Realize that the Journey is more Powerful than the Outcome

Watching Monday night’s College Football National Championship game is a great lesson in perspective.  Most people see the accomplishment of the Ohio State Buckeyes and understand just what the win means for the school.  Winning the National Championship in the manner that they did was impressive, but what is more impressive is how prepared they were for each of the final three games.  

If you understand the systems and habits perspective you can see that the game doesn’t begin and end in the stadium.  That was one single win, one single event.  The astonishing part is actually the journey to get there, how prepared the team was to face that particular opponent.

Whenever a team or individual has a win or accomplishment, too often we focus on that being a defining moment in their lives.  We tend to overlook the hard work and the journey leading up to that moment.  

When setting goals based on lofty aspirations, make sure you understand the journey and focus on the process much more than on the outcome.  The outcome is only possible when the process is in place to give you a chance.  

The 2014 Ohio State Buckeyes did not win the National Championship because they visualized it all season.  They reached that point because of the hard work that they put in.  In fact Coach Urban Meyer said repeatedly throughout the season and after the game that they didn’t even think they would win.  They actually expected to win next season!

The most impressive thing about successful college coaches is that all seem to get it.  They understand that the recruiting, 2-a-days and conditioning is what gives them a chance in the big games.  It isn’t just the play that is called or the opponents strengths, it is about the preparation that allowed them to fine tune their various systems to match up with their opponent.  

Urban Meyer once asked his players “Did you push yourself to be great today?  If you didn’t do it you lost a day, and we don’t have many days to lose.”

When you look at your goals and creating new systems in the new year, are you consistently making excuses as to why you aren’t pushing yourself?  I am guilty of this as well.  What we need to do is to understand that the process is what is important.  If we push ourselves today, and tomorrow, and make that our new habit, we can successfully reach our goals.  

If we can utilize the systems and habits approach we can effectively create a process that will lead us towards the accomplishment of our goals.  We will start to instill the habits necessary to push further and when we do this day after day we will continue to move closer and closer to reaching our dreams. 

Urban Meyer won the national championship because he truly understands how important the preparation is.  He understands the value of the journey and the importance of consistent hard work along the way.  In order to consistently win at the highest level one has to fully understand the journey, the preparation, and the process that will ultimately weigh heavier than any single play or individual game.  

“I have yet to be in a game where luck was involved.  Well-prepared players make plays.  I have yet to be in a game where the most prepared team didn’t win.” - Urban Meyer