Saw an Instagram post from legendary sports writer Dan Brown the other day that was a picture of the doors to the 49ers locker room…
On the door were the words:
What’s Important Now
Focus on What You Can Control
Do Your Best
Do Your Job
Let’s examine…
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the WIN acronym translated this way. Obviously, we know that winning is a byproduct of immersing ourselves in what’s happening NOW. We can’t change the past and the only way to influence the future is by understanding what we have to do in the current moment.
Focus on what we can control and let go of what we cannot is a Stoic philosophy principle that is over 2000 years old… This is a lot easier said than done because our ego often gets in the way and feels like it has to be able to control everything in our lives. When we are able to toss the ego aside, this becomes much easier to accomplish.
Do your best is something we have heard since pre-school, but what does it mean and how do we know what our best actually is? It starts with attitude and effort and neither one is independent of the other… These are two things that we can control (see # 2 above). Ultimately though, we will be the only ones who will ever be able to know if we did everything in our power to maintain the right attitude and properly prepare and execute with our best effort.
Lastly, “Do your job” is a phrase that I have heard Bill Bilicheck talk about extensively…
Figure out what’s important now, focus on what’s within your control, do your best, and I just about guarantee you will “DO YOUR JOB.”
Funny how this shit ties together, isn’t it?
-EB