Monday, October 1, 2007

Finishing and Not FInishing...

The Kansas City Chiefs were playing at the same time I was playing a tennis match yesterday. One of us did a great job finishing, and the other did not.

The Chiefs were on the road, coming off of several sub-par performances, and against a top-notch team from last year. They never quit. They were behind in the first half and they stuck to their game plan, kept making good plays to put their opponent under pressure, and they never quit.

I, on the other hand, felt like the San Diego Chargers. The weak part of my game was constantly under pressure. The better part of my game was ineffective, and I lost focus. I didn't quit...but I did go in the tank. I rallied late and finished with a few good points and a few tough games that we won...but I was terribly disappointed with my performance.

I know I am better than I played...and yet I didn't put any "finish" to my game. I was hanging my head late in the match, and I wasn't engaged like I should have been.

Today's Finisher's quality: Finishers Never Quit.

Even when all seems lost, a finisher digs in, gets back to the basics, and Never, never quits.

Take that and go finish this week.

1 comment:

Jerry Smith said...

Hey Toby
agreed, finishers never quit. A week on from your post the Chiefs lost and our star running back left the field before the end of the game.

We all get frustrated when things don't go right and the tank is a tempting place to go. However it is when we are frustrated that we find the world is often watching how we chose to react to the cause of the frustration.

The real finishers (winners?) figure out what isn't working, take responsibility for that and try to change it up. Now that sounds great and easy whilst I am here in a coffee shop - it can be hard to do

I found that sometimes, for whatever reason it simply isn't going to work. The opposition is better, you have an off day etc. In that case recognize it and decide what you have to do to learn from the experience. You might as well try something new then - whqt do you have to lose?