[Bear with me -- this isn't a sports piece]
Wow – that was quite the game. As a Patriots fan living in New England I was very, very vested in the outcome, and I’m obviously happy with the result.
But it was a darned close call.
As those last few plays unfolded, there was the amazingly lucky catch that put the Seahawks at 1st and 6. Then, out of nowhere, New England got “lucky” twice: Firstly, when Seattle tried an unnecessarily high risk play just to waste time, and secondly when the rookie intercepted the ball, effectively securing victory for New England.
Three pieces of incredible luck.
Actually, no. Not at all. There was very little luck involved, in fact.
Let’s start with that catch. The ball left the receiver’s hands and flew up. The only “lucky” part was how the laws of physics combined to move that ball. The part that was NOT about luck was when the receiver caught and held on to the ball as it came down again.
That was not luck; that was his job.
That was training, preparedness and exemplary execution under pressure. (It also stank for the Patriots, given this looked like it was going to be a case of deja vu all over again.).
Seconds later, it was 2nd and goal – Seattle was one yard away from (and had three plays to effectively secure) the win.
Luckily for the Patriots, the Seattle coaching team made an unexpected call because New England had prepared well and sent out the team best designed to stop the play that everybody, everybody, expected Seattle to run. All that planning and preparedness paid off for the Pats, because it unnerved Seattle so much that they decided to “waste” that play, with tragic results for their Super Bowl hopes. Was that lucky, though? No. That was well executed defense — and at that very moment the mind game was won by New England.
That was not luck; that was New England’s job.
The ball game, however, was still in doubt. Until a rookie defender intercepted the wasted play and effectively and unexpectedly secured both the ball and the game for New England. Training. Practice. Perfect execution.
That was not luck; that was his job.
Seattle ultimately failed to execute at the critical juncture, and that cost them a place in the history books – and, sadly, has likely earned Pete Carroll a place in US sporting infamy.
Luck, though, had precious little to do with it.
Why write about the last seconds of something as ultimately ephemeral as this game?
Because it is a fundamental tenet of mine that luck favors the prepared.
All the luck – good or ill – on display in Arizona in the last few seconds of that game was nothing of the sort. It was preparedness, execution and a display of exceptional fortitude (or its sudden loss) under the kind of pressure none of us mere mortals will likely ever feel in our own lives. And it all came together on national global TV.
So. In your business and your marketing and your life, are you prepared?
Will you execute well when the time comes?
Are you the one who’s put in the time and effort and reps to seize the moment when it presents itself?
Will you be the one everyone else sees as “lucky”?
Because it is not about luck.
This is YOUR job.
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