Sit back and get ready

44:00 – 4 miles (plus .5 in 8:00)

I had a great weekend coaching the kids hockey team and always leaves me speechless when the kids put it all together. Okay, maybe not speechless, but I certainly didn’t lose my voice after the game. I have found that adopting a slogan helps a team get focused and allows me to make decisions more efficiently. Over the past few weeks, the slogan I have repeated over and over is “don’t watch the game, play the game.” This came out of a road game where we played a team that was at the same level as ours … no better no worse. My team kept up with the other team, but that’s about it. They skated right along side of them watching the puck. Nothing I said, yelled, motivated, encouraged, or did was sinking in. So instead, I sat back and let them ride out the game … formulating what I would say at the end.

I think much of this is true in business. There have been plenty of times I found myself in conversations that I knew what the outcome would be, so instead of spending energy debating, I spent time thinking of the next steps. Focus your energy on planning on how you react in 5 minutes rather then in 5 seconds. When you have time in the car, think about different situations you may find yourself in today and devise plans on how you will guide them to the outcome you want. Musicians that improv normally don’t improv … it’s something they have thought out so they know the outcome they want … the journey to it is the fun part.