3 Life Lessons Learned From Ultimate Frisbee
Posted on July 9, 2008 - Filed Under ideaDRUNK's ideas
Joel eating a disc.
I play ultimate frisbee. This past weekend, a team that I play on attempted to qualify for the 2008 Canadian Nationals through a Regionals tournament. Although we didn’t make Nationals, we didn’t walk away empty handed either. Here’s a couple of things that I learned this weekend:
1. Desire Wins Games
Never underestimate the power of desire. When two people have equal resources (skill, intelligence, athleticism, time etc) to get something, it’s the person with the most desire who will win it. In some cases, pure desire can overcome disadvantages in other areas and steal a victory from a more qualified opponent. Whether it’s chasing down a plastic disc, or winning that new business pitch, desire is transparent. It strikes fear into your opponent when you show that you want it more. It impresses clients when you are able to produce awesome results on limited timelines because you want their business so badly.
2. Celebrating Builds Momentum
Building momentum is key, whether you are playing a weekend sports tournament or trying to grow your business. It is imperative that you take the time to celebrate all of the small wins with your team. Every time that you get a tough project out the door, a good review from your customers or an award, you should celebrate it. With your whole team. It grows confidence that you are on the right path. It builds excitement within the ranks. Most importantly, it takes the momentum from one instance in time and compounds it exponentially so that it definitively affects the outcome.
3. Good Leaders Motivate and Empower
The mark of a good leader is their ability to motivate you when times are tough. It can take the form of an awesome half-time speech, or a kick ass presentation that reminds you why you love your company. On the weekend, we were we were losing to a team 10-6. Our coach called a timeout to give a rousing motivational speech. We then proceeded to score seven unanswered points. The things that were said during the timeout challenged every single player to raise their game. It got in our heads and gave us the confidence to do what needed to be done to win the game.
Good leaders also empower. They empower you to make decisions and to affect the outcome. By empowering, you get people to put some “skin in the game” and commit to a common goal. Everyone tries harder when they have something on the line.
- Christian
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3 Responses to “3 Life Lessons Learned From Ultimate Frisbee”
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Great motivational post. Thank you very much!
Thanks Roman. Glad you liked it.
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