The Successful Man is Himself

POINT TO PONDER 

 

In all my years of coaching, I have never been successful using somebody else’s plays..  - Vince Lombardi

 

STORYLINE: Muhammad is not talking, The fight that Ali lost.

 

Muhammad Ali was set for his first fight against Leon Spinks, an unknown boxer who had only six major fights in his career. Leading up to the fight there were a few things Ali did not do that were part of his normal routines before fights. 

 

He did not prepare as hard but also noticeably was his silence before. In all fights before he was very vocal about opponents, making statements, poetries how he is going to humiliate the opponent. Basically he used to Psyche them out and Psyche him up mentally for the fights. This was also a key factor in his winning fights where he mentally screwed up opponents even before the fight. 

 

From what I had heard, he was advice to be modest before Spinks fight and he decided to stay complete silent when reporters would approach him for questions, refused interviews . He would turn away and walk away when microphones were put in front of him.

 

And you know what happened? He lost that fight against very junior and unknown fighter.

 

 

REFLECTION 

 

One cannot tell what exactly was going through Muhammad Ali's mind leading up to the fight. But what one can learn is that he deviated from what was typical to him as a fighter. That was enough to mean the difference between a win and a loss. The moral? Always fight your fight. 

Comments

[FR team]

Comments in First Publication of this Reflection in 2012:

I have never regretted losing when i did it my way and the things did not work out. However I have never forgotten the battles (a few) that I lost when I went against my instincts and followed someone else or follow advices that were not true to my believes and my nature.

Posted by: Ignacio | February 17, 2012 at 12:15 AM

Steve
That is why I do not believe in consensus management for Leadership. Eventually it is your ship (business) and you need to lead it with your vision. I rather succeed of fail with my vision then follow things I did not believe in and fail. that I cannot forgive myself.

Posted by: Steve | February 17, 2012 at 09:38 AM

[sujat]

Interesting. I was not aware this had happened. Arnold Schwarzenegger too was very similar in the way he approached the posing rounds.

I feel using such emotional tactics of sledging to break the confidence and poise of opponents is in itself a sign that the player lacks confidence in her/his own core ability.... otherwise there would be no need to rely on external and devious tools that are not a skill essential to the sport in question.

Regardless of the above, sticking to the message conveyed by this reflection, I totally relate with it. I have experienced much greater anger upon myself when I have failed against my better judgment- i.e. when I have used borrowed judgment. It is a lot easier to take failures that happen through my own lack of judgment or through my own policies.

On the other hand, what if I win/succeed having used borrowed judgment or borrowed policies? If i am consistent and good on integrity, I would not find enough elation and satisfaction here. Which is desirable, in my understanding.

* Yet, if I really look deeper into this issue as a tool to refine and elevate myself, I need to accept and admit that this reaction is the product of a mind that still has quite strong vested interests in what it desires to achieve. It is all about the sense of 'i'; it is all about the sense that 'i' am doing this or that. 'i' find it difficult to accept and tolerate it if something happens in my life that is not a result of my own doing. It is the sign of compulsion to want to be in control. The loss of control is in itself what is perceived as the real failure. - To put it simply, it is the ego working a bit too hard! :)

[sujat]

My last paragraph in the previous post was not directly relevant to today's reflection, but I felt it might add a perspective. If it is even remotely perceived as offensive, i am sorry. Please excuse me. 🙏

[Sam]

It may sound esoteric, but I feel that our soul tries to communicate with us about our likes and dislikes. We sometimes ignore it because of what others may be saying or expecting. When we go into a fight or any situation by not being ourselves but doing what we expect others to do, we would lose our connection with our soul and from that point, we will almost surely feel a loss. Possibly Muhammad Ali was having an internal battle and trying to do something that he did not want to do. Eventually he lost both in the physical and his spiritual world.

[Enlightened]

Your penning comes so much like a message from the Universe to me when I am in a moral dilemma.

[humble warrior]

"follow the process"

[Cebuana]

I'd rather follow my instinct that someone else's. If I fight, I fight with all my might--who cares if I lose as long as I did my best....

Have a good weekend..

[FE-Japan]

Always fight your fight. 🙂