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“Offence wins games, but defence wins championships.”
Paul William “Bear” Bryant. Considered by many to be one of the greatest American Football college coaches of all time.
“I see now I need to change my approach.”
My client had reached a moment of breakthrough. It links to the quote above. Few championship winning teams in any field win without both a strong offence AND defence. And the same holds true for us personally.
Think of offence as your go-getter attitude, your drive to create opportunities and make a dent in the universe. It’s the part of you that takes action, embraces challenges, and strives for progress. But here’s the catch: offence alone is not enough.
This was what my client was realising. They had a superb offence. But a crap defence.
In a personal context, defence is about cultivating strong inner wellbeing. When you do the symptoms are resilience, confidence, creativity and adaptability in the face of adversity and uncertainty. Your defence approach is the engine of your personal growth.
In sport and business, scoring points is crucial, but so is preventing the opposition from scoring against you. Likewise, in your personal and professional life, finding equilibrium between offence and defence is key.
One of the most powerful strategies for developing your defence personally I’ve found, is to invest time in ‘inner work’ i.e. time to reflect and learn about who you are, how to get the best from yourself, and how to remove the ‘inner gunk’ (technical term…) or demons that hold you back.
What’s the block to doing this ‘inner work’? A lack of prioritisation probably because of not seeing the real value in it. There’s always something more exciting or interesting to be done. Offence stuff. Distracting stuff.
The world celebrates offence. But a great defence is the foundation of true success.
Working on your defence isn’t as cool but it’s never a waste of time, because ultimately it makes your offence wayyyyy more effective.
Where can you work on your defence?
Best,
Shane
The Inner Edge Podcast: Short, bite-sized nuggets designed to give you motivation and plenty of inspirational food for thought. Listen on my website here or on all major podcasting platforms.
This week’s episode: 136: Your Imagination Is A Gift And A Curse
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