My two younger kids absolutely love soccer. It’s been such a great sport for them. I’ve even had the chance to be a coach at times. It sure is a lot of fun and even in this sport there is growth in more than just the physical aspect.
My son is very good at defense, I would say it is his preferred position. He’s not afraid of big guys and takes a lot of pride in how he is good at that position, but recently he was placed as goalie and oh my goodness, was this an opportunityfor growth? My son sat and whined and complained about how he was terrified of being goalie. He was terrified because he didn’t have experience with it and I feel that the goalie is often a position that doesn’t get recognized but yet gets attention when the ball goes in.
Recognition usually goes to the person’s scoring the goals, but for the goalie, if the goal is scored on you, then you feel like all eyes are on you. The last thing that he wants to do is cause his team to lose. So he shared with me how he was so scared and he really didn’t want to do this, to the point that he couldn’t sleep.
He even said, “Dad, can I miss soccer? I don’t want to go. “
I said, “Ernie, commitment is so important. We must do those things that are hard for us and that we don’t like. If we make a commitment, we have to follow through. Your team is depending on you.”
“Yes Dad, but I don’t want that position. I didn’t volunteer for that position and I didn’t ask for that position.” He replied.
I told him that I understand, but as a team player, if they’ve asked you to do that and they need you, then you must follow through. The same applies with us in our business. Think about it, your team isn’t only you and your colleagues that work for or with you. But I feel that your team is even those people that depend on you financially, such as your wife, husband, children, loved ones. That’s part of your team. We need to push through our fears even when we’re scared. Especially when we’re scared!
We need to make sure that we reach out to others. We need to have people in your corner. I told my son to reach out to his teammates and for him to be honest with them and to let them know how he feels. I told him to tell the coach how he feels. And that’s what he did. He shared his true feelings. He was vulnerable and his team backed him up and encouraged him. You know they had a plan of making a wall. They made sure that defense would be lined up to protect him and there was practice. Plenty of practice before the game. Practicing his position, practicing how he would defend the ball if it came to him, practicing where he would go when the ball came towards him.
Practice is so important for you and me as well. We must constantly be practicing our business. We must constantly be studying how we can improve, how we can sharpen our ax. Practice is so important, and having a team on your corner is important as well. Who’s on your defense team?
What are your fears? What are the things that are stopping you from moving forward? If you’re a solopreneur in this business, meaning it’s just you, then don’t think that it has to be just you. Who’s your coach? My students reach out to me and I’ve always told every single one of my students from day one, when you join my program, you are not doing this by yourself. Consider me to be part of your team. I am not just there to answer questions, but I’m there at all times. If you need to go over a strategy or a plan. If we even need to get on the phone together and talk to a seller, consider me to be part of your team. Not only me but the people that are part of my circle, we consider ourselves a family.
So think about your team. Think about those that you have learned from those that you’re working with and how they can be your defense and offense. Anyways, at the end of the day, my son played his position and a goal was scored against him, but it was fine because we had already practice. We know that he gave it his best and that’s all we can ever ask for is to give it our best in business. We’re not going to get every single property. We’re going to try our hardest and we’re going to prospect the best that we can, but sometimes somebody else will get the property. It’s okay. There’s plenty in this business for everybody. We move on and we go after the next goal and the next house and the next goal and the next house.
So the moral of today’s story is don’t go at it alone and be ready. Face your fears because at the end of the day, once you’ve moved past your fears and your on the other side of the line, it’s such a rewarding feeling to say I did it and how good I feel after the game.
My son, Ernie felt so good. He was so confident. He said, “I did it. I went out there and I did it. A bunch of the boys didn’t want to be a goalie. I did it even though I was scared and even though they scored against me, I was still good. I blocked a lot of the balls. The only got one goal past me.”
He felt so proud and so confident and that builds him up. That will build you up. When you face those challenges and you overcome them, and even though you don’t necessarily succeed at every single obstacle that comes your way, you succeed because you continue to push through and because you did it in spite of that fear, in spite of what’s holding you back, then if you need a coach on your corner, I am here to help just reach out to me.
