I love sports of all kinds. My sometimes less than understanding wife believes I would be happy sitting in front of the television watching “Collegiate Competitive Paint Drying,” if I could convince some obscure network to carry it during other sport’s off season. There is just something about competition that captures my attention. The drama of two or more opponents giving their all to overcome all obstacles and win the objective keeps me totally engrossed. The bigger the odds against the competitor, the more I am lured to become their fan. This seems to be human nature, to root for the underdog as long as they are not playing your hometown or favorite team. I am told by my lovely wife that my obsession with sports is not one of my more endearing traits as a husband. But it is part of my make-up.
The single facet of competitive sports that I do not enjoy is when a team through its daring, game strategy, and risk taking takes a commanding lead and looks to be the obvious winner, tries to run out the clock and maintain a victorious lead by forsaking the very daring, game strategy, and risk taking that got them the lead in the first place. They go from, a devil may care, leave it all on the field total commitment to “we WILL win because we absolutely know we will be victorious” attitude to “let’s just keep them scoring enough to take the lead in final moments.” When this happens, not only does the excitement go out of the game, but the commitment to winning changes to a commitment to not losing. And far too often, what we fear or try to avoid is exactly what we get. The game is lost because there is only one side remaining that is still committed to winning.
Playing not to lose, eliminates the opportunity for all of those nuances to appear in the heat of risking it all; the impossible catch, the improbably hit, the once in a lifetime effort that makes the evening news or the play of the week. Never do the highlight reels chronicle a “prevent defense,” because trying not to lose is not where the remarkable performance lives.
And so it is with our businesses. When we first began, we played the business game on the edge. We took risks. We challenged ourselves. Our fresh approach flew in the face of those established businesses in our market. It was not game as much as a war that we were determined to win. And, many were intent on changing their little corner of the world in doing so. Life, and business is exciting in times like that. The air is crisper, the sun a little brighter and every breath is sweet. Not everything worked, but we were so intent on winning that a variety specific tactics and strategies were tried until we found the right formula. Moving ahead every day was all that mattered.
But at some point in the life of nearly every business and most businesspeople a change happens. It very much resembles going into a “prevent defense.” We no longer take risks and accept total responsibility for where we are. We begin to blame our results on conditions outside of ourselves rather continue to take responsibility for winning in spite of conditions and circumstances. And our love of the game called “business” dwindles just as my pleasure does when watching a team that goes from winning because of determination to avoiding a loss by trying to keep others from scoring too quickly. It is the determination to win because we will it so that fuels our enjoyment of playing the game.
Get your spirit back. Get back to playing your game to win. Take a chance. Recommit to overcoming all of the odds just because you say so, even in the face of no evidence that you can. Well maybe because there is no evidence you can. Amaze yourself. Amaze your customers. Most of all, devastate your competition. Don’t shy away from playing to win. After all playing to win is what made getting into business all of that fun so many years ago. Playing the game to win is the surest way to do so and an even better way to make what you do more meaningful. Playing not to lose is just the slower route to total surrender.
