Take Action

Take action

A LOT of teams who don't achieve do so simply because they didn't do anything. Their self talk

is 'If it happens again, we will' or 'the next time, I will..' or 'If we don't do something..' or 'I must do

something etc. The world doesn't pay us for what we know, it pays us for what we do. As Abraham

Lincoln said: "Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle."

What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only

consequence is what we do. When you take action, you trigger all kinds of things that will inevitably

carry you to success. You let those around you know that you are serious in your intention. Players

and staff wake up and start paying attention. People with similar goals become aligned with you.

You begin to learn things from your experience that cannot be learned from listening to others

or reading books. You begin to get feedback about how to do it better, more efficiently and more

quickly. Things that once seemed confusing begin to become clear, e.g. don't talk about game

plans, train them. I've found that one thing that separates winners from losers more than anything

else is that winners take action. They simply get up and do what has to be done. Once they have

developed a plan, they START. (Do you plan?) They get into motion. They learn from their mistakes,

make the necessary corrections and keep taking action. All the time they build momentum until they

finally produce the result they set out to produce or even a better result than conceived. Successful

managers, coaches, teams are highly action-orientated.

They have a vision, set goals, break these down into small steps, anticipate obstacles and how

to deal with them, visualise and affirm their success and believe in themselves and trust in then

dreams. Which of these have you done with your team? Nothing happens until you take action.

Success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Successful people have a low tolerance for

excessive planning and talking about it. They see it, trust in it, keep training it, feel it and just DO

IT. Most sports people are familiar with the phrase 'Ready, aim, fire'. The problem is that too many

sportspeople spend their whole sporting life aiming but never firing. The quickest way to hit a

target is to tire, see where the bullet landed and adjust N, our aim accordingly. Never quit either.

Quitting is half way to losing. It's time to quit waiting for - Perfection, - Inspiration, - Permission,

- Reassurance, - Someone or something to change, - The right players/managaer/coach/physio

etc to come along, - A new committee to take over' - Worrying about cost, - An absence of risk, -

Someone to discover you, - A clear set of instructions, - More self-confidence, - The pain to go away.

Have you ever noticed that the last six letters ill SATISFACTION are ACTION? In Latin the word 'satis’

means ‘enough'. What the ancient Romans understood clearly was that enough action ultimately

produces satisfaction. There are three keys to success: 1, Being in the right place at the right time;

2, Knowing you are there. 3, Taking action. Whatever you want to do, DO IT NOW! Don't be afraid

to fail. William Gladstone once said: 'No man ever became great or good except through many and

great mistakes'. Most people fail to take action because they are afraid to fail. Making mistakes is

part of learning. Be willing to fail, even eager to fail. Why? This is 'instructive failure' or 'FAILING

FOR-WARD'. Get started, make mistakes, listen to the feed-back, correct and keep moving forward

towards your goal. You can never learn less, you can only, learn more. Taking action means 'making

mistakes' means 'learning more' means 'growing more’. Managers/coaches who claim after defeat

their players 'didn't do what I told them; are only reinforcing that no one in that whole team was

DOING ANYTHING. In conclusion, losers 'WAIT FOR' while winners 'GO FOR'. Whatever it is you or

your team are 'going for', TAKE ACTION NOW!