040. Best Business Lessons I Learned from Watching the Avs Journey to the Stanley Cup

Welcome. I am marketing expert and business coach Melissa Kellogg Lueck. And this is the Doing Business Like a Woman podcast where we are exploring and teaching you how women are reinventing the way business is done and money is made to help you create greater impact and financial freedom one business at a time. Well, hello my friends. I hope you are having a great day. I am so excited about this episode because I finally get to celebrate with you the victory of my Colorado Avalanche winning the Stanley Cup Final and winning the Stanley Cup. And I'm so excited about this and have been wanting to record this episode for a while because I've been collecting notes all along the way, but now I finally get to record it as a celebration also of being Stanley cup champions. So exciting. But what I want to talk to you about today is the lessons and really what I learned and took from watching my team, the Colorado Avalanche, on their journey to the Stanley cup throughout this season. And I'm kind of a nerd this way. Like, I take everything in my life as lessons to learn and inspire me. And you may or may not know that I'm a huge ice hockey fan. I play ice hockey and so it's my sport of choice. And so I use it a lot as a testing ground for my own mindset as well as I get a lot of inspiration from the game and a lot of lessons. I learn a lot of lessons that I apply to my business. And so what I wanted to share with you today is the lessons that I learned that I can take into building my business from the Colorado Avalanche journey to the Stanley Cup. And so I wanted to share my notes that I took during the playoffs because if you're not a hockey fan, you wouldn't know this, but basically playoff hockey is like a completely different, I don't know, just the whole energy of the playoffs. And for those that are sports fans that only watch hockey during the playoffs, you understand this. But the whole energy behind, like the playoff time of our season, it takes on a whole new. It's like a whole new beast, right? And so I was just thinking about how this team went through the playoffs and taking notes along the way about things that I heard. Because professional athletes, I don't care what sport you're a professional athlete in. Of course ice hockey players are my favorite. But I don't care what sport you're a professional at, you are an elite athlete and you don't get to that place. I don't believe without major physical and mental preparation and obviously you're not going to stay at that level for very long without intense mental and physical preparation. And so I don't think, and I will ever be, I, I'm pretty sure I will never be physically in the place of a professional athlete, but I, I can still train mentally and get inspiration from the mental preparation that I witnessed these athletes go through. And so, so I wanted to just share some of the wisdom and inspiration that I picked up that really spoke to me. And what I think is so interesting, the way I like to think about playoff hockey is that it's 16 teams, right, that start out in the playoffs and it's four rounds of seven game series and it's best of seven game series, I should say. So. So, and this is after all of these teams have already played 82 games in their regular season. So it's an intense season with a lot of games and a lot of demands on these athletes, right. So by the time they make it to the playoffs, like the, the, they've already taxed their bodies, but then the intensity is just taken up a notch and then they go into the playoffs. And so I always find it fascinating, like how do they mentally kind of stick with it because you're so close to the end and getting the Stanley cup, which is as many would say. And I would agree that it's the hardest trophy in 10 to win in sports. And so you're so close, but yet you've already been through this intense season and now the intensity just gets ratcheted up. And so what I think about these athletes, it's not the physical game, right? Because they have already played an entire season. They are already all extremely elite, physically physical athletes. And I believe physically, any one of the NHL players could is capable physically of winning a Stanley cup, right? So when teams win and lose, it comes down to their mental game. I think for the most part, obviously if there's injuries and things like that, you know, that can play a part. But really what it comes down for the most part for me is like the mental game. So that's why I love like just tuning into some of the clues that I get about the mental game that these athletes go through. And so as I'm watching the playoffs and here in the Western Conference, we're in the west, we watched the broadcasters included that were commenting on the game included Wayne Gretzky. And so it was so fun to hear him talk about the advice that he would give these players. And I think it's advice that we can take for ourselves too. And he talked about like keeping focused and we can think about this in our business, too. And he talked about how in big games, it was really. Or, you know, in the playoffs, it was really important for him to tune out all the noise around him. He played the most of his career in Edmonton, Alberta, for the Edmonton