By Harvey Mackay
How do you motivate a football team? If you’re Larry Kindbom, head football coach at Washington University in St. Louis, you put together a Washington University Football Book of Champions 2006, consisting of letters written by many of the top people in their professions.
Coach Kindbom asked me to write a letter to his team to “inspire them to be the best contributors they can be.” He’s done this for several years, and has received responses from people such as former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, former Vice President Al Gore, Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher, sportscaster Bob Costas, basketball coaches Mike Krzyzewski and Bob Knight, and a host of other notables.
As I was preparing my letter, it hit me how motivating a football team is a lot like motivating a sales staff. The three most important ingredients that make a person successful on the football field are the same that make a good salesperson:
1. Hungry fighter.
2. Hungry fighter.
3. Hungry fighter.
Sure, talent and skill are important, but if you don’t have a deep-down, burning desire to be successful, you’ll never become the best you can be.
A parent, mentor or coach can tell you what to do – and even show you how to do it – but ultimately, you have to have the desire, determination and dedication to push yourself to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.
It’s easy to get sidetracked, so you must be relentless in your determination. You can’t start at the top and work your way up. There are no shortcuts in the world of sports or business. Only the truly dedicated athletes ever come close to attaining their goals.
Vince Lombardi, the legendary coach of the Green Bay Packers, is famous for saying, “Winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.” But did you know he also said, “Winning isn’t everything – but wanting to win is”? That’s the sentiment I agree with.
You may know I’m an aphorism junkie. I looked through my mega collection and came up with my top motivational sayings exhorting players – or salespeople – to do their best. Some are mine, and some I’ve picked up along the way:
If you can’t win … make the person ahead of you break the record.
It’s the person who has done nothing who is sure that nothing can be done.
Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.
Your day usually goes the way the corners of your mouth turn.
The best place to find a helping hand is at the end of your arm.
Your attitude determines your altitude.
They don’t pay off on effort … they pay off on results.
Do what you love … love what you do … and deliver more than you promise.
Not doing more than average is what keeps the average down.
Where you are going is more important than how fast you are going.
Failure is no more fatal than success is permanent.
We are judged by what we finish, not by what we start.
Practice is essential. Practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes permanent. Only perfect practice makes perfect.
If you want to be the leader of the pack, you have to be willing to stick your neck out in front of the others.
Of all our human resources, the most precious is the desire to improve.
Doing beats stewing.
My definitions of pressure … when you have to do something you’re totally unprepared to do.
There is a place in the world (or on the team) for anyone who says, “I’ll take care of it.”
Remember: results, not promises; action, not just words.
Winners focus, losers spray.
People wrapped up in themselves make a pretty small package.
You will never get ahead of anyone so long as you are trying to get even with him or her.
Optimists are right. So are pessimists. It’s up to you to choose which you will be.
Mackay’s Moral: A good team is a collection of diverse people who respect each other and are committed to each other’s successes.
Harvey Mackay is author of the New York Times bestseller “Pushing the Envelope.” He can be reached through his Web site, www.mackay.com, or at Mackay Envelope Corp., 2100 Elm St., Minneapolis, MN 55414.
