F53-053: What Football Has Taught Me About Business and Life

Show Summary: Today's show is a dedication to one of the most critical elements behind my success personally and professionally. Aside from my friends and family, football and sports in general have really been the biggest positive influence in my life. It's a big part of how I grew up and of who I am. A lot of the things I've learned from sports, football specifically, are things I carry over every single day which I think are important to bring up. I always know how much I loved playing sports, being in the locker room, competing, and challenging myself. As a kid and even now I'd love to play sports and watch sports. And everyday, I use the skills that I acquired through sports in business and in my life. For a long time, I didn't know, understand, or maybe appreciate other people that didn't play sports in their life. So this show is about getting back to my roots to where the number 53 in Focus 53 came from to some of the true skills we need in business to be successful for which people are lacking in so many of them. Short memory You've been burned, made a mistake, and move on quick. You can't be thinking about the last play or 15 plays ago. You don't have time to be distracted otherwise it affects you going forward. This is the same in business. Just allow yourself to let go of mistakes. How to lose You learn how to be a gracious loser and how much you need to grow to get better. Losing is super powerful. If you're not willing to lose, you're not going to win in the long run as well as learn in the long run. Learn how to lose and how to learn from losing. How to spot leaders In the huddle, you can spot a leader as well as when the chips are down at practice and you have to run and push yourself. There are leaders in the huddle and the business situation that you spot, that you can identify with and want to follow. How to be a leader This is not only limited to leading others but also leading yourself. You have to take control of yourself to be successful. Being a leader is leading by example. Controlling your emotions It means not getting too high and not getting too low. This has been an enormous asset for me in the corporate world or in owning a business. Getting fired up, saying things you shouldn't, and taking actions you shouldn't only hurt you in the long run. Controlling my emotions has allowed me to get through a lot of situations. It's also a skill that a lot of people don't demonstrate. Setting, working for, and achieving goals There is something so powerful in working your ass off to get to a goal. And there are a lot of people who have never really set goals in their life or never had a vision for themselves or wanted to accomplish anything. Set a goal. Go after it and take a tremendous amount of pride in your effort getting there. You enjoy the process of getting up, giving your best, and working as hard as possible to achieve this goal. When I'm going off course or not feeling I'm doing my best or what I'm capable of, I always attribute it back to what are my goals, what am I focusing on, and what am I trying to get out of this? Life isn't always fair. You can play the best football game of your life and your team loses. Shit happens. Life isn't fair. Acknowledge the fact that you can only put in the best effort you can possibly do and learn from that. Be aware of this and you shouldn't let it control your emotions or let it take you away from your mental cycles as your run your business. Having people in your life that demand the best from you - they make you the best All high performance athletes have coaches. That's how they get the very, very best out of themselves. The same is true in the business world. To get the best out of you, you need people in your life that will tell you how it is, demand the best of you, and show you the blind spots. Hard work Success requires hard work. This is not working 80-hour work weeks but hard, focused, dedicated, committed work to what you're doing in your craft. Knowing who you are Know your strengths and weaknesses. Have honest, self reflection. Do not lie to yourself and be candid about the things you're good at. There are zones of genius that if you're really self-aware, you can find. And if you can find your strengths, you can make them better. The true measure of how good you are in your strengths and weaknesses come from how you play the game, how you practice, and how you come out when the chips are on the line. Imagine a camera on you for 75% of your day and then the next day, you watch and see what you did on camera the day before. It is oftentimes humiliating but immensely humbling. Discipline Do the hard stuff day in and day out, even when you don't feel your best or don't "feel" like it. You have to put in the effort and that effort is driven by your discipline. Responsible for yourself Take ownership. Be 100% in control of what you do, how you do, what you don't do, and how your life is turning out. The decisions you make day in and day out dictate where you're at today. You don't see this a lot in the business world. Most of the time, where you're at is because of the decisions you made in the past. Are you taking care of your work and making sure your boss is taken care of? Are you being a good person to work with and around? Are you taking care of your customers and putting in the effort to stay on top of your game? Are you being responsible for yourself? Managing time Part of this is being punctual and doing the little things to make sure your time is managed well. The same concepts apply in business. there is absolutely no reason to be late. Early is 15 minutes early. On time is 5-10 minutes early. If you showed up late, you get punished and this has been ingrained in my head. Being late is being disrespectful because you're not appreciating and taking care of their time. Everyone's time is valuable. It's time that they're away from the business or from their family. Focusing on what you can control I can control two things - attitude and effort. This is something I have to repeat to myself and we all do to a certain extent. If you're laser-focused on these two things, they will drive you to places you never thought possible. In the business parallel, what your competition is doing does not matter. You can't control it but work on your attitude and effort to fix it going forward. People worry about things outside of their control that are rare to happen and even those that are probable to happen. Who cares? Acknowledge them and focus on your attitude and effort. That's it. Thank you so much for your support and for making this an awesome podcast. It's been a blast. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me and appreciate your support and feedback. This puts a wrap on my favorite number and show - show 53. Here's to another great 53 together. I appreciate you!