Nick Saban: Do Your Job And Trust The Process

With 6 National Championships, University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban is one of the greatest college football coaches of all time.

But for someone whose name has become synonymous with winning, Saban doesn’t place much emphasis on the end result. He doesn’t care what the final scoreboard says. Instead, Saban tells his assistant coaches and players to just focus on the process. Here’s what he says:

“Don’t think about winning the SEC Championship. Don’t think about the national championship. Think about what you needed to do in this drill, on this play, in this moment. That’s the process: Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand.”

It’s a refreshing perspective. In winner-takes-all fields like sports, results are all that matters. You either win, or you lose. There are no moral victories or consolation prizes. If you don’t win, you don’t eat.

So why does Nick Saban focus on the process then? Let’s steal a few lessons.

1. You Can Only Control The Process

Sports is inherently complex.

There are many variables that affect the outcome of the game. Most of these variables are not within the control of players or the coach. There are too many plays, statistics and countermoves…