Okay, so admit it — after my preamble about “Ambitious Mondays” you got all revved up like Daniel did in “The Karate Kid” when he heard Mr. Miyagi was going to teach him the art of karate. Okay, maybe you didn’t, but I’m giving you something to think about that may be akin to washing and waxing cars this week.
You may not like the New England Patriots, but you have to respect the management acumen of their head coach Bill Belichick. He is the anti-Rex Ryan (the over the top coach of the NY Jets) if there ever was one: boring, seemingly lacking personality, and stand offish. Yet, unlike Rex Ryan, Belichick’s teams know how to get to and win big games (unless, it seems, they are playing the NY Giants….ouch!). They do it by following a very simple rule that seems like common sense: DO YOUR JOB.
Think about it. There are 53 players on an active NFL roster. At one time, there are 11 guys on the field on offense, and 11 guys on the field on defense. They are lead by a head coach, an offensive coordinator, a defensive coordinator, and a number of assistant coaches based on position. Sure, the Patriots have a star QB who’s married to a super-model, but he is just one player. Make no mistake: the Patriots do not win games unless everyone, from starter to practice team player to strength coach to team doctor to head coach, simply focuses on doing their job.
So how does this apply to you? Too often people get distracted by the things going on around them: this person getting a raise, that person getting a new title, a boss that is totally “unfair” or “incompetent”, a co-worker that doesn’t like you, the promotion you “deserved” but didn’t get, a deal that didn’t close, a product that doesn’t work, an unrealistic delivery date, lack of resources, family matters (not the old TV show, btw), etc. You can probably come up with a list of your own. It’s human nature that we are affected by these things from time to time. But I guarantee you, the executive teams running most successful companies are not made up of (nor do they value in their organization) people who spent much time worrying about what everyone else around them was or was not doing. They are made up of people who excelled in their roles regardless of the distractions, challenges, or obstacles they have faced.
Sometimes even the most ambitious, talented people get derailed by all of this noise and forget what it is they are getting paid to do: THEIR JOB. So how do you avoid falling into the trap yourself? Here are a few things that work for me:
Seems simple, doesn’t it? In football, it’s easy to understand why teams like the Patriots are seemingly among the best year in and year out, despite their changing rosters. In business, it is no different. You want a spot on the executive team? DO YOUR JOB.
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