Little Things Count

Little Things Count

You must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. 2 Timothy 3:14

Don Shula, who coached for the Miami Dolphins and the Baltimore Colts, won more games than any coach in the history of the National Football League. Although Don was a little more animated on the sidelines than I was, our coaching styles had a lot in common. Don played for Paul Brown in Cleveland, and later hired Chuck Noll, my future mentor, as one of his assistants with the Colts. So, in essence, Coach Shula and I both came from the Paul Brown school of football.

It’s a school that emphasizes teaching alongside practicing. Coach Brown was one of the first coaches to put players in the classroom, requiring them to study the game before they ever stepped on the field.

I can tell you how Coach Shula won 347 games: one at a time. One game at a time. One play at a time. One stance at a time.

All coaches talk to their players about fundamentals. Coach Shula, however, believes that the details are the building blocks to success. I heard the same thing from Coach Noll and carried that idea into my own coaching experience.

I especially remember the 2003 season. We had won twelve games in the regular season but had lost a game to the Patriots, unable to score from the one-yard line. The loss cost us home-field advantage in the playoffs and the AFC Championship Game victory over the Patriots.

At the following season’s camp, I wanted to make sure that our guys were immediately focused on the details. “We are not, at least now, one yard short of home-field advantage and a Super Bowl berth,” I told them. With zero wins to our credit, we would start heading toward the first one with that day’s practice.

One detail at a time.

Uncommon Key > Whatever goal you are trying to reach, break it down to the details and focus on them one at a time. Don’t get sloppy and overlook the little aspects of life, because they add up to big things.