Coach Harbaugh’s Biggest Message

What did he do to turn around the San Francisco 49ers?

Last season the 49ers record was 6 wins 10 losses. Coach Mike Singletary was fired. New coach Jim Harbaugh was hired. With essentially the same roster and no off season to practice due to the NFL lockout that would have allowed him some time to introduce his system, Coach Harbaugh led them to a 13 win 3 loss record and won their Division! On January 14, they beat the red hot New Orleans Saints to win their first playoff game. 

What made the difference?
A player from the team was talking recently and said it came down to creating a true family atmosphere and adding a real sense of excitement and enthusiasm. The players felt accepted and a part of something special in a way they never had before. But there was one more thing.

He sold them on one fact
Coach Harbaugh told them they were good enough! He told them it didn’t matter what had happened in the past.

He told them that if they played like they knew they could they didn’t have to worry about needing anything or anybody else. If they did what they could do and wanted to do and were capable of doing THEY WERE GOOD ENOUGH! That gave them confidence. That caused them to relax and focus on playing to their potential. That caused them to believe in each other like never before. They stopped feeling inferior. They stopped focusing on their weakness and failures. They started thinking about what they were capable of doing. Result? They had a record season and are still in the hunt to win the Super Bowl!

What’s the lesson? 
Maybe your people haven’t done anything special yet. But what most leaders do is constantly focus on what their team is doing wrong and how they don’t measure up. No one knows how good anyone can be but no one is going to play to their potential when they are browbeaten and made to feel like failures before they start. If you are constantly pounded about the things you do wrong, of course it’s natural to feel that you aren’t really good enough to win because you’ll forget that there are any areas you are actually any good in. So when the heat of competition comes, the pressure meets your doubts and you fold.

If you want to bring out the best in your team, let them know in no uncertain terms that …they are good enough to Win - and that you believe in them!

What is So Great About Doubt?

You're wondering if you're doing the right thing, or doing enough? Listen to your gut because there's a reason you feel that way.The point: If you have lots of doubts, it says good things about you.

Doubt.  

Do you ever have doubt? What do you do when it comes? What does it mean? Are you going to let it control you or are you going to control it? Is this a positive or does it mean you are just neurotic?

Also, doubt plus inaction brings fear. With fear comes paralysis, and with paralysis comes certain failure. That’s certainly not a positive.

So what's the alternative? Attack! Take action! 
When doubt comes it means one thing. That is your subconscious sending you a very real message that you are not doing enough. You're not moving fast enough. You've got to ramp it up right now. Or, you must make some other kind of adjustment. Your subconscious sees failure coming and wants to put you on alert so you can change things.  

It's a warning sign.  
It's an alert to provoke you to charge into action. You immediately pick up your pace.  

You immediately start doing more. Instead of doing what you were doing (which you thought was adequate) you start doing what previously you thought what would be overdoing it. Now you overdo and overdo until confidence starts to come back inside as your subconscious gives you feedback that now you are clicking at the right pace. You begin to sense that your activity now is putting you in a position to win and if you want to make sure you win, you do even more.  

You do what it takes to Win
The idea about winning and getting things done is to attack with everything you've got. You don't moderate or modulate your effort. You don’t cut corners or put in minimum efforts.

You give it everything you've got.  
You throw everything at it as fast as possible because that allows you to get your maximum chances for success and it allows you to cause success to happen as fast as possible.  

When doubt comes it's a clear signal something is wrong.
You're going too slow or you need to make an adjustment or course correction. You've got to do something. Your subconscious is telling you aren't getting enough done if you stay on your current course and pace. Pick up the pace immediately, make changes and do it NOW!  

Look as doubt as an early warning sign of defeat.  
It is something your body does to give you time to change and fix the situation. Usually your other instincts will kick in and you will know what you need to do. Whenever doubt comes don't hesitate, don't let it turn into fear and paralysis.  

Winners get doubts.
They aren’t arrogant. They take responsibility seriously. They know you have to earn success. They know you can’t be haphazard. They know its not enough to do the normal things, you have to do all the extras as well.

The reason they get doubts is because they know the world doesn’t owe them anything. They know they can’t assume anything. The fact that they get doubts says they are reliable and responsible leaders who are willing to do whatever it takes to win. They know when doubts show up they need to respond with positive action. What can we learn from this?

Whenever doubt comes, don’t freeze up but immediately spring into action and maximize your chances for winning.

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Feedback: Do you see that there is no reason to be wracked with doubt and filled with fear, that it’s a good thing to have doubt if you know how to respond?

"I Had Confidence in One Thing"

Dive in with confidence and focus. Now isn't the time to flounder.Young Brett Burks had a problem.

After graduating from college he dove head first into starting his own financial services company. He spent a good amount of time apprenticing the business, getting all the licenses and mastering the basics. He was excited and successful. Eventually he branched out on his own.

In spite of overwhelming odds, he not only got his new business off the ground, he built it into a national leader! His life was set. He had paid the price of starting up a new business and now he was looking forward to a lifetime of rewards. Sure, he would continue to work hard but the nasty, scary and round-the-clock start up phase was behind him.

Until he went to a January convention.

That’s when he met the bubbly and beautiful Andrea. She was perfect! AND she also was already involved in the same business. Young love! PERFECT love!  Except as we all know, life doesn’t work that way. Andrea is from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida—a long way from Virginia where Brett had gone to school and lived. She wasn’t moving. Brett realized if they were going to have a life together it would have to be in Ft. Lauderdale.

He now faced the problem - he would have to put himself through another start up. This time it would be even more difficult since he knew no one there and had never lived there - no familiar stomping grounds. He swallowed hard and decided to move. In 90 days, he and Andrea had made a breakthrough and things started to compound.

Three years after the move their team had grown larger than the one he left behind. Their income exploded as well and they earned well over $1 million in that third year.

I asked Brett what was going through his mind when he made his move.

I knew it had to be nerve wracking for him because when you start something new, you can never be sure how successful it will be. And this time he knew how much work he was getting into since he had just done it.

I wanted to know what gave him the confidence to go. He told me he had total confidence in one thing.

“I was sure of one thing and that gave me confidence. I was confident that I would do WHATEVER it took for as long as it took to win. That took all the insecurity away. I had done it before and I knew I could do it again if I paid the price.”

Talk about a winning attitude!

You win when you do 2 things: 

1. Stop worrying about all the things that can go wrong 

2. Focus on what you can do and to commit to do it until you win. 

Brett did exactly that and it paid off for him big-time.

Do Hard Things. Don't Run From Them.

If you stand up to the thing that’s hard for you to face today, you’ll find they will be not quite so hard tomorrow.

In a week they won’t be hard at all, and shortly thereafter will become fairly easy.  That’s how you grow.  

You don’t build big muscles by lifting small weights

You can’t experience growth and the joy of growth and improvement without facing up to “hard things.” Remember just because it’s hard today doesn’t mean it’s going to be hard tomorrow. Like lifting weights in the gym, if you never lift a heavier weight you’ll never get stronger. In fact, just like building muscle, facing up to challenges is the only way to develop mental toughness in sports.

So do the hard things.  

Pretty soon they’ll be easy and people will say, “Look how strong you are. Boy, you must just be naturally strong.” They will be amazed how tough and determined you are. They won’t ever realize the process you had to put yourself through to get there. 

But you will, you’ll have the confidence that comes the achievement, from facing your fears and winning.