If you're new to this blog, I'd like to first say Thanks for tuning in!
And if you're not new, Thanks!
In this post, I'd first like to share a thought about the Yankees, and then a larger point about life and business:
As the baseball season's been winding down, I've heard a lot of Yankee fans bemoaning:
“I don’t know what we’re gonna do next year. We’re losing all these players.”
With all due respect to my fellow fans: I think these people are missing the point. They're missing the very reason that the Yankees are a great club.
I love to say that consistency over time = credibility.
THAT is what makes the Yankees the Yankees. Their consistency.
No team can win the World Series every year. That would be perfection and that's simply impossible.
Even when a team is exceptional, it still takes a fair amount of luck, and a number of "breaks," to win a championship. So really, the best any fan can hope for is for his or her club to be consistently good. To have the kind of front office and management that makes sound decisions so that, with the exception of injury-plagued seasons like this one, it's usually "in the mix." So that it's in the best position to take advantage of any breaks that come its way.
The Yankees have made the playoffs 17 out of the last 19 years. So it's safe to say the club has the right management team in place.
(And just think what would have happened to most teams if they were bitten by the injury bug like the Yankees this year. They would have lain down. I’m not disappointed one iota by this year's team!)
The bottom line is that when you have in place people that are committed to working hard, and to executing a good plan despite the inevitable occasional setback, you'll be consistent, and over the long run, you'll be successful.
Because just like this "off year" for the Yankees, in business and in life, you are going to have some off-days. You'll probably have some off-months, too. You might even have some off-years.
But those down periods are built into consistency. They're accounted for. Having a winning team means that team only wins at least 51% of the time, and it's the same in business and life. If you keep working hard, if you stick to your game plan, chances are you're going to be successful more often than not.
THAT should be your goal. NOT success, but the consistency that breeds success.
Just because you had a bad month doesn’t mean you have to have a bad quarter.
Just because you had a bad quarter doesn’t mean you have to have a bad year.
Just because you took a bad punch doesn’t mean you have to lose the fight.
When the waters get rough, the sharks keep swimming.
It's like Bill Parcells told me in my podcast with him:
I always resented guys who portrayed themselves with: “I hate to lose.” When I hear that, I know I’m looking at a guy who’s scared of the combative part of competition.It’s not so much competitiveness. It’s the willingness to do things longer than other people. That’s what allows you to succeed. You don’t have to do it better, you have to do it longer. You can grind them down if you stay at it.
We think of the Yankees as being this uber-successful club that rarely loses. But that's not true at all. The Yankees don't win the World Series most years. And they usually lose at least 60 games most years. That's all built into their long-term consistency.
Heck, even Mariano has a couple of the most ignominious losses/blown saves ever (Arizona in '01, Boston in '04).
But Mo, like the Yankees as an organization, is the ideal of what Coach Parcells told me. He never let losing derail him. He always got back on the mound and executed his game plan without distraction. And over time, he secured a lot more wins than losses.
So what about you?
When your personal waters get rough, do you keep swimming, like the Marianos and Parcells of the world?
Or do you let each loss define who are you are, so you can't achieve consistency - and achieve more wins than losses over time?
