(If you don’t know what fantasy football is, Wikipedia explains it much better than I ever could.)
In Week Six of our Fantasy Football league this year, I was 2-4, in 9th place out of 10, and already starting to think “Maybe next year…” thoughts.
Until my brother-in-law reminded me that back in 2006, he’d started his year with a 1-4-1 record, for a dead-last 10th place. It looked grim for him, too…and then he won six straight and 7 out of 8 to make the playoffs in 3rd place.
Not to mention the fact that he dominated in the playoffs and acutally won the league that year.
I took that to heart, and eight weeks later, I’m in the playoffs. I ended the regular season in 4th place, on a 6-2 run. Not as good as he did in ’06, but good enough. (Of course, I’m actually playing him in the first round of the playoffs this week. He ended the season with the best record and the most points in the league this year, so I’ve still got challenges ahead.)
That said, I went on a walk with Lani the other day, and we got to talking about the parallels between business and fantasy football. My top three:
1. Know your numbers. Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm said this in a speech at the Entrepreneur Institute a couple years ago, and he’s so right on. I started watching the football stats a little closer and deeper, and started seeing patterns that helped me make different decisions about which players to sit and which to start.
2. Make quick and confident decisions. With fantasy football, you can agonize over which player to start under what circumstances, and the opportunities for “Monday morning quarterbacking” are endless. Ultimately, you have to have a core set of beliefs and values you rely on, so that when the decision time comes, you can act – you have a solid surface from which to make your leap. Besides, doing something is always better than doing nothing.
3. Take action in support of your belief. At 2-4, I wasn’t bothering to look for upgrades to my roster. I was holding on to some of my initial draft picks from the beginning of the season that hadn’t worked out at all. And sitting on the bench, they weren’t doing me any favors. Now, of the 15 players I started with, only six originals remain on my roster. I became the third most active player in terms of free agent pick-ups. In short, I believed it was possible for me to make the playoffs, and I acted as though I would.
This final week was a nail-biter, as it turned out. I was in a 5th place, must-win situation – plus, one guy (Andy) had to beat another guy (Tony) in a separate matchup, in order for me to make the playoffs. I did my part…but I had to wait until late Monday night for the results of the other matchup.
Going into Monday night, Tony was ahead. But Lani told her parents that night over the phone, “I don’t know a thing about how this all works, but I know Allen’s gonna make the playoffs.”
Turned out, Andy beat Tony – by less than six points. Less than six points made the difference between making the playoffs and, well, not.
It’s a hobby, it’s fun, it takes a couple hours out of my week and there may be a $300 prize in it for me in two weeks if I go all the way. Small stakes compared to being in business for yourself, I know.
But you can find useful life lessons anywhere you look for them.
