Alex Ferguson was the manager of Manchester United for 26 seasons. All the football fans in the world regard Manchester United as one of the most successful and respected soccer clubs. During Alex Ferguson’s era, the club won 13 English league titles along with 25 other domestic and international trophies. The former chief executive of Manchester United claims “Steve Jobs was apple; Alex Ferguson is Manchester United”
Alex Ferguson didn’t just manage a football club, he transformed the lives of Manchester United Team. Team Players like Gary Neville, Phil Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt were known as “Fergie’s Fledglings”. He believed in his young talent and the beauty is that today we believe in Fergie’s Fledglings too.
Here are the 5 lessons you can learn from Alex Ferguson
- Foundation is the First Step
Alex Ferguson didn’t care to win at the first place. He wanted to build a club. Building a club brings stability and consistency. Success then comes by itself.
All of us are dreamers. However, just dreaming is never going to let us achieve what we want in life. For that, we need to lay down the foundation. A lot of people are afraid of this very first step particularly because of two reasons.
- Fear of Failure
- They find it hard to build the foundation
In both cases, one thing must be clear. You will never be 100% ready. Alex Ferguson didn’t start winning all the games as soon as he started. It took time. Just like it will take time in your case as well.
People might argue that foundation must be strong because the building stands on the foundation. The logic is absolutely spot on, but foundation isn’t laid in a day. It requires consistent hard work and dedication. So, One Day or Day One, You decide!
- Set High Standards
If we look at the life of Alex Ferguson, we will see that this man had set high standards for himself as well. He was part of Scottish Clubs, but he didn’t stop there. He worked hard towards his higher standards and joined Rangers, the team Alex Ferguson supported as a boy. After Rangers, it was Manchester United.
“People are rewarded in public for what they have been practicing for years in private”
And almost all of us forget the practice part in private. We only focus on people getting rewarded in public.
Therefore, one must never settle and always strive for more in a positive way. If you set lower standards or targets that can be achieved easily, you will have nothing to do. However, when you will go through difficulties and stretch yourself accordingly, you will see that you have transformed into a totally different person.
“If it was easy, everyone would be doing it”
- Never Lose Control
Before I came to United, I told myself I wasn’t going to allow anyone to be stronger than I was ~ Alex Ferguson
Ferguson was dealing with players that were earning good money, some had attitude issues, and some had discipline issues. However, Ferguson clearly states that nothing is bigger than himself.
If we look at our lives, we allow a few people to screw us up. We allow them to tell us what to do and unintentionally, we even start doing what we are told to do. Nothing is bigger than ourselves. Once the foundation has been laid, the standards have been set, the third step is to do what you believe and let nobody dictate you.
In this way, if you succeed, you will be proud. If you fail, you will take the blame like a man. Its very easy to put the blame on someone else’s shoulders.
- Prepare to Win
Alex Ferguson had his team practice for scoring a goal in last 3 minutes, 5 minutes and 10 minutes. As per Ferguson,
“It’s better to attack if the other team is leading by 1-2 or even 1-3. Because we are losing either ways. However, winning by 3-2 or 4-3 will always feel good. So, if push comes to shove, don’t worry about the defense, Attack!”
If we don’t believe that we can win, we will never win. Whatever your idea, goal or dream is, start implementing it right now. Do it bits and pieces, no worries! But do it! And while you are doing it, always tell yourself that you are going to win one day. Just like you had thought in your dreams.
- Never Stop Adapting
From Vitamin D boosts to Yoga Instructors to Jackets with GPS, Ferguson never stopped adapting. Being on the top for so many years, he was all willing to adapt to changes. Although, it becomes very difficult to adapt to changes when you are on the top.
The same rule applies to you. Keep acquiring knowledge regarding your field of interest. Read what the world is doing. Know where the world is going in your area. Whatever your dream is, something related to it is definitely out there in the world. No matter how hard it becomes to get hold of that, you have to get hold of that. Because if you ever believe that you don’t need to adapt, you downfall might start.
And that is something Progress Today doesn’t want in you. It wants you to Progress.