It takes a relentless and ruthless mentality to be successful, the kind of mindset that takes teams like Stevenage F.C. from being almost relegated from the Conference in 2004 to being in League One seven years later. And to go on record - I love Marmite
In sport, a "us vs them" mentality is an amazing way to fire up your team and create confidence that everyone is fighting for the same cause. It's a basic social identity concept, it works well in sport. In society, too much of it is, well, how we end up with the division we are seeing now.
The world is a very divided, and divisive place. Don't be distracted, keep your focus on your goals and seek to achieve great things. If people are able to hate Mother Teresa, the rest of us are guaranteed to pick up a nemesis along the way, don't let them steal your vision.
Choose your goals, and ask yourself how much will you sacrifice before you are prepared to accept defeat, and how much will your habits hinder you? Are you determined to create new paths for success? This will tell you how much you really want it, and whether your are ready to go all out for success.
Communication is hard, especially in a fast-paced world. My little U11/12 soccer team learned how to communicate with each other. They all had different jobs on the field, but they all had one common goal. If a bunch of kids can find their role and work together, surely we can?
We all want our identity validated, and we want our beliefs confirmed. This is only natural, but social media is not the place to find that home.
Remember these three things - Not everything you want to believe is true. If you are going to comment, make sure you read the story. If you are going to forward something, make sure it is accurate.
This may be an uncomfortable reality, but you are wrong. So am I. We all are. We are all wrong in something. Whether it is in a relationship, an assumption about how the world works, a mistake we keep making at work or school, or our belief in God. We are getting something wrong, and you know what? It's OK, just keep learning.
I was recently talking to a friend (who is proud of his Finnish heritage) about the folly of fighting the Russians in winter. He said "We did it, and we won." I checked the facts on this, and sure enough, the Russians had maybe 4-5 times the casualties as the Finns. Finland however gave up some land with high economic value and had to pay Russia for reparations. Who really won, if anyone? Sometimes the cost of winning doesn't actually look much like a win at all. So which battles will you win today?
Don't start the day out with a loss. Even if you manage to keep "that parent" from cutting you off in the school run by riding the bumper of the car in front, is this really a win? Really? Does your day or world become better because of this? Start your day by cutting out some stress, measure the importance of your battles, and give youself a chance to win your daily war.