Lessons From Sports: Creating Chances

The Football fever is on and there might be hardly one who doesn’t watch the football match. Football is the most energetic game and almost everyone likes to play as well as watch it but did you ever try to get a message that it delivers? While analyzing the statistics of a football match, there are a few crucial statistics one must focus on. First and foremost is obviously the score of the match. Secondly the possession of the ball- which team is in more control of the game? And lastly, how many opportunities to score goals did each team have? There is very simple correlation between these statistics that delivers a meaningful message- ‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’. 

This message is so true not only in football, basketball or any other sport, but also in many aspects of our lives. If we don’t take chances or initiatives, we won’t be successful. In order for us to score and win in life, don’t we (like footballers in a match) need to create those goal-scoring opportunities? Don’t we need to actively create situations that will pave our way to victory? Of course YES!

Let’s suppose that you are job hunting and you expect to get a job by sending your CV or resume to a few companies and expect them to offer you your dream job, Know that it is highly unlikely. On the other hand, if you actively put yourself in situations where you increase your employability –by attending a specific course or thoroughly researching a company-before sending your application to them, aren’t you giving yourself a greater chance to bag that job you aspire to? In essence, you must ask yourself, “Am I putting myself in a position to win and achieve my targets?”

Here are a few questions that you can ask yourself that may help you put yourself in a better position to achieve your goals, be it for a job promotion or anything you wish to achieve in life. These are all questions that sport coaches ask players to think about:

If the answer for these questions is YES, then reinforce those actions and don’t let them go. But if the answer is NO, then there is a chance for you to work on yourself and keep on growing and get into a good position.

Always remember, if you create zero opportunities to score, you will never win. And you can still win the game even if you are not in full control of it as long as you are effective. So, focus on increasing your odds of scoring, create chances and succeed!