A few lessons from football to the corporate - and real - life

Happy Tuesday, everyone! :)

As most Liverpool Football Club fans out there, I’ve been mourning the loss of the #PremierLeague title and, most importantly, Klopp’s departure for the past couple of weeks. However, following his final interviews, especially this roundtable too, and reflecting on football results in general and what they’re supposed to mean actually kindly made me realise a few important things we can and should learn and take to the workplace and our lives.??

1. Get up and go and try again - always. It’s crazy how simple this might sound yet how far it can take you. So much in life is about how mentally strong we are to just keep pushing and how much strength we have to persevere and keep trying - especially after mistakes or setbacks.?
2. Everyone has Ups and Downs. Many times I tend to be unkind to myself whenever I have a bad performance or result or just an unproductive day, and I know many people are the same. But after hearing a few players talking on roundtable interviews and Klopp himself I suddenly started thinking: if even these people, top players and coaches with multi-millionaire contracts and careers who could be the definition of success in so many different ways, have ups and downs and still find a way to work past it, why “normal” people with “normal” corporate careers wouldn’t? It’s just so unkind to think we don’t deserve to live through the Ups and Downs and that neither defines us solely. We are all a combination and the result of all of those - can’t never only pick one or the other.?
3. Forgive and you will be forgiven. This was Klopp’s reply to one of the big questions of what was his bigger lesson learned - or something along those lines - in the last interview I watched and it also ended up being very close to my heart as this is very powerful and applies to so many different situations. So many times, resentfulness, anger, disagreements can come in the way of so many more beautiful and positive outcomes just because people keep holding on to that. He brilliantly explained that of course he would vent and show some anger after a bad performance, it’s only natural, but having the strength to work past that, forgive, allow yourself to be forgiven and then work past the whole thing, that is the real key. And he couldn’t be more precise. Can’t say I had the strength to do this during all my life and career, especially when I was younger, but it’s a reminder of how simple again things should and can be if we’re humble and open enough to do this.?

I just thought I’d share these reflections this week, as I suddenly started to be more and more amazed by the resilience and mental strength these football players and managers need to show every single game - with millions of people watching, millions of people judging, millions of pounds on the line. Even so, they aren’t any less of a successful player or professional if the team loses a match or if they miss a penalty or if they don’t score in a match, and they are always there on the next game - regardless of any of this.?

Besides loving to watch football and the sport itself, it’s becoming more and more a source of energy to me to be able to observe it also through this lens and reminding me to be kinder to myself and others when assessing success in life and career. People are always so much more than titles and public statuses and even the best of the best do fail sometimes - after all they are also only humans.?

So cheers to whoever needed to read this to remember to keep going and be gentler to yourselves and others that cross your path! - and it goes without saying but I will risk sounding redundant: everyone is always going through so much you have no idea of, so never judge what you don’t know or understand, just be kind!

If you made it this far, you probably also noticed I just started a new position this week, this will be covered in following posts but if you have any questions, feedback or comments over that too, always text me! :)