Monday, September 8, 2008

STRATEGY IS BETTER THAN STRENGTH

Ability will allow anyone to get to the top, however, it's their character that keeps them there.


I remember the first time I shared this quote with some of my former basketball players. Without question, it's one of my favorite. When I was coaching I selected players by quality, content and upside. Sounds good right? I must admit it wasn't something that I did knowingly at the time I picked them, but as I reflect, all of the players who finished the season fit the prototype. Of course, to play for me players had to be able to play, but beyond that, they had to be willing to become students of the game, young men in transition and more importantly strategists and critical thinkers for life.


From the basketball court, to the weight room, in martial arts and even in politics, the majority of the people place unneccessary emphasis on speed, force, size and quantity. How many times can I cross my defender over? How much total weight can I struggle to bench press? How hard can I hit my opponent/attacker? How much dirt can I dig up in order to win votes? We've been misinformed and utlimately brainwashed by an obsession with grandiosity. Everyone wants to do it big, but not enough people want to strategize and do the detailed-oriented work behind the scenes. Behind every intriguing story there is failure, tragedy, disappointment, but there is also a moment of clarity, an acknowledgement of self-realization, a strategy for success and then maximizing the moment and talent.


During my first year of coaching, we were losing to our arch rival school by 15 points. The gym was so loud and my players were in such a big hurry to make the next big play that they lost sight of the goal which was to win the game. I took a full time out and yelled at them at the top of my lungs, my eyes were bloodshot red, my voice was virtually gone and my fists clinched beyond limit and when I finished, I was exhausted. The looks on the faces of those young men defied description yet told me, "coach we are trying our hardest, but it's not working. There's a lot of noise, a lot of pressure. We need your encouragement to help us win this game not your anger." While I yelled at them because they lost their focus as players, I realized I had no right to yell at them because I lost my focus as a coach. The strength of my yelling was noticeable, but there was zero impact, zero motivation and zero strategy.

That was my moment of clarity and at that moment I became a better coach. I promised myself I would never yell at my players like that again if we found ourselves in that situation. Mind you, I didn't say I stopped yelling at my players completely. After all, that is one of the joys of coaching. I simply had re-think my strategy game by game, time-out by time-out, player by player, and season after season. There were times when they needed to be calmed down and instructed then there were times they need to be challenged. Once I got to a place where I understood each player's personality, I was able to use the strength of critical thinking, enthusiasm, anger, sarcasm, and humor as my strategy for winning basketball games, challenging athletes to think and empowering them to achieve goals beyond their expectation and comprehension. From that point players looked forward to playing for me and I looked forward to coaching them and helping them learn more about their character through playing the game of basketball.


Success in the lives that we live is about the strategy we create and furthermore execute. While strength is absolutely necessary, it's not only our external strength that helps us succeed. Our internal strength carries us to the next level. Therefore, the strength of our goals is actually in the strategy. Thus, I challenge you to strive to improve your quality of life not your quantity of life.




No comments: