Don’t Stop Believin’
WMMM #092 - This week, I share a tip for achieving your goals.
Jeff Keplar Newsletter March 15, 2025 3 min read
What We Believe, We Can Achieve
"Whether you think you can
or you think you can't,
you're right."
Henry Ford
Every year, for 3 weeks in March, we are treated to a very public display.
The power of belief.
Sixty-eight (68) college basketball teams begin play this week in the NCAA men's basketball national championship tournament (March Madness.)
Each team has competed in approximately 30 games in a season that began in November.
The results of these games have become the resume for each team's invitation to this tournament.
Once in, all that each has accomplished matters little.
The tournament is single elimination.
The winners advance to the next round.
The losers go home.
It's an excellent example of the human spirit on display.
Emotions Run High
For many players, this tournament is the end of competitive basketball.
The end of a journey that has consumed most of their lives to this point.
A 21-year-old college athlete has likely been competing since they were eight.
Few make it to professional basketball.
Most are merely college athletes who will have a career in something else.
It's emotional for the players, coaches, their families, alums and fans.
The Underdogs
There is also a David and Goliath element that makes this tournament unique.
The NCAA has approximately 364 institutions with Division I basketball programs.
Seventy-six (76) of these schools are members of the five largest conferences.
These are typically the schools with the largest enrollments, like state schools and land-grant universities.
They have the most resources and the most competitive programs.
These are the "Goliaths."
There are 29 "Goliaths" playing in this year's tournament.
That leaves nearly 300 schools with lesser resources.
These are the "Davids."
Of these, 39 are playing in this year's tournament.
The NCAA has something they call the "automatic bid."
31 teams receive an automatic bid upon winning their regular season-ending conference tournament.
Five of those bids go to the "Goliaths" from those largest conferences.
The remaining 26 go to "Davids," who are conference champions, as they enter the March Madness tourney.
If not for this tournament, a "David's" chance of playing a game against a "Goliath" is remote.
The "Goliaths" schedule their regular season opponents to maximize the optics of their resume.
A win over a "David" does nothing for their resume.
A loss to a "David" might cost them an invitation to March Madness.
So a "David" might possess a very competitive team in any given season.
They may have won nearly all of their games.
They might have 4-5 seniors that have been playing together for 3-4 years.
This David could be a very experienced and talented basketball team.
Yet, the NCAA tournament is their only chance to find out how good they are - by playing the best teams in the country.
However, they will unlikely receive an invitation to March Madness unless they win their conference tournament.
Miracles
So when a "David" makes it into March Madness, this is their one chance to find out.
How good are they?
What is their true potential?
How far can they push beyond the limits placed upon them?
Upon the limits they may have placed upon themselves?
The "Goliaths" are heavily favored to win when they play a "David."
Every year, some of the "Davids" beat the "Goliaths."
Inevitably, the broadcast announcers call these wins "miracles."
In 2016, one of the more famous figures in this spectacle, Duke University's "Coach K," had this to say when asked how heavy underdog Yale erased a 27-point deficit:
- "This is what makes this tournament so special.
- Miracles happen nearly every year.
- The small school or the mid-major has the same chance as the large schools from the power conferences.
- It's one game, single elimination (win and play tomorrow or lose and go home) for three weekends in March.
- And we highlight those miracles when they happen and memorialize them for years after.
- So, every team, every player believes they are the next miracle – the upset, the buzzer-beating shot.
- And when everyone believes, strange things happen, like miracles."
Well said, Coach.
Eliminating Doubt
It is commonly stated that fear is the biggest motivator of humanity.
In leading sales teams for 30 years, I found hope and belief more effective.
Resentment often accompanied fear, in my experience.
With research, I found support for my experience.
Eliminating doubt is mentioned as a positive motivator to rival the negative (fear.)
Doubt impairs motivation.
Eliminating doubt from your mind is the same as believing.
I have never found a better motivator for salespeople than hope.
I have never witnessed a better barometer for success than belief.
The 2025 version of March Madness begins this week.
Enjoy the next three weeks!
Lessons Learned
1) Practice and experience provide the repetitions.
2) Repetitions deliver the confidence that enables us to believe.
3) When everyone believes, strange things happen, like miracles.
4) Let go of the past - stay in the moment.
Thank you for reading,
Jeff
When you think “sales leader,” I hope you think of me.
If you like what you read, please share this with a friend.
I offer my help to investors, founders, sales leaders, and their teams.
I possess the skills identified in this article and share them as part of my service.
In my weekly newsletter, Win More, Make More, I provide tips, techniques, best practices, and real-life stories to help you improve your craft.
