How am I going to get the press behind me?

Alex Ferguson in his early days at Manchester United did not have an easy time. Results and the team performances came in for criticism from a wide section of the press with journalists from national and local titles criticizing every week. The criticism was wide ranging including selection, tactics, recruitment etc. The pressure built week after week.

Eventually Ferguson turned to Matt Busby and asked the question above.

Matt Busby replies

Stop reading the papers

(Hat tip to ‘Andy Bounds The Jelly Effect’)

When we look at situations and see complexity we are looking at our hidden fears. How do people perceive us? How do I get people to approve of me? Where could we possibly change things? These hidden fears bring us complexity in what we see. How can I get all these different people on side is really the wrong question.

In India they have the expression,

it is easier to put shoes on your own feet than to carpet the world.

You can’t easily change the outside world, but you have immense power to choose your inside world and change focus.

Imagine if Alex Ferguson put his focus on the journalists, what progress or success would that have brought? What would have happened to his team selection etc.

Fear brings complexity. The greats in any field strip things back to simple fundamentals. Simply focusing on the team performance instead of other factors was enough.

What is the simplest thing you could focus on now?