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Brick No7: Count your first three tackles
By Matt Weston, Friday 10 October 2003 In all my years as an injury prone Sunday League footballer, I remember only one genuinely electrifying pre-match pep talk. It was delivered just before our penultimate game of the season against Stoke City (London Supporters Club). We needed a win to guarantee promotion, after 5 years languishing near the foot of the same division. Stoke were a hard side, much bigger and tougher in the tackle than us - an earlier game involving Stoke had resulted in the match being abandoned due to a horrific injury to an opposition goalkeeper. And they'd been involved in a 21-man brawl in another game. The 14 red and white striped shirts of Exeter Exiles FC flapped in the wind. Wormwood Scrubs Rec truly is the windiest place on earth. And this must have been the nastiest weather it had ever seen. The rain was almost horizontal, Stoke looked like giants and fear was in our eyes. But we all took notice of what our manager, Big Al Crockford had to say. 'Count your first three tackles', Big Al started. 'To win this game, we need to put pressure on them from the kick-off, so get stuck in the moment you hear the whistle - that includes the forwards. I want you to count your first three tackles, shout them out loud if that helps. One - Two - Three. If everyone can get three tackles in early, we will dictate the game and win.' Write down your 'three tackles' for today Even if you loathe football, I think you can learn something really valuable from this. Something that will help you kickstart your working day - and help you be more productive. As a small business owner, I know how hard it can be to get started some days. Your 'to do' list can be so long it's overwhelming - it's hard to get stuck in. If you have employees, they no doubt face the same problem. My solution? At the start of every day, I try to write down 'three tackles' or three 'must-do' tasks that I can quickly and easily achieve - I pull them from my long 'to do' list. For example this morning my first three tasks are thus - (1) write to my solicitor to confirm I've received the cheque he sent me, (2) sort out my website hosting and (3) pay the BT bill. Yours might be - 'make three calls to new customers', 'invoice three clients' or 'reply to these three emails'. Whatever you choose, make the tasks 'quickies' - none should take more than 20 minutes, and none should demand too much brain power. If you can complete these three tackles within the first hour of the day, I guarantee your day will be a more productive one. The sooner you get your first three tasks under your belt, the more positive your frame of mind will be. It's a simple trick to get you into the rhythm of getting things done - and get your day off to a good start. If you have employees, then tell them the story of the 'three tackles'. It's a crucial part of any job to manage your own time and prioritise tasks - people like simple tricks to help them do that. Final Score Big Al's 'three tackles' pep talk worked. We went one up early on, in the end winning 4-0, and securing our promotion! Remember to sign up: back to top |
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