Football is all the rage right now, what with the FIFA World Cup in full swing. This reminded me to write on one of my favorite topics: sport. Because you see, sport is not just entertainment. Sure, it is that, but from it there is much to learn about life and work.
I watched a match, just the other day, in which a team that was given no chance of winning even a single game went on to qualify for the elimination round. And that made me remember something: you can’t be in a shed and win a race. If you are a racehorse, you’ve got to run. You need to be in the race. Because it’s not about winning, but just running.
This seems very obvious in a physical sense, but mentally, it’s less evident than we think. And the mind is where the game really is.
Wins and losses are a part of life, but giving up is a part of death. There’s a possibility you may not succeed if you participate, but there’s a certainty that you won’t succeed if you don’t take part.
The same thing applies to us at work. Success may elude us in the short term. Failure may be a constant companion. But even failure cannot keep up with you if you keep marching, because failure doesn’t have the stamina to beat a determined mind, a motivated heart, and a pair of eyes set on the journey, the process of things, and the heart of the mission: to run as well as you can, to participate, to give it your all – something that our staff have done this month and every month before it in the service of humankind.
Have a great last-month of the year!
