Why would you think it’s easier to win [insert name of sporting championship here] than to build a successful blog?

The subtitle of this post should read: “Everyone wants to be a winner -but not everyone is willing do to what it takes to BE a winner.”

The Indianapolis Colts have over the past three weeks restored hope for a chance at the playoffs thanks to three back to back wins including yesterday’s defeat of Houston.  (GO COLTS!) I’d love nothing better than to taunt my neighbors (most of whom hail from the land of the Giants, the Jets and the Patriots) this February with a garish display of Hoosier Pride.  I’ve still got everything perfectly preserved from the Colt’s 2006 Super Bowl win, hoping for the chance to bring it all out again.  ( I also had to endure the drunken near rioting of some of my other neighbors when UF won national titles in both football AND basketball!)

Not too long ago, the Phillies won the World Series.  In order to achieve that accomplishment, they had to play 162 games in the regular season just to make it to the post season.  They had to WIN more often than they lost just to make it to the playoffs.  In order to achieve that feat, every member of the team had to work hard – physically AND mentally – to even have the opportunity to play in the World Series.

This is the way the goal setting works.  First you define or set a goal and then you work towards ACHIEVING that goal.  However, if you don’t DEFINE the goal first, it’s almost impossible to put into action a plan to achieve the goal!

I’m not a baseball fan, but my son is.  Twelve years ago, my six year old baby boy would be so excited about playing coaches pitch baseball that he would bounce up and down in left field through the entire game.  Fortunately, no one could hit the ball that far because it’s my observation that bouncing up and down is NOT the preferred stance for outstanding performance in the outfield.

Years passed and my son’s love of baseball continued and fortunately, his skill as well as his concentration improved.   When he was 11, his All-Star team finished 1 game shy of competing in the Little League World Series regional play.   Watching that game was one of the most painful experiences of my life.  You could LITERALLY watch the wheels fall off that wagon as the final game progressed – and the saddest part of all was it seemed to be the COACHES who were determined to make sure their team didn’t advance to regional play!

Tom Volkar writes in Clarity Empowers Progress

The clarity of exactness and preciseness increases the probability of intentional manifestation. Maybe that’s what keeps many from choosing. A couple of participants on a recent group coaching call, supporting our community leveraging experiment, admitted as much.

When we definitely state what we want, in stark specificity, we have chosen, haven’t we? Perhaps that’s why folks choose to remain confused and general because you can’t really commit to a generality, can you?

Try dedicating yourself to excellence in vagueness. Yes you can develop the inspired confidence to move mountains but you’ve got to identify the damn mountains! If you don’t commit then you can’t fail but you can’t succeed either. Without clarity and inspired commitment your only choice is to remain safely frozen in whatever waiting hell you’ve created.

As I read Tom’s entire post (check it out, this is just one golden nugget of many in the post!), I can now see – almost a decade later – what was going on back then.  (Hindsight really is 20/20!)   It hit me like a ton of bricks: those coaches had achieved their goal when they reached the state finals.  Once they achieved that goal, they ran out of gas.  There was no new goal – new vision.  They had already achieved all they thought was possible – and we wereall  forced to remain frozen in the hell of what MIGHT have been that year!

However, this recognition extends beyond ancient history and fading memories of a Little League team that couldn’t – it’s also shined a bright light onto a dark area in the realm of building a business.

One of my biggest frustrations with clients is when they refuse to declare their intentions.  The three words that will keep ANY service professional poor are , “I HELP EVERYONE.”

When you strive to target everyone with your marketing message – in essence, you’re targeting no one!

I love Tom’s choice of words in the paragraph above – “Yes you can develop the inspired confidence to move mountains but you’ve got to identify the damn mountains!”

The Indianapolis Colts have identified the mountain they’d like to move – just as every other team in the NFL is targeting the mountain named “Super Bowl.”  Every game they win or lose is translated into their “chance” for a playoff berth.

Every professional sport has its own mountain.  Every game that is played is played with the goal in mind of getting the opportunity to ultimately move that mountain and claim it as the team’s own.  There is no greater hell than to be a fan of a team that obviously has not defined their season goal as winning the ultimate championship.  (I live in Miami Dolphins territory – believe me, I’ve seen the pain of that dilemma over the past few seasons!)

What mountain are you attempting to climb with your blog?  If you haven’t identified one you’d like to own -you’ve still got a few weeks to make it your 2009 New Year’s Resolution!