden power and tap into it, he or she will also teach you to apply those new learnings that will then give you the ability to go to the next level.
When this unique combination takes place everybody wins. The player, the team, the coach and the fans all win. So the next time you go out there to compete whether it be in sports or business, compete against your best possible you that you can be and I guarantee that you’ll create a win / win for everyone involved.