Lessons from playing competitive soccer growing up and how I have applied them in my digital marketing career thus far!
I have always loved and played football growing up. In Nigeria and in Canada, I always played and watched (enjoyed) the game.
Naturally, due to my passion, desire to be a part of and devotion to the game, I developed my skills to be able to play at the highest level of soccer for my age group in my region at the time.
And, through extremely competitive soccer, I discovered life and social skills that have aided me in crushing campaigns for clients all throughout my career.
I learned how to work as a part of a team, how to set individual goals, how to listen and take in ideas from others, how to let others be great at what they do, how to set collective goals – and how to make strategic decisions and plays very quickly.
Soccer has given me a lot in life – and the game has helped me develop core life skills that have helped me build a strong digital marketing career.
Major lesson number 1 – how to work as a part of a team
A lot of things in life we all have to do alone – that is why we all get accustomed to thinking that we can do everything all by ourselves. And this is not true at all. Everyone (businessperson, entrepreneur, athlete, attorney, champion, etc.) that has ever accomplished any great feat or built anything of significance and value – did it with the help of tons of people (too many to count).
Regardless of how smart or talented you are, you have to work with others to achieve great goals. In soccer, this is intrinsically built into the game. One man (Messi, Pele, Maradona, Neymar – or whoever your favourite player is) cannot defeat another team alone.
So, from day one of competitive soccer and playing as a part of an organized team, it was engrained in me that I needed to work with others to accomplish my dreams and goals.
Since my goals and dreams were to be the best soccer player ever – I needed to work with teammates, coaches, trainers, parents, family, friends, supporters, fans, rivals, mentors, and more to achieve this goal. And, I did. To the best of my ability atleast.
When my dreams flamed out, I started developing a love for digital marketing. And, naturally, the ability to work as a part of a team translated and seeped into my digital marketing operations and endeavors.
Either as the coach, star or worst player on the team – I have learned to be a contributor to every SEO, marketing or digital marketing team I am a part of. As a soccer player, I learned how to get the best out of those around me, how to lead by example as a top player and how to learn from those better or more experienced than me. I translated this to marketing – and long story short – we are here.
Major lesson number 2 – how to set individual and collective goals
Goal setting is one of the most important steps you need to take to accomplish anything. How are you to achieve or work on anything if you do not even know where you are trying to go or what you are trying to do. Every season, my team set team goals to win regional and tournament trophies. Then, we worked our plans and training around the tournaments and cups we wanted to win. And, we had a very good success rate using this system – winning many tournaments and cups. That is why, naturally, this system of collective goal setting became engrained inside of me.
To help my team accomplish our collective goals, we were all encouraged to set our own individual goals. So, as a midfielder, I would set assists, goals, individual accolades, and other important targets for myself. Once again, since this helped me consistently accomplish my targets, I naturally adopted this in other areas of my life.
In digital marketing, collective and individual goal setting are both very important. Everyone on the team needs to know what the whole team is working towards and what their individual part is so that they can plan for success. It was easy to win championships because every member of my team growing up knew what they needed to do (and train for) to help the team win. Once we all knew it – we all learned what we needed to do and went about putting in the extra work on our own time.
Make sure your team sets periodic collective and individual goals. We have worked this into our system here at Generation One. And, it has yielded amazing results.
Major lesson number 3 – how to listen to and learn from others (and how to let others be great at what they do)
Growing up, in life, I found it hard to listen to other people’s ideas because I thought my ideas were better and since I was usually right (or more correct) I thought that other people’s opinions were not always valuable. That flipped on its head playing soccer.
Whilst learning the game and growing up in the youth soccer system in Canada, I realized that despite my personal pursuit to learn everything I could about soccer on my own and in my down time, coaches, teammates, parents, mentors, referees, and others always had something to teach me. Regardless of how much I knew about a player’s story and journey, a club or a game, someone else (a teammate, coach, referee, trainer, etc.) knew more (or one thing I did not).
So, I adopted this comfort and ability to listen to others – to develop better ideas, systems, strategies, plays, etc. I learned to listen to others and to help others tap into their individual greatness for the collective benefit of the team.
Listen, you will not always be the best at everything. Soccer helped me learn this important lesson. I learned very early on in my career – from day one – that even though I was very naturally talented and was the best in my neighborhood, there were people better than me (and people more naturally talented and inclined in some areas than me).
When you are forced to get better and grow individually – and as a team – you start to let others be great at what they are great at in order to help you be great at what you are great at.
This is arguably my most valuable lesson from playing soccer (because it has made me the most amount of money).
By working with others, and letting them do what they do best (without hindering their flow and output), I have been able to plan, build, execute and nurture many successful digital marketing campaigns to heights that I could never have taken them individually (singlehandedly).
Learn what individual members of your team are great at and let them be great at those things by assisting them in learning as much as they can (and improving their skills) – and productivity and output (within your organization) will skyrocket.
Major lesson number 4 – how to make strategic decisions and plays at the speed of light
This is the only skill and lesson I believe I acquired purely from playing the game.
As a central midfielder, decision making, strategy and accuracy are important for individual and team success. I needed to make plays and be steps ahead of opponent – all the time.
And, I was under constant pressure and in the thick of things.
I learned that in life, digital marketing, and in business, you have to be steps ahead of competitors and rivals. To do this, strategy and decision-making are critical.
Here at Generation One, strategy is at the center of everything we do. And, we have been able to dominate (or help our partners dominate) all over the world using strategy and quick and excellent decision making.
Overall, soccer equipped me with all of the tools, life skills – and the competitiveness and drive to want to be the best. All things that helped me grow as an individual and a marketer of brands, products and services.
On another note, if you currently need (or ever need) help with a digital marketing issue, let me and my team help you solve it. Using all of these lessons off course 😊.
