Thinking Football: Can tactics teach us about approaching our personal goals? (Part 1)

I am a massive football fan. One thing I love about football, is the range of approaches that can be taken to play the game effectively.

The idea that you win by scoring more goals than the opponent seems simple enough. But an exploration of how this is done reveals so much more about the beautiful complexity of the game.

Crucially, football is a game. Specific inputs and outputs do not guarantee specific outcomes. Your opponent has the same objective as you and there are likely to be circumstances which are less desirable or go against your plans.

As a coach or player, what becomes your primary focus?

How do you balance protecting your goal vs attacking the opponent’s goal?

Which takes strategic priority — what you do with possession of the ball or without possession of the ball? How does this impact your team’s shape and organisation?

What is your appetite for taking risk? Do you play quickly or slowly? Focus on athleticism or technical ability?

There are countless other dynamics to navigate. This is before you even factor in the other rules and features of the game such as offsides and set pieces or personal variables such as communication, injuries, and mental wellbeing.

Whilst all are useful questions, there is one dynamic here, that I believe provides significant lessons for all of us. Football’s inability to guarantee a team’s achievement of its objectives, mirrors our attempts to achieve personal goals in our lives. Trying to win a football match requires a level of risk — the risk of conceding and losing. Trying to achieve anything is an inherently risky endeavour.

Lessons for life

Football coaching philosophies offer lessons in how to approach achieving objectives. We’ll focus on the dynamic between attacking and being in possession of the ball vs defending and being out of possession.

When attacking the opponent’s goal

What importance do you place being as aggressive and direct as possible focusing on creating a high quantity of scoring opportunities vs. being patient and composed and focusing on higher quality of scoring opportunities?

When protecting your goal

Do you put the opponent under pressure and aggressively try to recover possession quickly as possible to try to attack again? Or be patient, resolute and maintain a shape that is difficult for the opponent to break through.

Each approach has benefits and drawbacks. Being too aggressive and you can get caught out, whereas giving the opponent too much time in possession can make it difficult to create chances of your own.

Trying to achieve your personal goal, whether its:

· creating a business,

· looking for a job,

· getting the first client,

· pitching for project funding,

· finalising an artistic project,

· building a life in a new country or

· figuring out what you want to do with your life,

successful achievement occurs through taking actions toward that goal.

So, what happens if we apply a footballer’s approach to pursuing our own goals and objectives? Taking actions towards our personal goals and pursuing opportunities are akin to a football team taking shots and trying to attack their opponents. When motivated to pursue your goal — you are ‘in possession of the ball’.

When we find our attempts unsuccessful, or we’re encountering criticism, facing failure, disillusionment, self-doubt, redirection and pivots, uncertainty, unpredictability and unforeseen circumstances, the ability to retain a true sense of our goals and why we are trying to pursue them is essential. In our football analogy, having to maintain pursuit of your goal, your will and motivation, composure, self-belief and determination, is akin protecting or defending your goal. When these tests and obstacles arise — you are ‘out of possession’.

You can pursue your goal in the same way a football team does. You can choose to be aggressive and direct and play at a fast pace — playing to maximise the quantity of opportunities (you will likely miss most of these chances). Or you can take a slower, patient, and measured approach trying to create the highest quality chances (you still might miss and will have fewer opportunities but the ones you take are closer to your goal and likelier to succeed).