In sports, when a player is traded, there is a phrase used to label the game in which that player is up against his former team. That phrase is, “The Revenge Game”. The concept is that an ordinary player gets extra inspiration and vigor to play against his former team. He wants to show them that they made a mistake in trading him, almost to say, “I could have put up these stats for you!”

But would he?

I always thought it was an interesting phenomenon. It is true that many times that player will perform much higher than their norm. So if the only thing that changes was the emotion of the player, why couldn’t they channel that emotion for every game? Think about that for a second. They didn’t get quicker, stronger or significantly smarter in that one week of preparation. Literally the only thing that was different was the emotions felt about the game itself.

I often wondered what that player was thinking after they put on an amazing performance. Shouldn't the thoughts be along the lines of, “If I can do it once, I can form habits to do it consistently,” or “This is now my new standard.”

I guess that is what separates the average from the champions. Champions find reasons to get up for EVERY PLAY, let alone every game. The season is short. Their career is short. Life is short. The players that will go down in the history books as the all time greats didn’t need inspiration for any one particular game. They worked hard on every play because they understood who they would become in the process… a champion.

Are you a Champion? Or are you just waiting for your Revenge Game?

Article by Remington Ramsey, Real Producers National Sales Director and Publisher of Indy Real Producers