What a Kicker can Teach you About your Own Mistakes

We all make mistakes. It's part of what makes us human beings. We hope to learn from them, but without understanding more about why these mistakes happened, this can be difficult. Sometimes it can be hard to take an honest look back at a mistake, but often this is the only way to find out why it happened in the first place.

This past weekend two National Football League teams lost playoff games they could have easily won. A real time statistic called Win-Probability showed that the Minnesota Vikings had a 78% chance to win with 22 seconds remaining in their game, while the Cincinnati Bengals were even bigger locks to come out ahead, having greater than a 90% chance to win with less than two-minutes to play.

But both teams made crucial mistakes that cost them their games.

The Bengals had just intercepted the Pittsburgh Steelers, and only needed to run out time remaining on the clock. But shortly after fumbling the ball back to Pittsburgh, the Bengals were called for two major penalties. What's important to know is that these were conduct penalties given when a player loses his temper - essentially a mental error - rather than for a physical mistake. Pittsburgh took advantage of the better field position as a result and kicked the game winning field goal.

In the other game, the Vikings were lining up to kick a 27-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in their contest against the Seattle Seahawks. A kick at this distance is virtually a lock, and was something their kicker had done over and over again all season. In fact he had only missed once at that distance in his four year career, and only two kickers in the entire NFL missed a field goal under 30 yards this season. But despite these odds, he missed badly, and the Seahawks held on to win.

Today players and coaches from both teams are asking themselves "what if?”, wondering if there was anything they could have done differently.  While most of us may not work for professional sports teams, we can relate. If you work anywhere long enough, eventually you're going to make a mistake. Maybe it's something small, but maybe it's a big one. It could be embarrassing, cost your company money, clients, or customers. You might find yourself in the same place as these two football teams - asking "what if".

As I said earlier, it's important to step back to look at why these mistakes happened. Both teams wish things worked out differently, but these were two very different types of mistakes.

The Vikings had put themselves in the position to win the game. Their kicker had made kicks like that one, over and over again in games and practices. He could probably go out there today and make it right now. His preparation and skill has made him one of the best kickers in the league. He just missed.

But for the Bengals, there's more to it. Despite a similar physical mistake - the fumble - they were still leading and likely to win. But they lost control of their situation, and by committing those penalties, put themselves in the position to lose the game.

Look back at a recent mistake at your organizaiton. Did you put yourself in a position to be successful, or did you set yourself up for failure? Be honest.

Sometimes you do everything you can, and you just miss. Maybe a competitor underbids you, or maybe a quirk in the weather affects your inventory. If your processes are good, trust in your experience. Don’t overreact to a single miss.