Stay on the attack!

If you follow English football (not soccer!), you’ll be aware of a particular coach famous for his ‘park the bus’ philosophy. I’m not claiming to be the world’s leading football analyst but I know that on several occasions where I’ve watched this coach’s team play under this ‘park the bus’ strategy, it was mind-numbingly boring.

I mean, it’s hard enough to sit through 90 minutes of 22 grown men chasing a 22cm leather ball (for crazy money!!!) but this particular team under this notorious coach was extra special kind of boring. Right up there with watching paint dry…

‘Park the bus’ philosophy is quite simple – all players on the team play defensively with the objective of holding on to a narrow lead or forcibly pushing the game to end in a draw. It goes without saying that a team with a defensive posture ain’t gonna take many risks. Eager strikers end up running into this brick wall of a team and they spend the best part of 90 minutes trying to carve out a sliver of space to run through.

Whilst parking the bus might be safe, it definitely doesn’t make for exciting football. Who needs to dribble when all you have been tasked to do is to take strikers down? Tiki-taka and leg-overs die a natural death against the unyielding juggernaut.

Hang in there, the football analogy will make sense in a minute!

If you stay on the attack, you won’t be under attack all the time.

Joyce Meyer

Recently, I was listening to a podcast and the preacher uttered this monumental statement; “if you stay on the attack, you won’t be under attack all the time.” This got me thinking about my overall posture in life. Is my posture or attitude to life defensive or offensive?

Do I tend to find myself sitting around like a lame duck waiting to react to whatever comes my way or do I proactively chase opportunities down and make room for myself even in places where I wasn’t wanted? I tend to be in the former category – the ‘sit, wait and play defense’ team.

The problem with adopting a perpetual defensive posture is that you end up spending a good chunk of your life building up walls and fortresses to keep the enemy out whilst inadvertently shutting yourself in. How many relationships have I deprived myself of because I was busy guarding my ‘yard’ without realising that the walls were closing in on me?

By adopting a perpetually defensive posture, you risk building up walls to keep the enemy out whilst inadvertently shutting yourself in. #stayontheattack #shootyourshot

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The painful paradox of playing defense is this: expending your energy on successfully preventing your opponent from scoring a goal pretty much guarantees that you won’t score goals either. This is why matches played by the team I mentioned at the start tend to end goalless, in draws or at best, a win with very minuscule margins.

Adopting an offensive and proactive strategy is risky and takes effort. You cannot just sit back in your half of the pitch and wait to take down the opponents. You have to be assertive and also test the strength of their defense.

Victory, success, opportunities and relationships won’t be handed to me on a platter. If the goal is not merely survival but wining, I need to make assertive plays and come up with a balanced strategy where I am fighting for the win without leaving my flank open.

If you want to win in your marriage, career, relationship with God and people then you need to come out from behind those walls you’ve built and adopt a proactive mindset. The world is literally at your finger tips. Rather than getting lost in mindless scrolling on social media, use your data strategically to seek out people and resources that can help you win in any aspect of your life where you need help.

If you want to win the war in your mind, seek out knowledge, people and resources that can help you win the battle over intrusive and destructive thoughts.

#Chase down the win!

#Shoot your shot!

Offensive play is risky but rewarding. Sure, the opponent may land a punch or two, but so will you!

Unvarnished truth

Offensive play is a delicate balance of calculated risks and anticipated rewards. It comes from a place and a mindset of being in it to win it. As you start to find your voice and proactively reach out, you will face rejection, criticism and all sorts of backlash – that’s when you know to keep going because you are a threat! Sure, they may land a punch or two but so will you!

The greatest reward of staying on the attack, with all the risk and stress it entails, is the sense of excitement and adventure it brings. Trying may be hard but it sure beats living the same ol’ beige magnolia life behind defensive walls.

Take it from a football novice – ‘tiki-taka’ is way more interesting than ‘parking the bus’ 🙂

You have agency, use it.

P.S. I tend to paint with very broad brush strokes. This is very intentional because I want you to apply whatever I’m yapping on about to your personal circumstance. No one size fits all; you know where the shoe hurts more than anyone else.

With unvarnished love,

Dammy 🙂