Last major game of the rugby season, we were up against Shrewsbury in the semi-final of the cup. Our chance to reach the final and glory after a stretched and arduous season.
But within a minute we were a try down. The game was indeed a long grind, difficult to watch on occasions and a big disappointment.
On the quiet journey home, I said to Euan that the team lost rather than Shrewsbury won.
He thought for a moment and agreed, “we already knew we were going to lose, the guys said so on Facebook”
And I twigged what had happened. The boys had convinced themselves they were going to lose, had made it public on Facebook and sure enough, they got beat.
In the same way, all of us can convince ourselves that we can be unsuccessful.
- “I’m not good at this”
- “I’m not cut out for this”
- “There’s no way I can make top performer”
- “I can’t do that”
- “It’s impossible”
Now I don’t go for the “you can do anything if you set my mind to it” brigade. I think if you lack the skill and capability, then you won’t succeed however well you hypnotise yourself.
But I do believe you can convince yourself to fail even though you have the capability, the boys did that fateful Sunday morning last season.
