Soccer is evolving, so are you

A few years ago, one of my mentors said “Every content writer is a business analyst. If you only stick to your daily tasks, you fail to look at the bigger picture. The ultimate goal is to delight customers/clients with seamless experiences and not just document what you were asked to.”

I firmly believe that this statement transformed my thought process over the last few years.

This morning I heard a Soccer analyst talking about how the game has evolved over the last 2 decades. In professional soccer, the Right Back (RB) and Left Back (LB) were purely defensive positions while the Right Wing (RW) and Left Wing (LW) were offensive positions. ⚽

However, the strategies have evolved, so as the players and coaches. Now a LB and RB is expected to play in offensive positions while the LW and RW are expected to defend alongside their assigned duties. This makes the system more dynamic and successful.

I sensed a surprisingly strong correlation.

If you are one of those curious heads wondering how to expand and evolve, here is a list of items worth considering.

✅ Analyze what you do
✅ Understand the goals
✅ Ask questions (about the process, systems and how the work is done)
✅ Identify problems and pain points
✅ Take small steps and iterate
✅ Formulate ideas and best practices
✅ Apply trial and error (don’t be scared to try something new. You either succeed or learn from it.)
✅ Learn and document the learning process
✅ Explain and persuade the benefits and learnings

And I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes,

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” — Albert Einstein