There are few or no new success lessons. But we may need to remember the ones we already know. A good way to remind ourselves is to see how these laws of success apply in different settings. An exciting environment is sports.
Like most sports, rugby teaches useful lessons about success and goal achievement that apply just as much to rugby as to life in general. Both men and women now play rugby and the popularity of the game is increasing around the world.
The Rugby World Cup kicked off in France, the host country, with a shocking result on Friday, September 7, 2007.
France, one of the favorites to win the world cup, was beaten, on home soil, by Argentina. Argentina scored the only test of the match. My stepbrother, who always has something witty to say, commented:
“Don’t score a try on me, Argentina!”
It was the first attempt at the world cup.
If France top their knockout games by finishing only second in their group, they will have to face the mighty All Blacks in the quarter-finals and could be out of contention long before the final.
France probably lost to Argentina because they tried too hard in the face of massive Parisian criticism and made too many mistakes.
Nervousness and lack of confidence often lead to mistakes. The referee also got some blame from the losing side as expected!
Anyone who wants to achieve success needs to show confidence or at least pretend to be confident even when under the gaze of a critical audience. They must also stop blaming others and take responsibility for their own progress.
The English world champions played the USA on Saturday, September 8 in Lens, France.
Clive Ashton and “raging bull” Phil Vickery, the captain, laid a wreath at the British war graves along the way. This would give the team a sense of perspective.
Most of our goals are not matters of life and death and should not be taken too seriously at the expense of higher values.
Ashton gave his team a pep talk telling them to look forward to winning the world cup and not just be content with coming third, even if his fans thought it was a good result.
“The only expectation I can have when we come to a world cup tournament is to win it. What’s the point of wanting to finish bl***** third because the rest of the country thinks that’s pretty good from where England is? give a monkey!”
Jim Rosenthal, the commentator, asked him if he really believed England could win the cup again:
“I do, but it’s even more important that the players believe it. I don’t cross that white line; I don’t go onto the field. They do and they have to bring that belief with them into the tournament.
“I have a feeling that they are now starting to operate that way. The players have worked exceptionally hard and now we are prepared to give everything we have for our country and this tournament.”
Time and time again, in every sport and human activity, the importance of believing and hoping for victory is emphasized. Without some belief, we won’t start any projects and we won’t try to win any games.
Denis Waitley has described belief as an ignition switch:
“If you think you can, you probably can. If you think you won’t, you probably won’t. Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launch pad.”
Belief can arise by taking small steps and succeeding and then move on to bigger things. You can also come across affirmations. Claude M. Bristol (1891-1951), author of ‘The Magic of Believing’, wrote:
“It is the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things start to happen.”
Jim asked Martin Johnson, England’s World Cup-winning captain: “Do you really believe England can go all the way again?
“We don’t really know until they play a game. If they win that South Africa game, the confidence will build. They have to play and prove to themselves that they are playing at a higher level.”
“We can win against South Africa and then we can continue from there. I wouldn’t worry about retaining this trophy right now. I would worry about Saturday and then the following Friday.”
Martin’s belief is pragmatic and based on previous results. It is probably more reliable than the belief based mainly on pride and the desire to win. One of the England managers later said that the only way to gain confidence is to win.
Jonny Wilkinson, another English legend, was interviewed before the team left for France. He was asked what advice he had for children:
Teamwork has value both for sport and for life.
Try and improve daily even if it’s not in rugby.
Write down your goals. There is plenty of evidence that writing down your goals daily, even if they are the same goals, makes it more likely that they will be achieved.
Get excited about the things you can do well. Excitement and enthusiasm get things done.
Have high expectations, but be aware that others may have the same expectations as you.
Jonny was asked what his expectations were for the tournament:
“We can beat anyone if we play our best, but we know there are at least ten other teams that can say the same.”
England won against the USA, but not easily. The American team put up a tough fight as expected. The final score was UK 28 US 10.
England was criticized for its lacklusterity. Some of the English team ignored the criticism by not reading the newspapers; others used criticism as motivation and couldn’t wait to ram the words down the throats of their critics.
In general, it is much more effective to encourage than to criticize.
Jason Robinson, another English legend, commented:
“Encouragement is like oxygen to the soul. Unfortunately, too many people expect us to fail. We’re not here to get second place.”
England had the points, but the USA had the pride. The England team was disappointed. The coach told them that they had won but had things to work on.
Martin Johnson believed that England had made too many mistakes.
Former cup-winning South African commentator Francois Pienaar said:
“England should be fitter and stronger and show more urgency. The execution should have been better. If South Africa played like that tomorrow I would be very disappointed.”
“Where is that urgency around rucks and mauls? When there was an opportunity, did they take it? It all comes down to urgency again.”
After just a few world cup games, several success lessons emerge:
Nervousness and a lack of confidence in front of a critical public can lead to mistakes both in sport and in everyday life. It’s important to be confident or at least pretend to be confident!
Stop blaming other people, such as referees, and take responsibility for your own progress.
Many goals are not matters of life and death and should not be taken too seriously at the expense of higher values.
Have high expectations no matter what others think. Do not accept the limitations that are imposed on you.
Belief is the ignition switch that gets you off the launch pad and into action.
The repetition of affirmations can lead to belief. Once the belief becomes a deep conviction, things start to happen.
Successful results lead to increased confidence. Some argue that the only way to gain trust is to win.
Write down your goals. There is plenty of evidence that writing down your goals daily, even if they are the same goals, makes it more likely that they will be achieved.
Use how to motivate yourself to try harder
Encourage yourself and others as encouragement is like oxygen to the soul.
Show more urgency if you want to succeed. Don’t hang around waiting for something to happen or someone else to. Take quick action yourself to make things happen.
Mike Litman has noted that successful people act out of a sense of urgency:
“There is an URGENCY to get things done. There is an URGENCY to live your dreams. There is an URGENCY to get things done. They are ATTACK vs. WAIT. Big difference. Big difference. None of us will live to be 150.” .”
We all need to get moving now before we can any longer. We have to act today and not tomorrow! This key success principle is summed up in the well-known words: Carpe Diem! Sixteen the day!
There are very few new success principles; we just have to keep reminding ourselves of what they are.
Above all, we must do what the principles suggest every day.