I was thinking about Pat Head Summit, the ladies basketball coach for University of Tennessee, this afternoon and how her goal of the team is perfect execution of the plays. And you’re welcome for stating the obvious, but this really sank in today in a very different way than ever before. I view coaches as motivators, recruiters, promoters, but I have never really thought of them as visionaries of perfect execution. In this sense, the coach may think “if only…player A runs down the left side of the court and player B dribbles to the defender and player C follows behind player D, etc. then we will score..”

However, often in business we toil away with so many of the tactics that the “if only” strategy is seldom considered. Especially in small business/entrepreneurial situations, we spend all of our energy acting and very little thinking, which reminds me of an anecdotal story that I was recently told:

An astronaut was asked if you only had 10 seconds of oxygen, what would he do do? After thinking for a few moments, the astronaut responded, “I would think for 8 seconds and act for 2.”

So, whether you are the coach of a team, a small business owner, or an employee seeking to make your mark, I ask you to pause and think about your “if only” statement. What series of events if perfectly executed would bring you great success?