Ignorance is bliss… BS!

A few times over the past couple of weeks, I have heard people use the saying ‘Ignorance is bliss’. This couldn’t be further from the truth though. Ignorance is pain.

I’m away playing for England at the World Cup Qualifiers at the moment, so let me start by using this as a example:

If we are ignorant about our opposition’s tactics, we will very quickly realise we are facing attacks that we are not ready for and have no defence plans for. Result: Pain.
If we are ignorant about our opposition’s players at an individual level, we will face a set of skills, habits, and techniques that we are not prepared for. Result: Pain.
There have been some rule changes for this tournament; being ignorant about those would mean that we would be breaking rules consistently, giving away possession, territory, and advantage to our opponents. It would also mean that we are not prepared to make the rule changes work in our favour. Result: Pain.

We do a serious amount of homework and scouting on our opposition to make sure we know as much as possible about our task in hand. Does it mean we use that information to change what we do? Not always. Sometimes, we gain understanding about our opposition and then play our normal way regardless… But at least it’s a tactical and strategic decision to do so, rather than naive ignorance.

Take this into the working world

Do you know as much as you could do about your opposition? Rival firms?
Do you know enough about the pricing strategies and competitive advantage others are offering?
Do you keep up to date with current legislation so you are always on the front foot in the market?

There are endless examples of where knowledge is vital.
Ignorance is not bliss; ignorance is pain.

Don’t suffer the fate of the lobster!

As I walked into my hotel shower last night, I felt a burn from the seemingly boiling water. However, the temp was set the same as the beautiful shower I had earlier that day. Why the different reaction? Earlier in the day, I had increased the heat gradually. Ahhhhh!

This led me to two thoughts:

i) If you put yourself in too much heat too fast, you will burn. However, by gradually increasing the heat (difficulty), you can bare more and more as you become comfortable at each stage.

ii) A lobster who is in a pan of water that gradually increases in heat will be in boiling water before he knows it. And that doesn’t end well for the lobster!

Life is about increasing the heat that you can bare. It is about growth, progression, and development. So what can we do to make sure that we are able to increase the heat that stretches us, without becoming like the lobster that suffers a fate he was blind to?

1) Reflect on where you are right now.
Be constantly curious about your current state and situation. Are you in water that you can handle? Are you learning anything in this water or are you just in a state of ease and comfort? Do you actually want to be in this water?

2) Ask critical questions about your next steps.
If you’re the lobster, you can’t exactly ask anyone else how you can get out the pan, but you’re not a lobster so you have the ability to seek the help of people who can help you out of your current state into an even better one. You can also question yourself. Are you ready to increase the heat? How could you do it? To what level? What support do you need? What can you do to prepare for the extra heat?

3) Embrace the heat.
If you’ve decided that this pan is going to develop you instead of boiling you like a lobster, and you have been strategic in your planning and approach, it’s now time to know that the heat you’re facing / about to face will be great for you. Stagnation equals boredom and a lack of fulfilment. Embrace the heat, increase your threshold, and make the jump between where you are now and where you want to be.

World Cup qualification… Check!

World Cup qualification. That’s what we came here for. 3 weeks away in Malaysia with 4 months of preparation before it, all for 1 game that determines whether we qualify or not. Everything we have done has been for this moment. Scary. Exciting. No place to hide.

This is what goals should be like. We were clear in our objective when we started out. Everyone knew what we were working towards, and why the tactics we were training were being trained. To win our Quarter Final match of this tournament would give us a top 4 finish – enough to qualify for the World Cup.

Our group games went well, and we stuck to our game plan to beat Japan 5-0 in the Quarter Final. Job done. Mission complete.

Life isn’t about achieving and relaxing though. Life is about progress, development, and constantly striving for better. When you achieve your goals, always make sure you immediately set a new one otherwise you will feel stagnant, unfulfilled, and bored.

Our next goal is now a top 2 finish by winning our Semi Final against Argentina tomorrow. After that we set another goal.

Summary:
– Set a goal that excites you
– Make sure it excites your team, whether a sports team, business team, or even family
– Get everyone to buy in to the tactics you’re going to use to get there
– Whatever happens at the point of achieving / not achieving, set your next goal immediately