Golden rules you need for a come back

Many of the most sensational comebacks have been in the world of sports. I am sure you know many and I would advice you to study them very closely because the same rules apply to a come back in virtually any field or calling in life.

Let me for a moment focus on a sporting come back I am very familiar with. Diego Maradona. Down and out and literally dying as well as being a cocaine addict to boot many people believed that Maradona went to Cuba to die and not only to escape from his tax problems. But in 2005 he literally bounced back from the dead and started a successful career as a football administrator at a leading club in Argentina. This come back led to his being appointed the Argentine national soccer team coach in 2008.

But the 2005 effort was not the first time Maradona whom some consider to be the greatest soccer player of all time (not this blogger my money is on Pele) was making a come back in difficult circumstances. After sensationally winning the 1986 World Cup for Argentina there was probably nowhere else to go but down. By the time the 1990 World Cup came along he was overweight and nursing a serious ankle injury. The speed, agility and dribbling were all gone but amazingly even though he hobbled along most of the time, he was still extremely effective and made a huge difference taking Argentina all the way to the finals. The man re-invented himself completely and concentrated on his positioning and pinpoint passes to tear apart the best defenses in the world and win crucial games for his country. This confirmed his status as a soccer genius.

It can’t be done if you don’t understand “your sport” like the back of your hand

Maradona’s soccer career has some important lessons for any come back attempt. The first is that you MUST understand your business, your sport or your vocation better than the back of your hand. There are no two ways about it.

Diego Maradona would never have achieved what he did without his deep knowledge of the game. If your come back is in business then you must understand that business extremely well and that includes the rapid changes that technology has brought about in many industries.

Luckily we are in the information age and getting information to make you an expert is easy, even if you are not one at the time you begin your research for your come back effort. Find one source of information I strongly recommend for anybody attempting a come back in business HERE.

You must re-invent yourself

If you understand your vocation deeply then re-inventing yourself like Maradona has done successfully again and again becomes much easier. Let’s go back to boxing now and compare Mike Tyson to other boxers like Mohamed Ali and George Foreman. Both these men managed to make successful comebacks. They came back as slower and less fit boxers but what mattered and counted in the end was the fact that they re-invented themselves adequately to be able to make a mark. Tyson it seems is less knowledgeable and this has no doubt been a great hindrance in any come backs he may have wanted to execute. It seems that he is only one kind of boxer and has found it impossible to come up with a new tactical approach or style that re-invents his game.

Most of those who fail in their come back bids are guilty of trying to do the same old thing using the same old tactics. This will not work. You will need to completely re-invent yourself. YOU MUST to stand any chance of success.

Finally whatever happens never ever give up. NEVER. Try again and again secure in the fact that some of those who went before you and became the greatest men in their time did so after failing so many times that failure almost became their second name before they finally made it. Just make sure you learn all the lessons you need to learn from every single failure. I can sense your doubt at this last statement I have made and so I will close my series this weekend with an example.

Abraham Lincoln is considered one of the greatest presidents the United States has ever had and is still an inspiration to this day to many seeking leadership under difficult circumstances. And yet he started off with very minimal education. He had only one year of formal education in his life and then what followed were more failures than most human beings can take in two lifetimes.

List of Lincoln's failures

1831 - Lost his job
1832 - Defeated in run for Illinois State Legislature
1833 - Failed in business
1834 - Elected to Illinois State Legislature (success)
1835 - Sweetheart died
1836 - Had nervous breakdown
1838 - Defeated in run for Illinois House Speaker
1843 - Defeated in run for nomination for U.S. Congress
1846 - Elected to Congress (success)
1848 - Lost re-nomination
1849 - Rejected for land officer position
1854 - Defeated in run for U.S. Senate
1856 - Defeated in run for nomination for Vice President
1858 - Again defeated in run for U.S. Senate
1860 - Elected President (success)

Read more about Abraham Lincoln

Thanks for keeping me company through this weekend and I wish you the very best in your come back. Hang in there!!

Go back to Part 1

Two things you must do to execute a successful come back

A reader’s comments on Tyson in my last post pretty much sums up what I was going to say in the first couple of paragraphs of this fresh post. Basically the point is that whatever you think about the former heavyweight boxing champion, there is no denying that he is a survivor. He must have gone through hell just looking at what he had to do and what he told his interviewer recently.

The reason why I have focused on Tyson for these articles is because his life illustrates many important lessons that we need to look at to plot our own comebacks.

Stop playing to the gallery

If you listen to Tyson you will quickly realize that one of his major problems was playing to the gallery.

He is not alone. Most people have lost fortunes just because they are busy showing off their success and in the process pride quickly slips in and they start thinking that they are gods and that nothing can defeat them. That is usually the beginning of the end.

In your comeback bid it is important to respect the success you had and it is also critical to be humble.

Ignore the gallery forever. You are not making a come-back to show people who you are. You are making the come back for you and you alone.

One great weakness I have noted in young Kenyans is that they take failure very personally and have the mistaken view that everything they touch should succeed at the first try. The result is that they will forever be frightened to try new risky things that have a high chance of failure and therefore success or getting back to the top remains an unfulfilled dream.

Listen to the wise words of the billionaire co-owner of Google Inc. Sergey Brin;

“The only way you are going to have success is to have lots of failures first.”

How are you going to make a come back when you are still warily looking up over your shoulder to the gallery wondering what people are thinking as you fall again and again in the process of your trying to get up?

But remember that the world is changing too rapidly

I know a few people who have attempted a come back by trying the same old thing again and again expecting different results. The person was trying to revive a business that went under. This is in fact the definition of insanity, that is trying the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. And yet the market had changed dramatically indeed that is one of the reasons why they had gone out of business.

What you must do is try a new approach, a new angle that appreciates your reasons for failure the last time.

Make no mistake about it the main reason why a come back is such a difficult thing to accomplish is because the ghosts of your past will not leave you alone and will constantly burden you and pull you back down.

Read part 1

Read 3rd and final part