Scoring goals

Q: In soccer, when is your team most likely to be scored against?

A: Within 2 minutes of your team scoring a goal.

You would think that your team would be on top. Psychologically, they have inflicted damage against their opponents. Your opponents should be down and out..

Yet, your players mentally relax. They get comfortable. They don’t make the extra effort to put numbers behind the ball. They don’t pressure on the opposing team. They don’t try to finish them off.

Scoring a goal is precisely the time when you, as a leader, should keep your guard up. You slip, you relax and before you know it, you’re wondering what happened to your team’s mojo. Call it overconfidence, or ego, or complacency. You know what happens – you regress to your mean level.

When you make an achievement, it’s the ultimate test. Do you want the goal or is that goal just a stepping stone? Are you willing to keep doing the work when you’re getting the plaudits? Are you in it for the glory or are you doing it to reach mastery?

Will you keep focused to win the game?