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Business Lessons from Super Bowl 51

Super Bowl 51 was played yesterday and if you were like me I didn’t even start to watch it until just before half time, as I entered the room I asked my family, “So, who is winning?”

Their reply, “Atlanta, 21 to 3”.

I thought, this is a blow-out, why watch any of it?

So, I headed back into my den and got caught up on email, then popped back in during the 4th quarter. Uh oh, now the score was Atlanta 28 to New England 20, a real game had somehow started to look close, instead of a lop-sided match. So what lessons can we learn about business from the epic come from behind victory that the Patriots enjoyed?

  1. Show up and play the game, don’t give up

During the half time the favored Patriots were down by 18 points, so you may expect some screaming in the locker room. Not so, because they have a classy coach that had confidence that if their team kept at it, they could come back. Just don’t give up before the game is over.

For your business, show up to work, put in your time, don’t give up just because your competitors are ahead of you this week.

2. Statistics don’t play the game, people do

Throughout the game the sports announcers kept telling us all of the statistics, like no team has ever come back from a 19 point deficit to win. No Super Bowl has ended in a tie. You know what? Statistics don’t play the game, but people do. Never count out a group of dedicated professionals that keep on trying, in spite of past precedence.

Empower and encourage your people to play their very best, every day. Affirmation goes a long way to winning results.

3. It ain’t over, until it’s over

The Patriots could’ve felt sorry for themselves, embarrassed to be behind by so many points, so early in the game, however they didn’t stop trying until the four quarters of regulation play ended in a surprising tie game. In business we have quarterly taxes due, so keep on trying to get just one more sale before the quarter ends, all the way up to the last minute.

4. You don’t need to be perfect to win, just better

Remember that the Patriots had two turn-overs in the first half, allowing Atlanta to jump to that early, big lead. The Patriots have flaws, yet they didn’t let their mistakes define how they would play in the second half. In business you will make mistakes, however if you can learn from your mistakes, pick yourself up, and try again, then enjoy the results.

The lessons that we learn in sports can be applied to our business life, because both pursuits are team efforts with rules and results. Let’s learn something from Super Bowl 51 and apply it to our own business today.

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