Thought of the week 6

    Soccer and sport can teach us much about life. When things are going well in life we rarely question it, but when things take a turn for the worse we often wonder what we have done to deserve it, or what we have done wrong that such things would happen. The same can be said in soccer. When we win we often take it for granted without focusing on the things that got us there, and when we lose we are often times overly critical or ourselves and our teammates.

    In order to see long term success this must be turned on it’s head. Just look at the leading individuals and teams in the world. The reason they are so successful is because they understand what it is to win, and they are more critical of themselves in victory than they are in defeat. Failure can teach us a lot about ourselves and our teammates, but in victory and success we must also fully analyze how it was accomplished and how it can be maintained.

    If we fail to fully understand how we reached our success then we will never fulfill long term success, just as if we are overly critical in defeat we will never put right what we need to in order to accomplish success and we will become stagnant. Rather than been positive in victory and negative in defeat, we should aim to be positive in defeat and negative in victory.

Michael Jordan- Failure developed strength!

   It was Michael Jordan, most probably the greatest athlete of all time who says it best;

“I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

    This quote speaks volumes about the man that the great #23 is. In his failure he did not see weakness, he saw strength. If Jordan had not have taken any of those 9000 shots or taken any of those 26 game winners then he would not have 6 NBA Championships, and an array of personal achievements that could be spread around the NBA several times over. Michael Jordan epitomizes the fact that failure develops triumph, and when he was successful he didn't stop, he questioned what he could do better, and continued to do what he was doing right.

    In order to achieve success in whatever it is we do we must understand that we will fail. We must also realize that when we are successful there is still much to be done to remain successful, and our ability to be successful is determined more by our belief than our talent!