More often than people realize, they have themselves beaten before the game even starts. Sure, many games may get lost in the 4th quarter when a team loses a lead, but there was probably a lack of effort in the 1st quarter.
Earlier this week I wrote a post about the importance of having a game plan, and why teammates should support each other. For this to be possible though, everyone has to be dedicated from kickoff to the final second.
Last year the Atlanta Falcons were beat in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl after the New England Patriots had an amazing comeback. And in this year's AFC Championship, the Patriots took a lead away from the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 4th quarter, too.
It makes me wonder if the Falcons and Jaguars were playing with the same intensity throughout the whole game. If they were, the end result may have been different.
Are you able to maintain the same level of productivity in your day-to-day life? How consistent are you?
Consistency is important--in sports, sure, but even more so in life. For example, if your surgeon was about to perform a procedure on you and said, “I’m a little tired, but I’m going to try my best,” would you go through with having the surgery?
Or, when someone diets--if they follow a plan consistently for 10 days, but then go off on a three-day bender of junk food, then there was no point to start the diet at all!
The most important thing to do throughout the day is to wake up, and tell yourself it's going to be your best day yet.
I love this video below from John Kwik. He talks about giving your sovereignty away first thing in the morning, and it is powerful:
This correlates to my philosophy of thinking, that the first 90 seconds of your day are the most important:
A year has now passed since the Falcons suffered one of the most devastating losses in sports history. Sure, we can give the Patriots their well-deserved praise, but we should also recognize that the Falcons may have beat themselves by not ultimately being prepared to give equal effort for 60 minutes.
