Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Make aggressive mistakes.

My football coaches always told me if I was going to make a mistake, make an aggressive mistake. Standing in the middle of nowhere while the play goes past you or around you does not make for a fun film review day. The WTF-were-you-doings come at you quickly. OTOH, if you are mid-stride going the wrong direction and continue like a bat out of hell, you can easily justify your decision. You simply state that you already knew you screwed up and decided to create chaos as the alternative to non-action. The coach will chastise your initial decision, but commend your further action. When you force the action in sports, it makes your competitor execute. When you stand there doing nothing, it allows the competitor to have time to make decisions.

There is a reason that people who participate in sports succeed in life. Sports give children and adolescents the lessons of life in a less long lasting situation. The more you fail in life; the better your results/successes will be. A similar analogy relates to military tactics. When you are being hit by mortars or artillery, the best direction to go is right at the source. The calculations for these weapons get more difficult the closer the target is. It also forces the action of the opposing force. If you stay in place, you are dead. If you retreat, the artillery and mortar calculations are easier than if you attack.

We can see these same types of examples in business as well. The point is that fortune favors the bold. This truth holds as the leader of your family as well. There is no room for indecision. There is no room for regret. Your post game analysis is with God in your prayer life. It is not with your wife or children. My coaches never asked me what they did wrong in the previous game. Why would I ask my wife or children? You can consult with them about some issues relating to their strengths or weaknesses. That is a very logical thing to do. Failing to lead your family is not a logical thing to do. Leaving your family with doubts about your ability to make a decision is the worst thing you can do. Make an aggressive mistake before indecision. The post game analysis with God goes much easier.

2 comments:

  1. In one of the Jesse Stone movies, Tom Selleck as Stone says, "I'd rather regret the things I've done than the things I haven't done." Looking back at my own life, I can definitely say there are far more non-actions that I regret than actions, and I wish someone had pounded this concept into me 40 years ago.

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  2. This is the principle that you can't steer a boat that is not moving.

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