How many times have you heard persons who didn’t win talk about the lessons learnt? It’s customary to hear in post-match comments from coaches, players and all athletes about how many lessons they learned after losing.
“This was a learning experience for us. We’ll use this going forward and come back better next time”, are among the famous quotes you’ll hear and read every week. Of course, it’s not unusual that the lessons are never really that great.
So what about actually learning from success. Certainly, the consistent top performers must be learning a few things as well after winning time and again. They aren’t just lucky winners.
Many top athletes and coaches will say they want to be successful. No, they don’t. Not really. They want to be successful again and again and again and again and again. They want to sustain success and always have a competitive edge with a winning programme, winning athletes and quality players.
Hard to do for sure. Lots of people talk about culture but few understand it. A successful culture is one that encourages and embraces continuous improvement and one which provides opportunities for people to accelerate their rate of performance improvement through quality learning.
Does your culture attract people who can change, enhance and add value to your programme or do you recruit people who will fit in, not rock the boat and merely maintain what you already do?
Sustaining success means recruiting and retaining “unreasonable people” who will challenge, change and champion new ideas and innovations.
Many people talk about the future but few see it, smell it, taste it and can bring it to life. Most people talk about the future in very limited terms – a future which is more or less an extension of what they are already doing.
Those who are winners always work harder than those behind them. They see no short cuts.
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld once said, “Do what you love to do and commit everything you have to doing it. Only good can come from it”.
Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors knew they wanted the NBA title again, but they also won it on three occasions prior so there would have been lessons from those experiences also that led to their success this week.
Brian Lara broke the world record which for many would have been the ultimate success as a Test batsman. While he would have been motivated to recapture the record, surely there are bits from the first 375 knock that would have seen him revisit the first Antigua episode more than a few times.
An important difference between those who want to succeed and those actually do succeed is plain, simple, consistent hard work.
"Seeing the future is important: working hard to get there first is critical," said Wayne Goldsmith
If an athlete or player comes to you and says: “I want to be the best footballer, swimmer, sailor, runner, cricketer etc etc” – your own rate of development as a coach or official must be equal to or greater than that of the athlete.
“Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do the best of which you are capable.” John Wooden, Basketball Hall of Fame player and coach.
"Successful athletes, teams, performances and businesses all have something that elevates them above their level of talent. Individuals have an ‘X-Factor’ that differentiates them from their competition, and winning organisations have a ‘winning culture’ that elevates them above the rest," said Tim Gabbett, High Performance Consultant at Gabbett Performance Solutions.
Your past failures are directly related to your future success. Without them, you may not be motivated enough to reach your goals. Failure is just as essential to your career, no matter what your discipline. But it is essential to not get complacent or forget how to maintain the approach that got you success in the first place. The moment you begin to get carried away, it means you haven’t really learnt from the success experience.
Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Media. He was a FIFA Media Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey. The views expressed are solely his and not a representation of any organisation. shaunfuentes@yahoo.com