Things I learned playing water polo.
Posted on October 25, 2009 by The Engineer
If you’re not swimming, you’re sinking.
- It’s kind of like the “walking up a down escalator” theory. If you’re not constantly moving, trying and failing, building your business, then you are going backwards. Water polo is constantly in motion, and if you’re not keeping up, why are you in the water? For many of us, we’re not trying to just ‘keep up’, we’re trying to dominate.
No one else is going to put the ball in the goal – it’s got to be me.
- I remember watching games, both sitting on the bench, and playing during the game, thinking to myself, ‘I hope he scores!’ One day it clicked and I realized – what am I thinking? I hope he scores? Why am I relying on other people? It was the turning point of my career. I started to only count on myself to put the ball in the goal. I started scoring. I started getting more playing time. I succeeded. Are we waiting for someone else so we can get started on that new venture? Are we waiting until our blog is done, before we start blogging? Start being aggressive and start counting on yourself.
10,000 hours?
- Is your business going to take 10,000 hours until it’s successful? Maybe. If it does, are you willing to work that long? I don’t think I put in 10,000 hours of water polo in my life. Then again, I never played professionally. I probably clocked in at over 5,000 hours though. And that was more hours than most other people. It got me into college, I played in college, and I was a pretty good player. It’s going to take time and it’s going to take work to succeed. I can’t say I know how to get rich quick. I know how to get rich in 10,000 hours.
Rely on good coaching
- My freshman year of high school, I walked out on to the pool deck, having never seen a water polo ball in my life. With good coaching, I was able to stay on the path to success, and not spend unnecessary time learning less important things. In business, we need to find a good mentor. Brazen Careerist, Linkedin, and other networking sites allow you to do just this – talk with people who have gone before. I know I spend hours reading books and websites trying to get caught up, once I decided I wanted an online business.
Rely on a good team
- I put this one last because once I made the decision to be tenacious and let nothing stop me from scoring goals, I then had to rely on a network of other good players who knew the drills, knew the flow of the game, and could work together to win as a team. In business, once I decided I wasn’t going to wait around for anybody else, I was able to use a network of people to build and succeed. But we want to take the step and decide we’re going to do this for ourselves before we bring other people into the picture. If we form a team without really knowing what we want, what we’re willing to do, or what our role is, there is the potential for everyone in the team to be let down.
