PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY
Late one dark and snowy evening in the winter of 1985, Lou Holtz walked into the University of Notre Dame library with a simple mission in mind. Holtz had just been hired as the new football coach at the school, and was charged with returning the once proud and prominent program to its former glory. His trip to the library was a fact-finding mission. He gathered old books in an attempt to learn everything he could about the history of the school and the program he was inheriting. In one of those books, one picture in particular caught his eye.
It was a grainy, black and white photo from the heyday of Notre Dame football that showed the small hallway leading from the team locker room to the field at the stadium. There next to the doorway hung a simple sign issuing a simple command: Play Like a Champion Today. Holtz started asking around. What happened to that sign, he wanted to know. Why had it been removed, and where was it now? No one had an answer. Right then and there, the new coach determined that the first step in restoring Notre Dame football to its former glory would be returning that sign to its former location. He called the University maintenance shop and requested that an updated version of the old sign be made, and a few days later it hung, once again, in its original location.
That sign has become an iconic symbol of Notre Dame football. Irish players touch it, still today, as they pass by, each one in their own ritualistic way, as a reminder - not only of the rich tradition of the program’s past, but as a reminder too of the responsibility that success in the present requires them to accept.
When any one of us hear that word “champion” - on a sign in the Notre Dame locker room, as the title of this weekly newsletter, or anyplace else - it typically and naturally brings some winning outcome to mind. It’s likely your vision of a champion includes a score on the scoreboard, a trophy in a trophy case, or whatever symbolizes victory in the meaningful areas of your life in sports, at work, or at home. But part of my job at Champions 101 is to help people reframe that vision by shifting the focus off the outcome, and instead to focus on embracing the process - the daily commitment it takes to get where it is you want to go. I think that’s what Lou Holtz was doing, too, when he hung that sign all those years ago.
Undoubtedly, the coach must've assumed that some players would mindlessly pass by that message each day without a thought, but I bet he was hoping others would perhaps find themselves reflecting on what that simple command was mandating them to do. If I’m supposed to play like a champion today, they might ask themselves…then how does a champion play? What are the defining qualities and characteristics of the champion's performance? What kind of an effort do they give? How do they respond to the challenges and adversity they encounter? Who are they as competitors and as teammates?
Those are questions Lou Holtz was challenging his players to answer every time they walked by that sign. He knew they would see it on the way to play some marquee games under the bright lights of the big stage at Notre Dame Stadium. But he also knew they’d be passing that sign - and challenged to answer those questions - on every other day, too. On those grueling early season practice days. On their way to offseason workouts. On the days when the bleachers were empty and no one was there to acknowledge or appreciate the work they were doing. Lou Holtz knew that earning the success they said they were after would require them to answer those same questions on those days, too. That's what winning demands - earning it again here today.
If you’re a sports fan, it’s likely you’ve seen that iconic sign hanging in the Notre Dame stadium entryway before, but I want to challenge and encourage you to intentionally make it your message, and in doing so apply it to the work you've got ahead of you here today. Maybe that’s a performance under the bright lights of the big stage, or maybe it’s another day of work no one else will acknowledge or appreciate. Either way, I hope you’ll recognize the questions that simple command requires you to answer. I hope you’ll see that the best way to earn the outcome you’re after is to focus on embracing the process - on the daily commitment it takes to get there. Wherever you're at and whatever you're doing, I hope you’ll commit to playing like a champion today.
