The Winning Edge

THE WINNING EDGE
by CoachFreeb

I get lots of email daily from the corners of cyberspace and much of it makes me think, "How can I adapt this to BFS/Be An 11 Principles?" Recently I received a piece of mail aimed at salespeople by Brian Tracy entitled 'The Winning Edge' which led to this adaptation.

Thousands of hours and millions of dollars have been spent studying the most successful people in our society. They have been interviewed exhaustively as have their teammates, coaches, trainers and fans. Today we know more about what it takes for you to become one of the best than we have ever known before. And the one most important thing we have learned is that succeeding, winning, is more psychological than anything else.

THE KEY TO HIGH PERFORMANCE

One of the most important concepts every discovered in the field of human performance is called the "winning edge concept." This concept or principle, states that, "small differences in ability can translate into enormous differences in results." What it means is that if you become just a little bit better in certain critical areas of performance, it can translate into enormous increases in results. In fact, you may be on the verge of a major breakthrough in your overall performance at this very moment just by learning and practicing something new and different to what you have done before. The something could be a grip adjustment in golf; a slightly different angle while in the starting blocks in track; just one new or slightly different aspect of your game that propells you in first place rather than out of the money.

SMALL DIFFERENCES MEAN BIG REWARDS

Does this mean that the horse that wins by a nose is ten times faster than the horse that comes in second, by a nose? Of course not! Is the horse that wins by a nose twice as fast, or fifty percent faster, or ten percent faster? The answer is "NO" to all of these. The horse that wins is only a nose faster, but that translates into ten times the prize money.

In economics class when discussing the characteristics of money we talk of . . . . money being used as a method of accounting. When we look at golf and money used as accounting measure, in the light of "small differences meaning BIG rewards," consider the following.

The shot leader on the PGA Tour in the year 2000 was Tiger Woods shooting a 68.81 average number of strokes per round of golf. Phil Michelson finished number two shooting 69.06 average strokes per round of golf. The difference, therefore, between first and second on the tour was .25 shots per round of golf. That is a difference of three tenths of one percent (.3%) or a difference of one shot in every 333. Since the typical golf course on the tour rates a par 72 for eighteen holes of golf, that means a one shot difference in just about five rounds of golf. WoW! That's not much of a difference, especially when you consider all the sand traps, water hazards, trees, and all the other sinister things lurking for you on the golf courses of America.

So what did this three tenths of one percent difference translate into in terms of PGA Tour earnings? Tiger Woods finished first in tour money at $9.188,321; Phil Michelson came in second at $4,746,457. So . . . that quarter of a shot difference; that difference of three tenths of one percent; one shot per five rounds of golf resulted in a $4,441,864 difference. Small differences DO result in enormous differences in results. Carrying the argument out further, a difference of just one shot brings us to Scott Hoch's average of 69.8 and $1,368,888. Shooting just one shot better per round of golf in the year 2000 translated into a reward of $7,819,433. That truly is a BIG REWARD.

What about a high school football game? An average high school football game consists of perhaps 60 offensive and defensive plays: 120 plays a game. This past season our football team was a top 10 offensive team in the state. We were also a top ten defensive team in the state. Our 6-3 record, however, was not good enough to be a qualifier for the playoffs. In talking with some of the lads, we determined that if we could change the outcome of just two plays, our record would move to 8-1, and we would definitely be in the playoff/state championship picture.

How much of a difference is this? Well, over a nine game schedule our team participates in around 1080 plays. Just two plays amounts to eighteen tenths of one percent. That's .0018 (.18%) of a difference, certainly not very much.

TO BE 100% VICTORIOUS

So there are teams that make the playoffs and more teams that do not. Are the teams that get to the playoffs 100% better than those that do not? Absolutely not! (Their fans might think so and thank goodness for loyal, rabid fans.) Using that line of reasoning would mean that there's only one good team at the end of the season, the team that wins the State Championship.

Teams that qualify for the playoffs and those teams that do win State Championships are not vastly better than their opponents. they simply have the "Winning Edge." They are eighteen tenths of one percent better on a particular day, but that translates into a 100% victory.

ACTIVATE A PERSONAL GROWTH PLAN

To help develop your own winning edge here are some winning edge action exercises to assist in developing your own competitive advantage. First identify the important things you do from the beginning of your performance training to the final event of your season.. Think about what you can do to improve in each area. Second, select one specific area where you feel you are weak and make a plan to become 'Absolutely Excellent' in this area. This decision alone could change your career.

Billy Allen comes to my mind when I think of 'Absolutely Excellent.' Billy was a wrestler on a team I helped coach years ago. Billy wrestled somewhere in the 130 range or there abouts. He was very strong, bench pressing close to 275 pounds. He possessed tremendous upper body strength. Back then a wrestler could not avoid being in the down position in the second or third period. Billy would wrestle even with the opponent or perhaps be behind on points; he would just be marking his time till he got the up position. He would then just hammer his opponent with a three quarter stack move and the match would abruptly end. He was, "Absolutely Excellent" with that move. He was so incredibly strong no one could counter that move. The three quarter stack was his 'Winning Edge.'

What is it that you can do to develop yours (your Absolutely Excellent Winning Edge)?