So what's this all about...?
I’ve always been of the opinion that if you play a game, you play to win, rather than play “not-to-lose”.
Playing not-to-lose tends to keep you where you are, instead of moving forward and can often lead to mediocre results. And it can creep in when you've had some success. You tend to do the same things and get overtaken by the competition. Playing to win fosters risk taking, learning, growth, and ultimately better results.
However....After listing to an interview with the late Kobe Bryant, my thinking on this has been adapted a little. More about that below but first a quick and important diversion…
Quick and Important Diversion: There are different types of “game”. Sports games are win-lose affairs often with an ultimate champion at the end of a season. In the games of business and life, not so much. You can’t ultimately “win” in business or life. Success in these arenas is measured by such things as your degrees of learning, progress and impact. I certainly do believe that goals are important, but make them your goals. In business and life don’t be concerned with beating someone else, set a goal to be the very best you can. So, nicely, that links us back to Kobe's interview.
Kobe's Interview When he was asked about his approach, Kobe said that he doesn’t play to win or play not to lose, he said he "played to be in the moment."
I think that’s great! Yes, I do encourage everyone to measure progress towards our goals but at that moment when you’re in a meeting, writing an email, doing some research, arguing a case for a client, preparing a set of accounts, giving a lecture, being on a video call, reading to your child, whatever your doing give yourself the gift of being fully present in that moment and doing the very best you can.
Don’t worry about the score, that will take care of itself if you’re always doing your best at that moment. So what's this "8 seconds" business?
The 8 Seconds in 1989. A beautiful example…
Ok this is sport, and that means there's a winner and a loser but it illustrates the point nicely.
Probably my single all-time favourite sporting moment was the last stage of the1989 Tour de France cycle race. Greg LeMond won the race by just 8 seconds after three weeks of racing, and it all came down to a final individual time trial on the very last day.
In a time trial you ride alone over a set distance and each rider is released at 2 minute intervals. The leader rides last. Second placed Greg LeMond’s opponent, Laurent Fignon was leading the overall race by 50 seconds. So LeMond had to go 50 seconds faster than his opponent to win. Pretty much no one thought he could do it! LeMond was released onto the course and, 2 minutes later, Fignon was let loose to chase him.
One if the key differences in their approaches though, was that LeMond didn’t want any information during his ride about whether he was gaining or losing time on Fignon. He focused only on his own performance. Fignon however, requested to have his progress continually relayed to him throughout his ride. I believe this could have been a key distraction that affected his performance as he began to lose time.
LeMond covered the distance 58 seconds faster and was the dramatic victor by those precious 8 seconds.
Have a goal, yes, but be fully present in the moment and do your very best. If you do, the goal will take care of itself.
