Football and Focus

Paul "Bear" Bryant, the legendary former coach of the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team, had a secret upon which he built his success: When Bryant showed his team film footage of their previous games, he focused only on the plays they did well and excelled in. He didn't show them films of their mistakes; only their successes. As a result, the Crimson Tide kept winning like no other team - more college football victories than any other coach in college football history. (323 games out of 362 outings, plus six national championships.)

Think about it. If someone points out what you're doing wrong, chances are that becomes what you constantly think about. As a result, your confidence plummets and you become destined to repeat those mistakes. By changing the focus and redirecting someone's attention to what they're doing right, they're more likely to continue that positive, successful pattern.

What can we learn from Bryant's experience? His method of building up his team by only showing them what they did well gave them the confidence to continue to do those successful actions. Sure, they made mistakes during the season, but if Bryant had chosen to dwell solely on those errors, his team's energy and confidence would have suffered drastically.

This story got me thinking. His insight speaks volumes about the opportunities we have to steer our lives. While we cannot always control the situations and circumstances we are given, we are in control of how we handle those situations and what we can do to get through them without letting them keep us in a cycle of negative thinking.

While it is tempting for us to point out what other people (and ourselves) are doing wrong, why not try and focus on what they're doing right? Where can we find opportunities to help our teams focus on their winning experiences (the "films" where they are successful) instead of the times that were flops?

Can we also find additional opportunities to focus on the events and situations that we star in and are successful at? And since the brain triggers on questions, what questions can we use to create this forward focus?

And now the really fun question: What difference will that make? What if we start right now and do this a little bit more every single day? I'm willing to bet that it will amplify business results, boost your team's confidence and inspire others to do the same.

Here's to creating winning teams and building strong people!

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