Win the battle. Win the War.

My son is home this week. He is on the coaching staff of a Division 1 men’s basketball team. Sadly they lost during this past weekend’s playoff tourney in the third round but they had an incredible season.

I asked him at dinner what the head coach says to the team at halftime during a game in which they are behind.

He said, “We tell them to win the war.”

“Win the war?”

“Yes. The second half has 4 media timeouts. Focus on winning the point scoring before each time out. Focus on winning the war and not the game and the win will eventually come.”

So in essence you have 4 media timeouts or 5 wars in the second half to win the game! This was my aha moment. I never thought of basketball this way.

Some players get overwhelmed when they focus on the number of points they have to score to win. By breaking it down into points earned before the next timeout it becomes manageable AND achievable in their head.

This makes a lot of sense to me. I’ve heard it in a slightly different way – Win the Battle. Win the War.

Think about this in terms of, well, anything. A project. Searching for a new job. Even housework. Some people refer to this in the old joke…How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!

Anything can feel BIG and overwhelming. Breaking it down into smaller manageable chunks makes it easier to make progress and to accomplish something. Think PROGRESS not PERFECTION.

Progress not perfection.

Searching for a new job or changing careers can seem insurmountable. However, establishing what you specifically want then creating and breaking down the tasks into “timeouts” can help you achieve it. What do you need to work on? New job? Change careers? Tackling a project at work?

The next time you have a huge task ahead of you. Break it down. Think of those media timeouts and what you would like to achieve before the next buzzer.

You’ve got this! Win the battle. Win the war!