Don't Let Short-Term Obstacles Keep You From Long-Term Success: Avoid Unnecessary Failure with Red Hawk Coaching
Having coached over 12,000 hours since 2010, it is inevitable that patterns show up in the conversations. One of the patterns that shows up around the topic of failure is that most of the time it could have been prevented. What causes the failure? Stopping short of completing an activity.
For example, if you know it takes 100 contacts a week to get to one appointment, and you stop at 50, now it will take you two weeks at that pace to get to one appointment. If this behavior then becomes a habit, you will find yourself off course in pursuit of a distancing goal.
This last Sunday, my son and I took a trip up to AT&T Stadium, known to most as Jerry World, to watch the Houston Texans take on the Dallas Cowboys. The Houston Texans are horrible this year, walking into this game with a record of 1 - 10 - 1, and the Cowboys, playing well, with a record of 9 - 3. The Cowboys were taken by surprise because on any given Sunday a team might just show up and play differently, and the Texans did exactly that. With minutes in the 4th quarter, up by 3, and the ball on the goal line, the Houston Texans were unable to put it in the end zone to secure the game. After a turnover on downs, Dak Prescott drove the length of the field to win the game for the Cowboys.
The Texans in this instance, and many others this season, could have avoided failure. They should have won the game. What caused the loss? They stopped short in doing what was necessary to win the game when the opportunity was presented. Whether it was their efforts or poor decision making by the coaching staff, they stopped short of what needed to happen to win.
So the next time you have that small voice in your head saying "slow down" or "I'll get to it tomorrow", know that you may be setting yourself up for unnecessary failure by stopping short on what you intuitively know needs to get done. As for the Texans...maybe they need to hire me to coach next year.
