I began learning pretty much everything I needed to know about life and business at the ripe old age of 10 when I began playing Pop Warner football. That’s right, I learned everything I needed to thrive from little league and high school football. Sounds a bit crazy, huh? To those who’ve played competitive sports, maybe it doesn’t seem crazy at all. For those who haven’t, don’t go check your Facebook just quite yet, turns out you’ve been playing the game of life, and that’s what we’re here to talk about!
Sports are in essence a microcosm of life, which means that playing sports competitively is really a unique opportunity to “play life.” Football, in my opinion, is one of THE closest mirrors to life for two main reasons. One, is the team aspect. Very much like our lives and our companies, players are highly interdependent. Ultimately, success cannot be had without cohesion, cooperation, and execution from all team members. Everyone plays a part. Two, there are very real consequences and fears associated with this sport. Football is very violent. In fact, it is so violent, that rather than calling it a contact sport, many call it a collision sport. One misstep, one missed glance over your shoulder, and it could mean you’re going night night. And like a 2 year old getting put to bed, nobody likes to go night night. The fears we face in life and business in taking action and making decisions are also very real and they can effect your path to success.
My career encompasses being a business owner, music industry executive, and film producer. What I didn’t realize on this journey of mine was that this particular skill set was uniquely suited to help entrepreneurs, companies, and professionals in building powerful brands. Sort of makes sense when you think about it. Who would know how to build a compelling brand better than a person who knows the struggles of entrepreneurship, has the promotional savvy of a starving artist, and who makes a career of writing and telling stories. Now I would love to take credit for this formula of using entertainment industry techniques and applying them to building businesses but I have to give that credit to Emmy Award winning director, Nick Nanton, founder of Celebrity Branding Agency. While working as a branding agent with his company, I was able to work with over 200 plus entrepreneurs and business professionals in building personality driven brands. In my talks with these clients something unique began to surface time and time again.
As much as clients wanted the world to know about their company, product, or service, they often had a real reluctance to open up and tell the story of their lives, their company, and let their clients know why they should do business with them. It was as if they were waiting for this magical moment when it would feel ok to say to the world, “this is who I am!” The Fourth Quarter Philosophy was something I had created for myself over the years and it contains 7 main principles. It just happen to be that the first and most important principle addressed this very concern my clients were having! When is the right time they asked??? The right time is NOW! Not because I said so, but because you really have no choice, and while that usually is not a good thing, in this case; it’s actually amazing. You’ll see why.
Principle 1 : The Fourth Quarter is NOW.
It was a muggy Central Florida night; 90 degrees, 100% humidity and the amount of sweat that had accumulated in my uniform could fill a bucket if I rang it out (disgusting, I know). But the battle raged on. Nobody had given us a chance to win against the 6th ranked team in the state, but here we were, fighting. It was 26-20 their favor at the end of the third quarter when the “fours”went up.
Every player on both teams simultaneously raised their arm in the air and held up four fingers. It was FOURTH QUARTER TIME. Many casual spectators miss this ritual but it happens every game. The four fingers mark a very special moment in time. It is officially the final stance, the final chance to give everything you have for victory. After the next 15 minutes there will be no more. However, success will not be measured by wins or losses it will be measured by the answer to one question, “Did I give everything I had?”
I had never played in such a high stakes game and the feeling was indescribable. The crowd had fallen silent in my mind. All I heard was my breath and my heart and I just couldn’t believe that my team was rising to the challenge. The Fourth Quarter went by in the blink of an eye!
“Woooooonnnkkk!”…the game was over.
After the last play, I slowly picked my body up off of the turf and I can remember this immense feeling of satisfaction. No matter how the chips fell, I had given everything. Regret is a you know what; and I felt none.
It just happened to be that on this given Friday Night the chips fell 27-26, my team.
The point is simply this; The Fourth Quarter is NOW. This moment, right now, the present! The time to build the business you want, be person you want to be, look the way you want to look, live where you want to live, have FUN! That time is now. How do I know? See in football the Fourth Quarter is 15 minutes and you know exactly when the clock is running out, and that’s all well and good. In life, well, sorry. We don’t have that luxury. You could have 15 years, 15 minutes, or 15 seconds. You just don’t know, and that my friends, is a beautiful beautiful thing. You have no choice but to act NOW. It’s actually liberating when you think about it:)
So wake up every day, throw the fours up in the air, and play it like its your last! It’s Fourth Quarter Time.
