Be There, Or Don't Be There

"If you don't get to the ball in time, you didn't start running on time."

Johan Cruijff, our self-taught Dutch soccer professor, may have had some cryptic but thoughtful expressions, but it all comes back to one thing: If you need to be somewhere, you need to be there. And if you don't want to be somewhere bad, don't be there!

In professional sports the great players seperate themselves from the average by making good decisions about where they are, when to start running, where they need to be and when. And even great individual players can make their game so incredibly hard on themselves by not being where they need to be, or being somewhere they shouldn't be.

This concept extends beyond sports as well: Successful people get to places where they do most good for themselves, and stay away from where they do harm or are weak. If you really want to be safe in traffic, make sure you don't put yourself in difficult situations, such as tailgating. If you're in project management, you can make things easier on yourself and the other project members, by how well the project fits the project environment and doing the things you should do. All the while you'd be avoiding the things you shouldn't do.

And the finest of finest know where to be, so that they reach every opportunity in due time, without having to stretch themselves to/over the limit all the time. Indeed the best people make their craft look so easy and unspectacular.