Forcing Others to Do What They Don’t Want
Nov 14, 2008 Sports
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Image by Getty Images via Daylife
Everyone who watches any sport would have seen or heard stories about players who wanted to move to a new team/club. Players who didn’t want to be on their team anymore, and wanted to leave. This season, in soccer, it was Dimitar Berbatov.
Berbatov’s is actually a great example, because it really demonstrates my point. Before he was sold to Manchester United, he was a negative influence on the Tottenham team. He didn’t want to be there anymore, and it was clear for all to see. It was damaging for the atmosphere of the team, and ultimately very disruptive.
In the end, even though he was arguably one of their most gifted players, it was better to just let him go. Because forcing him to stay where he didn’t want to be would have been even worse - the discontent could spread more easily, it could cause problems with the atmosphere of the team.
And there’s a great lesson in there. More often than not, it’s not worth it to force people to do something they don’t want to do, even if you can. The effects of having discontented, unmotivated people could be worse than not having people at all. It’s better to have a small, focused, motivated group who love what they’re doing, as compared to a large, unmotivated group that doesn’t want to be there.
Forcing people to do what they don’t want to do doesn’t work anymore (if it ever did).
Tags: Dimitar Berbatov, EPL, focus, force, motivation, soccer
Seth Godin Ate John Chow While Guest Blogging and Buffet Crashing! A Creative look at Technorati’s Top 5 Must Read Marketing Blogs, Why Scrambled Eggs Helped Me Get Five Tips About Failure, and How You Can Use Your RSS Button to Swim Against The Stream (and Generate Outsourced Income) by Feeding Your Readers to the Purple Cow (ps. It’s All About Font Size, StumbleUpon, and Improving Your Writing)
If you look at it, that headline suggests everything that people say you should have in a post. There’s name-dropping and linkbaiting, there’s “how to” advice, there’s a list, etc. Those are all things that people say are really good to have in a post.
Yet, I’m pretty sure you’ll agree that it wouldn’t make the best post (right?).
I’m no cook (not by any stretch of the imagination), but a recipe with too many spices mixed together tends to be less prefered to recipes with one or two dedicated spices, I think. A novel with too many subplots tends to get too convoluted and confusing, and loses readers. And we’ve all heard complaints about softwares with feature bloat.
Having the most “good” things isn’t always the best way to go. More often than not, it’s better to focus on one thing. Do one thing, and do it well.
How do you maintain focus on what you’re doing?
Post inspired by the 52-in-One Challenge by Jarkko
[?]Tags: 52-in-one challenge, feature bloat, focus, jairkko
Sound Isolation
May 18, 2008 music
Image by murilocardoso via Flickr
I’ve been using the Westone UM2 Earphones for quite a while now, and it’s been awesome. But this post isn’t (just) meant as a plug. There’s been a trend towards sound isolation earphones in recent years. That’s the first step any audiophile will recommend if you’re looking to improve the sound quality.
The better listening experience isn’t just because of better sound quality. It’s mainly (at least in my opinion) because the sound is isolated - the unwanted noise of the outside world is blocked out.
There’s an important point in this - adding value is not necessarily about adding more quality. Sometimes it’s about removing the noise. Especially in today’s world, where information is coming at us from every angle, at every time.
How are you filtering out noise to provide value for those around you?
Tags: experience, filter, focus, sound, value
Focusing Your Efforts
Apr 6, 2008 Random
The New York Times recently ran an article about how will power is limited.
Psychologist Roy Baumeister and others have found that people who successfully accomplish one task requiring self-control are less persistent on a second, seemingly unrelated task.
Scientific evidence of the value of focus, perhaps?
[?]Tags: focus, science, will power
Michael Jordan
Nov 13, 2007 Uncategorized
Michael Jordan is well known as arguably the best basketball player of all time. But something I just found out today, apparently he had an 18 month stint as a baseball player, in the Minor League with the Birmingham Barons.
SneakerFiles tells us that “[i]n his time spent as an outfielder, MJ had a .202 batting average in 127 games, 114 strikeouts in 436 at bats, 3 home runs, 51 RBI’s, 30 stolen bases, and led the Southern League outfielders with only 11 errors.” That’s not a bad set of statistics. But it’s nowhere near the top players. And the top was where he was with basketball.
I can’t read minds, so I can’t say for sure, but maybe that’s why he went back to basketball. Yes, he’s decent at baseball, but he would not have made a name for himself doing that. He was good, but not exceptional. He wasn’t remarkable. He was just above average. And being above average isn’t enough. So he quit, and chose to focus on something he knew he could be the best at. And we all know how that turned out.
This is kind of the point Seth Godin makes with The Dip. If you’re not going to be the best at it, quit. Sometimes it’s better to cut your losses, than try to pursue something you’ll only be “above average” at. To truly succeed, you need to play completely to your strengths, and really be the best.
Is there something that you should be quitting today?
[?]Daryl Peach: 2007 World Pool Champion
Nov 11, 2007 Uncategorized
Congratulations to Daryl Peach, the 2007 World Pool Champion. He beat Roberto Gomez 17-15 in an amazing final. I know I posted in general about the World Pool Championships earlier, but today I just want to discuss the final.
I’ll start with Gomez, the losing finalist. He had played brilliantly throughout the tournament, but just seemed to choke in the end. He was playing much more conservatively than normal. It just wasn’t his own game. If you ask me, that’s one of the main reasons he lost. He didn’t stick to what he was good at. Ultimately, he just wasn’t himself. And he payed the price for that.
Peach, on the other hand, more or less stuck to his game. He didn’t really try anything too fancy. He just stuck to his calm, calculated game. And it paid off. That’s what his game has been all about throughout the week. It wasn’t about making the great, unbelievable, highlight-reel shots. It was just about making the best decisions consistently, doing the simple things well. That’s what got him to the final. Yes, he can do the highlight-reel shots (like the bank in the final rack), but his main game was always about percentages and decisions.
Above all, though, it was the mental strength that won the championship for him. I think the perfect example was the second last rack, with Peach leading 16-15. Gomez came to the table on the 9, and missed what would normally have been a simple shot. Daryl Peach came back and potted it, and went on to win the championship. That summed up the difference in composure and mental strength perfectly. Both players had their ups and downs over the matches, but Daryl Peach managed to maintain focus more than his opponent, and didn’t let it get to him. And that’s why he won.
There’s so much all of us can learn from that. You’ll have a higher chance of success if you stick to your game, and just be yourself, as Gomez’s loss shows us. And Peach showed us the value of good decision making, focusing on what we have and the power of mental strength.
Daryl himself summed it up perfectly after the game, “I haven’t got the most ability and there are lots of players with more talent than me but I just used my head and tried to focus on what I’ve got.”
How do you maintain your focus on your ability, and not get thrown off by circumstance?
[?]Tags: be yourself, decisions, focus, inspiration, lessons, mental strength, play
