Tightening the loose boots

“A man's accomplishments in life are the cumulative effect of his attention to detail.”—John Foster Dulles

I coach a youth lacrosse team in Annapolis and love every minute of it. To start off last nights practice I made them all stand in a single line shoulder to shoulder facing my coaches and I. We went through every single kid’s shoes to see who had “loose boots” by administering the “shoe wedgie” test. All the kids that received a shoe wedgie had to step forward in front of their peers and be called out. With 4 kids having to step forward, I let the team know they would ALL be running suicides because of the 4 kid’s “loose boots”.
After the run, I introduced and then elaborated on my little success equation “the little things + attention to detail + discipline = success”. You should have seen these kid’s faces! They literally looked at me like I was a crack head. I continued to explain that if they put that equation to use it will snow ball into great accomplishments. Again, the guys looked at me with a stank fish eye, confused and tired, trying to comprehend why I made them run because of “loose boots”. So… I went on to explain the following:
"As a lacrosse player you are expected to be fast. You are expected to be quick. And, you are expected to be an "athlete". If your shoes are loose, you cannot run as fast as you need to. You cannot shift as quick as you need to. And, with going half ass in practice, your muscles will not develop due to the lack of performance thus restricting your overall athletic potential… How can you develop as a complete lacrosse player, if you can't even run?" Their fish eyed looks began to transform into thinking regular faces. "As an athlete, if you don’t take care of the little things, if you don’t have attention to even the smallest detail, the rest will suffer. It doesn’t matter if its nutrition, equipment, mental preparation, sleep, hydration…they all require attention to detail, they are all little things, and to be able to recognize the amount of work and organization it will take to be an elite athlete…its going to take SERIOUS discipline.”
This can be translated into any job, in any field, at any time. In business, I believe the masses have a case of the “loose boots”. If we are going to get ahead, we have to tie the laces tight…