GOMO! the Losses

GOMO!^® the Losses

Just a few days ago, the phone rang. It was Heidi Soliday, Sports Director for KCCI, Channel 8. “We’re doing a story, we’re running out of time; what can you say to the Cyclones to help break their twenty game on the road losing streak?”

As I prepared for the thirty-minute interview, a lot of thoughts tumbled around. What ideas really could make a difference to a group of men tired of losing on the road and tired of being asked about losing on the road?

The three ideas that follow give a jump-start to a road-weary basketball team to Get Over it; and Move On (GOMO!^®). And they are ideas that can make a difference to anyone who needs a change in performance. Consider them a three pointer for winning!

First, burn the baggage of losses. When we have failures, even a few failures in a string of wins, we tend to become overly self-conscious and analytical about our shortcomings. We focus on the mistakes and the negative emotions around those mistakes. Not surprisingly, that focus on the negative past embeds itself and takes up space and energy that we need for the present and for positive change.

There is strength in acknowledging error and setting specific goals for improved performance. That strength is our positive influence in action.

There is dramatic weakness in allowing negative memories to control our current actions. So stop it! Here are two specific strategies to do just that:

Deny the negative memory with a mental stop sign. When the memory approaches, raise the stop sign and pull yourself back to the present moment requiring your attention.
Write “deny” on a rubber band and put it on your wrist. When a negative memory approaches, snap the rubber band and bring yourself back to the present moment requiring your attention.

Second, change your patterns. What the team is currently doing on the road isn’t working. Remember one of the definitions of insanity? It’s doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result. Change the patterns. What you eat, how you sleep, who rooms with whom, practice drills, etc. Coaches and players, employers and employees need to ask: What specific patterns do I and/or we need to change to improve performance

One specific pattern change is in how the team approaches playing space on the road. Take time to make the space yours. Touch walls, floors, bleachers, and baskets. Walk the area. Pay attention to what you are seeing, smelling, hearing, and touching. Picture that the space is yours. Picture that you’re welcoming opponents into your space- that they are there by your invitation.

I’ve used this technique with numerous client situations, as have other teams I’ve worked with. Making the space yours gives a psychological boost!

Third, determine your victories. Saying, “Win the game” doesn’t get the job done. Each player needs a crystal clear understanding of the value that he brings to the game in addition to specific goals to achieve for each game. This is just as important for the players who invest most of the game time on the bench as it is for the starters. Specific goals and specific actions to achieve them strengthen true positive thinking and action -- positive effort that goes beyond dreamin’ and hopin’ to making dreams a reality.

“Take control of your losses; don’t allow your losses to control you.”
--Susan B. Wilson

By: Susan B. Wilson, President, Executive Strategies