Position Yourself To Win!

I knew Alabama would win yesterday.  Okay, to those of you who know me well, you are probably rolling your eyes and thinking, "Tell me something I don't know."  I am a huge "homer" when it comes to the University of Alabama and I generally believe they are going to win every football game.  Now, if you are not a sports fan, don't worry, I am going to bring this back to leadership and life, but you will have to bear with me for just a bit longer.

Yesterday the University of Alabama traveled to College Station, Texas to square off against the Aggies from Texas A&M University and last year's Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel.  Now if you follow football, that is enough said.  However, for those who are not college football fans let me just say that Johnny Manziel is about the most exciting player in college football and Kyle Field, where the Aggies play, might just be one of the biggest home field advantages in all of college football.  That is to say, my beloved Crimson Tide had their work cut out for them.  Nonetheless, I believed deep in my heart that the Crimson Tide would prevail, because they had put themselves in position to win.  You see, while the Crimson Tide were preparing for this game, the Aggies were dealing with discipline issues.  A total of eight players were suspended for all or part of the first game of the season, including Mr. Manziel,  and at least four players were suspended for all or part of their second game.  Put simply, the Aggies did not put themselves in position to win considering they were going up against the #1 team in all of college football.

I thought about this quite a bit the weeks prior to the game, but related it more to life than the upcoming game.  How many times have we failed to put ourselves in position to win in life?  It is easy to criticize these student-athletes, but how do we fare when we perform a self-assessment?  How many times have we done that which we know we ought not to do?  How many times have we taken a short cut?  How often have we shown up late or even "mailed it in?"  Life is difficult enough with all it throws at us, but often we are our own worst enemy--just like these young men from Texas A&M.  Each of us, I would argue, knows what we are SUPPOSED to do and even when we are supposed to do it, but we fail to mange the moment.  Far too often we don't make the decision we know we should make.  We put our selfish interests ahead of our team or we allow what we believe to be good in the short-term to trump what we know to be good long-term.  Life often comes down to being bigger than the moment, making the right decision even when we don't want to go that way.  However, getting into the habit of mastering these small moments will make it that much easier to choose correctly when faced with some of life's toughest choices.  Remember, what we do today, or leave undone, always has consequences for tomorrow.