2. Lessons on Purpose and Vision
Know your purpose, vision, mission and the message you want to send and how you will send it. Prior analysis brings victory; little or no analysis is foretelling defeat.
WITH A STRONG SENSE of self and knowing who you are, you are now capable of developing a definitive purpose and clear vision for your journey. This purpose and vision for the champion is something much bigger than self or any other individual. In this sense, both are a higher calling to discovering ultimate greatness. Champions have taught us that we can take charge, to influence and control purpose, vision, and mission. In his book, The Art of War, Sun-Tzu reinforces the athletes’ message when he tells us to take control of environments and be sure to evaluate thoroughly the direction you intend to take. Does it give you what you need? Are you getting what you deserve? Are all bases covered? When you make the move, do not burn bridges behind you. Make sure your destination is a safe one.
In this chapter, you will learn lessons about regrets, mission, raising the bar, winning, detachment, and more. And one thing is absolutely certain: If you are wondering where you are going (purpose and vision), you will never get there. Champions are strongly proactive about the journey; they have purpose and vision.
PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT
MY PURPOSE and vision for writing this book begin with a simple mission statement: to guide and mentor you on your journey to being the absolute best you can be in athletics and life, using the lessons learned from champions. Having stated that, my purpose and vision are crystal-clear as I embark upon this project’s path to completion.
So it is with you, whether you are building a career in sport, building a house, or building a family. Being a champion, you need to begin with a simple, definitive mission statement before you take the first step on your long journey. As an athlete, you might consider, as your mission, to be the best you can be. From here, your purpose is to find out from the experts all the things you need to know and do to make this happen. Then you create the images and vision of yourself accomplishing goals and feeling what it might be like to achieve your full potential. This could be a national championship, an all-American, an age-group winner in your sport, a great parent, or a terrific architect and builder of homes.
From a simple mission statement, you learn how to plan the work, then work the plan. Schools and universities do this all the time. For example, most institutions of higher learning have as their mission to educate students intellectually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Knowing this, they can begin to develop a curriculum that will attempt to fulfill the mission.
For you, be a champion now by zeroing in on your mission in sports and/or life at this point in time. Start by filling in the statement: “In my sport/life, I am on a mission to ______.” The blank is filled in with a specific higher type of goal. For example, you wouldn’t say you are on a mission to win the national championship or write a book. That may be a good vision, but your mission, or specific goal, is to find ways to be the best you can be, like lift weights three times a week or write two pages every day. From this, the championship or book becomes a more plausible reality.
There’s a fine line between missions, goals, and visions, but try to remember this: A mission statement is an umbrella concept, a simple statement that subsumes numerous goals and tasks. Your mission should help you to formulate goals to identify tasks that, when accomplished, should fulfill the mission. Mission statements are your foundations that help you build castles in the sky. For example, from working with the University of California Santa Cruz men’s soccer program, I know that their mission is to use soccer to guide and foster the physical, emotional, and spiritual development of the players. Although winning games is not the foundational emphasis of his program, the head coach, my friend Paul Holocher, is confident that this approach will produce wins as a natural byproduct of the actualization of the mission. From their mission, they have developed a moral code to live by and a plan to elevate their game of soccer. After only six years, Paul’s team was ranked third in the nation, playing in the NCAA Championship game, in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. All this was the result of following their strong, meaningful mission statement.
SENDING YOUR MESSAGE
ALL ATHLETES, upon entering the arena of competition, send a clear, distinct message to their opponents. Champions are aware of this, while most others are not. In fact, when you enter any arena, others will pick up on your message, and what they see will usually determine the way they respond, how they play, and what they do; as a result, your message will impact the results of that event. Knowing this, champions do all they can to control this message, making sure they send one that works for, not against, them. I have had athletes tell me that they will look in the opponents’ eyes, and what they see determines the outcome. It has been said, as you may know, that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Athletes have been known to see fear, confidence, tentativeness, intimidation, calm, and other performance-related traits in others. If this is so—and my experience working with champions tells me it is—then what are you doing to make sure you send your best message, whether in sport, at work, or at home?
Let me give you an example that relates to my professional work as a keynote speaker. Before I enter the “arena,” I decide what message I wish to send. I want them to know that I am caring, concerned, passionate, and enthusiastic about my reasons for being there. Once I am aware of this, I decide what it will take—what I need to do—to get that message across. For example, I need to make eye contact, move about the room, be energetic, be connected with and “feel” my material, be myself, be sincere yet funny, and be sure to display natural emotions arising from the situations at hand. When I do all of this, the audience receives the message and appreciates my approach. The outcome is determined before I walk out on stage.
Here is an exercise that Sun-Tzu would find useful, given his words in the opening quote about “prior analysis.” Before you enter your next arena of performance—a field, court, boardroom, office, classroom, or home—empower yourself by asking and answering these questions:
1. What message do you want to send? The message can be about what they can expect from this contest—that you are a handful to contend with—or it can be that you are in charge, on top of things, ready to go all-out, or simply something like, “I care” or “I’m good.”
2. Having done that, what four things, strategies, actions, or behaviors do you need to do that will assure you that your message is both sent and received? Put these into affirmations on 3 x 5 index cards by writing: “When I ______, I demonstrate my seriousness about sending the message.” Carry them with you and recite them often prior to the event. Feel the calm and confidence as a result of taking charge.
RAISING THE BAR
CHAMPIONS NEVER ASK whether or not it’s possible to raise the bar on their performance, and neither should you. The question they ask is: How is it possible; what do I need to do? So should you.
Know, however, that to discover the possibilities that are available, you must absolutely move out of your comfort zone. Be prepared, as a champion like Lance Armstrong would be, to suffer and sacrifice along the way. Raising the bar in any aspect of your sport, business, or family life demands that you take on adversity in order