The Super Bowl is probably the biggest event of the year. The trophy that is awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl is named after Vince Lombardi for a reason.
“Leaders aren’t born… they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work. And that’s the price we’ll have to pay to achieve that goal or any goal,” he said.
He was one of the greatest motivators of our time. Here are some of that tactics that drove him and the teams he coached to immense success.
• One of Lombardi’s keys to success was mastering the basics. He would make his team go over the fundamentals over and over again until they could do them in their sleep. Practice does make perfect, and then once the basics are down, you can focus on other things.
• Study yourself. Lombardi believed leadership came from the development of character. Know yourself. Know your purpose.
• Find your strengths, and then play to them. Self-knowledge will enable you to understand what you are good at and what you aren’t. Play on your strongest abilities.
• Be honest with yourself. Go head on. You can’t build a career or a business on half-truths. Lombardi said: “The successful man is himself. To be successful, you’ve got to be honest with yourself.”
• Think big. Don’t let little setbacks slow you down. Don’t let a bump in the road make you cancel your trip. Focus on the journey.
• Learn from your mistakes. “Improvements in moral character are our own responsibility. Bad habits are eliminated not by others, but by ourselves,” Lombardi said.
• Work hard. And work harder than anyone else you know. Lombardi said, “The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender.”
• Don’t be afraid to sacrifice. Lombardi told his players that sacrifice was a tool to equip them to stay with the game plan against all odds. “Sacifice leads to success.”
• Don’t settle. “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.”
• Set your standards high. Lombardi said, “There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game and that is first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay and I never want to finish twice again.”