How To Prepare Your Team For Victory (In Honor Of The World Cup)

Colombia has continued to advance in the World Cup, and tomorrow they play against Uruguay. I still only know this from Facebook and from my family’s text messages. (Maybe in my next life, I’ll be more of a sports fanatic…)

As my home team prepares for another stellar game, and my family’s nerves, and Country’s nerves rise to epic levels, I started to wonder about the role that preparation plays in any accomplishment. And I started to think that it’s probably more than half the battle in any quest.

In honor of the World Cup, here are some ways you can prepare your team for victory:

Celebrate How Far You’ve Come — You are where you are right now because of the hard work you’ve already put in. Taking the time to acknowledge that with your team makes you enjoy the present moment just a tad more. But most importantly, being aware of how far you’ve made it prepares you for the bigger and stronger battles ahead.

You Learn From Your Past Mistakes — After Colombia’s win against Greece led to 9 deaths in Bogota, the mayor of Bogota implemented an alcohol ban throughout all restaurants and bars. For a patriotic, nationalistic country that likes to enjoy their soccer matches with a beer or two or three, this is a big deal. Restaurant owners complained and other cities in Colombia taunted the Capital by posting pictures of themselves drinking a beer and watching the game. But the Mayor didn’t waiver and I’m happy that he didn’t (no soccer game is worth a death).

So what does this have to do with preparing for a big day? I’ll tell you

Why not incorporate a day off before your big event so that your team can recharge their batteries and do something besides think about the project/product/bid that they’ve been working on for weeks? This distance will reignite their passion and allow them to approach the big day with more energy. Taking a breather will also remind everyone that no matter the outcome, life will still go on.

Sleep — I recently read Emily Giffin’s The Only And Only. Even though it’s a novel, it describes some of the ritualistic tendencies professional football players go through in the lead up to a big game. One of the biggest things they do is Sleep Religiously. So as Colombia prepares for a great match tomorrow, I’m hoping our players are sleeping their way to a win.

Same goes for you. In the lead up to your big event, take the time to sleep. The hard work you’ve done will pay off, and no last minute edits or changes will replace the benefits of sleep, perspective, and distance.

You Thank Authorities For Taking Action — Word of a vampire reigning through the World cup has been lurking through some of my Facebook Status updates. I finally took the time to look up who Suarez was, and found out that he was a forward for Uruguay. And thirteen hours ago, he was handed a four-month ban for biting other players. This is good news for Colombia, as I don’t know how people would react if he bit someone on our soccer team.

As for you, don’t worry about your opponents. If anything fishy is going on, these things tend to come to light at the last moment. Whatever you’re imagining you’re up against is probably a lot less in reality. That thought right there? Could be the only preparation you need for victory.

How do you prepare for a big day?

Share your thoughts in the comments.