Friday, January 30, 2009

The Mind of a Champion

by Angela Ware

With the Super Bowl fast approaching I cannot help but to think of what it must be like for the players and coaching staff of both teams. The anticipation of arriving in Tampa Bay, walking into the stadium on game day, running out on to the field, the opening kick-off, the culmination of a year of hard work!

Last year the New England Patriots had a perfect season going into the Super Bowl. By all accounts they were favored to win it all. But there was a team in the opposing locker room who felt that they had just as much right to the title of champion. Therefore, the New York Giants, led by a young Eli Manning, ran out onto the field at game time with determination and the mind of a champion.

For Eli there was the prevailing comparison to his older brother, Peyton, who lead the Colts to a Super Bowl victory the year before. Many critics claimed that Eli was too young and needed a few more years before he would be ready for a stage as big as the Super Bowl. But quarter by quarter, half by half, the mind of a champion led us all to believe in the impossible. When the clock ran out on the game, the scoreboard said it all: Giants 17 - Patriots 14.

If the Giants had listened and believed the rhetoric of the critics, they would have walked out onto the field saying to themselves, “These are the Patriots. They have won every game this year. They can’t help but to win again.” The mindset of defeat. The very idea of thinking your way into failure sounds crazy. Yet many of us do this every day.

We attend meetings, read the newspaper and watch the morning and evening news shows only to hear about how bad things are, how economic defeat and continued layoffs are forthcoming, and we stop thinking of new and alternate plays. We stop creating ways to win. We anticipate defeat and choose to just wait out the clock.

In our current economic times, remember it is not what the commentators and critics say, it is what you allow yourself to think that determines the outcome. A true champion, in business, sports and life, always believes that they can win no matter the adversary or the odds.

Therefore, I challenge you to think like a champion! Prepare for the game, execute your plan and when necessary adjust your plan. But never stop thinking like a champion and playing to win!

PS: Go Steelers!

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