ADVERSITY HELPS FOCUS

Nothing focuses the mind like crisis. Throughout history, the most extraordinary acts of genius have often come in the depths of turmoil. The atom was split during the height of World War II, when American scientists were racing the Nazis on the nuclear front, and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon because of the breakneck space race NASA had with the Soviet Union. On a smaller scale, we’ve all seen football teams that struggle to get anything done for three and a half quarters only to mount miraculous game-winning drives at the end. It happens all the time. When your back is against the wall and you know you have only one chance to win or lose, your senses become keener and your performance elevates. As a coach you always try to get your players to give 100 percent on every play of every game, but I’m not naïve enough to believe they did it. When we found ourselves behind of tied in the final minutes of a game, I could see our players dig deeper, focus more intently, and find something within themselves that pushed their performance up a notch. It’s human nature. When it’s now or never, everyone tends to focus on “now.”

From "Wins, Losses, and Lessons" by Lou Holtz