You Can Be Disciplined, but You Still Must Take Risks

Teddy, One of History's Tough Guys

We've been publishing books at Sporting Chance Press on sports, and sports and faith.  In many ways, our book attempt to bring out lessons from sports--they discuss sports as a metaphor for life.  In sports there are plenty of life lessons.  

For me, one of life's lessons from sports is being competitive, combative, having an edge, taking it on, and just being "all in."  Life is a battle. 

In sports, you have to take the bat off your shoulder, you have to go for the bomb at times, you have to crush the serve, you have to take the header in front of the net, you have to pace yourself in the long race--then you have to sprint at the end.  Yes, in sports there are times when you have to let it go and just attack--you have to put it in gear and let it fly. Yes, you have to play with almost reckless abandon. 

Coming from the publishing business, in my career I often found the best managers were often the most discplined and thoughtful.  We took the long road. We recognized when people were acting out of some personal bias and not thinking about achieving our goals.  We got our bearings and only when we saw the whole field and all the players did we execute. And then, well then things changed. 

The pace of the game excellerated in sports and modern life.  Things change quickly today and you had to make adjustments.
We took seminars on change. Change was the new name of the game. 

A game plan may only be good for half the game. Players get injured more often today so the team makeup can change instantly. The wind changes and you can't kick the long field goal or you have to forget about the long ball. The field surface changes and you grind out the yards on the ground. The heat creeps up and you can't possible maintain a super fast pace. The weather cools and the serves seem to take a lifeless bounce once over the net. Sometimes you have to play small ball again. 

In life, sometimes the unimaginable happens and the rules are changed--you have to adjust. People you counted on one day get laid off the next. Your competition doubles in size via a merger. Your office moves to the cheap space. Hours are increased, pay is decreased. One year you can express your opinions, the next you keep your opinions to yourself. But the big problem is that regardless of what goes on, you still have to take some risks. You  still have to go to battle. You have to take it all on and be all in.  You may be able to lay low for a while, but you can never win without risking everything. 

Copyright Sporting Chance Press

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As the football season winds down and fans are settling down to watch the Super Bowl, we like to remind them about the top ten NFL coaching heavyweights who are expertly covered in author Patrick McCaskey's Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Have Won Three or More Championships.