College basketball is front and center, bracket mania is on the horizon, and as we leave February, we step right into March Madness.
I haven’t heard official statistics, but I wonder if this isn’t the biggest season of the year. Baseball has its playoffs and World Series, but they don’t seem to permeate the air like the Road to the Final Four. The Superbowl and next year, college football have their playoffs, but they don’t create a multi-week buzz comparable to this season. NASCAR, thoroughbreds, and other racing events may be larger, but only for a few days. March Madness stands apart from its competitors.
So, how are you going to capitalize on this season? Here are some thoughts on how to start your creative engines.
Pick the winning team
The goal is to create the perfect bracket predictions. Which team has more talent? Which one has more heart?
When did you last spend comparable energy evaluating your team? Which members have the greatest talent? Which ones have the most heart? What can you do this month and to the end of this year to develop and grow your team?
What about your product catalog? Is each product or service moving at the same pace? Or, like most of us, are there leaders and laggers? That isn’t automatically bad, but is each offering doing what you want and performing at its best?
This could be the season where you make all the right picks.
Don’t be handcuffed by loyalties.
Are you one of us who fills out multiple brackets, with at least one dedicated to your favorite team? Even when they fail to break into the top 20 anytime during the season, a part of me wants to believe they can blossom in the spring.
Again, looking at staff, products, and processes, do you have some pets? Is it time to respect the best by culling the herd?
It’s okay to have favorites, even to waste money on brackets solely to honor them. However, it’s not okay because it’s the easiest path. Own your pets.
It’s all about heart.
Talent is requisite when you are among the elite. Watch a few games, and you will quickly discern that the heart to achieve gives the edge to the winners.
It’s painful to look at your team, products, or processes. However, I want to challenge you to an even tougher task: Where is your heart? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much energy have you been bringing? Think about a time when you’ve attended a meeting or seminar whose leader started with a warm “Good morning, class!” Remember one where the response was so lackluster that the leader admonished, “You can do better than that.” And followed with a resounding, “ Good Morning Class.” You joined the chorus with a hearty, “Good Morning Teacher!”
At the start of that class, you and your classmates played at a level of six or below. After the admonition, you stepped it up to level eight. If the teacher had asked you to bring it with a third try, you could have shouted a greeting that resounded down the hall; that would have been a level ten.
So, with that scale in front of you, what level are you playing at? You were at a nine or ten when you started this business. Decide today that you will choose, recognize that it is a choice, and it is your choice to “bring it” at a level of at least seven every day. You are welcome to have some eight, nine, or ten days, but it isn’t realistic that you can operate every day at that level. Realistically, you can hold a seven or better.
Lead your team by example; your energy will be contagious.
The game is won in the fourth quarter.
It is important to get out of the gate well and avoid digging too deep of a hole for yourself. However, the winner is in the lead when the buzzer sounds.
Championship teams need to stay in the game and make their run down the home stretch.
It is equally important that your company stay in the game. Manage your resources, including time and energy. Like the fable of the goose who laid golden eggs, organizational destruction is an unfortunate outcome of trying to flash quickly.
Stay in the game, slightly ahead of your competition is a good place. Note, however, that professional racers will extol the virtues of sitting behind the leaders and “drafting” from them.
Can Eagles’ Wings Business Coaching help?
The long answer is yes.
Reach out, take advantage of one of our complimentary sessions, or simply email us with a question. We exist to serve.