For those who follow sport, it has been a lucky one for some, or has it?
Tyson Fury won the WBC belt against Wilder, by a Knock Out! The way that Fury won was unexpected, but, it is just what he said he would do. What happened?
He changed his coach! His team studied the opposition and came up withe the tactics. Jab and keep that devastating right hook of his opponent out of reach. When you come together, get those short punches in, that tire the body. When you get into a clinch, lean your 19 stone weight onto Wilder, it will tire him. Dominate the centre of the ring, make Wilder go round the ring and take more steps, and tire him out.
Let’s look at another British Sporting Legend, Andy Murray. For years he did not win a slam tournament. What happened when he won the Olympics, at Wimbledon? He had changed his coach.
Murray went to Ivan Lendl. That dour, unsmiling, slam winner of not too long ago. Murray’s mental approach changed from being a losing semi-finalist of finalist in major tennis tournaments, into a winner of these same tournaments. A couple of years later Lendl and he parted, amicably, and Murray took on another coach. His technique improved but he did not win a slam. He and Lendl came together again. Guess what, He won a slam again
Let’s think about a team sport, Rugby Union. Wales recently went through what has been arguably their best winning spell since the game turned professional.
They had Gatland as the head coach, but, there was also a significant person in the coaching team. Shaun Edwards, ex Rugby League player was the defensive coach of Wales. He is now with the French coaching team. He has been there just a few months. Already French players are saying that they have not come across such a mindset as that which Edwards brings to the team.
What is the result? France are unbeaten in this years Six Nations Championship. They are likely winners of the competition, probably beating all teams. Already one can see the defence of the French team is transformed beyond belief.
Fury, Murray, the Welsh and the French teams are not lucky, they have changed their collective mindsets through coaches who are able to instil within them self-belief and confidence.
This can be the case in life and in business. Your own mind set might need to be aligned to a similar self determined belief and confidence, just as these sports folk have, in order to achieve a different result. We do have to be careful with this as we are not approaching life and business from a position of war, terror or being displaced from our country. Most of us speak and operate from a position of privilege. We cannot imagine what it might be like to be subjugated to attack in such situations, therefore most of us have the opportunity to change our mind set for the better.
As I have said in other articles, I was engaged to work as a photographer and videographer at Mobile World Congress this week. But, it was cancelled. I then had a decision to make, either still go, or, cancel everything and suffer the fees for cancelled accommodation, car, flights etc…
I made the decision to come out to Spain. I am staying at a town called Masnou, a twenty minute drive outside of Barcelona.
Is it lucky that I happened to be in a town that had a small carnival today? I call this being fortunate, but, lucky, no.
To take pictures, is it lucky that I have on me my DSLR camera? No, I planned to bring it? Is it lucky that I:
- have my different lenses on me?
- have my NDR filters on me to take shots at night?
- have my tripod on me to take pictures with my tilt/shift lens on me (and at night) such as the image of the graffiti wall at the head of this article?
- bumped into a carnival or parade in this town?
- take a shot of the couple walking across the graffiti image?
- now have a series of additional colourful images that will fulfil a brief from some clients for their company launch?
It may be fortunate that it was not raining, but this is Spain. Even if it had been raining, I had my waterproof cover for my camera with me and I will still have created a series of images. If the parade had not happened in this town, I was going to go to Barcelona and shoot there.
Is it luck that I captured kids having fun? As the parade gathered in a plaza, a group were playing and the lead entertainer and guitarist was interacting with the kids. There was a gap between the front of the stage and these kids. I politely squeezed through to the front and sat down. I started taking pictures of the crowd and the kids.
In this past day one might say that I have experienced an awful lot of good luck.
I prefer to view this as making a series of decision rather than being plain luck. I made the decision to still come to Spain around ten days ago; I heard the sound of a parade in the town of Masnou and I grabbed the relevant equipment that I had decided to bring with me; I then decided to follow the parade around the town; I then decided to use the knowledge that I have gained to shoot this parade; I then decided to use the software installed on my laptop to edit some images. This is not luck.
When Gary Player chipped in from a bunker, someone in the crowd was heard to say, “That was lucky.” Player replied, “The more that I practice then the luckier I become.”
Change your mindset. Start by controlling the controllable, today. Do not look to luck. You will be looking for a long time.
Live long and prosper and may The Force be with you.