Oilers. And hockey is huge in that area. Right. And so there was a lot of pressure to win. And so he was talking about how he would go to the rink on big game days. He would go to the rink at like 2 o' clock in the afternoon just so he could kind of create a bubble around himself, tune out all the noise of family, friends, media, all the things, and just be at the rink and have his mental preparation. And it was also interesting, he would say, he said that he would maintain his same routine night after night. That whether it was, you know, a big Stanley Cup Final game or whether it was a regular season game, like, he had a specific routine and he kept that routine night after night. He was giving that advice to the coaches that whether you win or lose a game, you have to just shrug it off. It was just a game, and you have to move on to the next game. I saw that so much with the Colorado Avalanche that every time they won and they did lose a few games, too, it was just like, it's just another game. We don't. We're not celebrating, we're not crying in our beers where it's just another game. We're going to. We're going to put it behind us and we're going to prepare for the next game. Right. And so I love thinking about that in terms of our businesses, that we get to choose who we want to surround ourselves with, and we get to choose to tune out all the noise that's not serving us as we are building towards our goal. And so be very mindful of what you let in. Right. Of who's in your social media feed, who are the voices that are surrounding you day in and day out, and what are they, you know, what are they standing for? How are they supporting you? And feel free to tune out the ones that don't serve you. Okay. And also, as far as maintaining your same routine night after night, I love that in terms of just thinking about that. Consistent marketing, consistent outreach, we're consistently doing the things that we know create business and serve our clients and further our goal day after day, no matter what's happening in the circumstances, whether we've got tons of money coming in or not, tons of money coming in or tons of money going out or whatever the circumstance Might be, you know, recession, pandemic, all the things that could be happening. We are still day after day showing up. We're doing what we know we need to do to build our business, and that's how we're going to get to our goal, right? And he also talked about staying calm and staying focused on your game. Like, that's part of tuning out the noise, because you're not, like, getting involved in all the drama or the noise that's happening around you, that you're tuning that out. You're staying calm. You're finding how you can stay calm and focus on your game, on your business, on your goals, and what you are put on this earth to do, right? And then also our coach, the Colorado Avalanche coach, Coach Bednar, Jared Bednar, he's an amazing coach, by the way. He talks about trusting the process. Like, don't pay attention to. He says, don't pay attention to the results. Don't get caught up in the results, but trust the process and just keep going, right? Because some days we're going to be winning our game, and some days we're going to be losing. But if we stick to the process that we know works, then ultimately we're going to get to our goal. And so I thought that was so interesting. Another thing I learned from this season of the ABs is that success. Well, we already know this, right? But it's just such a great reminder that success doesn't happen overnight. Five years ago, the Colorado Avalanche were in last place in the National Hockey League. They had the least amount of points, and they. Coach Bednar had just started with them not too long before that, and they were in a rebuilding time, right? They had a lot of young players. They were starting to put the pieces together. But they went through years, multiple years of not getting into the playoffs, and they were last placed five years ago. Then they went through years of not getting in the playoffs. Then they started getting into the playoffs and would only get so far and get eliminated. And then the next year, they'd only get so far and they'd get eliminated. But they. They stuck to the process, right? And I'm sure 100% that they made changes. They evaluated and made changes, improvements along the way, but each year they would get a little further and a little further and a little further. Until this year, they broke through, ended up in the Stanley Cup Final, ended up winning in six games over the Tampa Bay Lightning, and winning the Stanley Cup. And so it's easy to look at that and be like, oh, you know, they just won the Stanley cup. And they're an overnight success. But it was years of losing, years of being not making it past certain levels in the season and getting eliminated year after year in the playoffs and then making those changes along the way. So we forget that and we forget that. It's easy to forget that we all have to go through that process, that there are no overnight successes. And so one of their players, their longest tenured player, the player that's been, they call him the old fart or other F words. Eric Johnson, has been on the team for the longest in the current team. Something he said during an interview right after they won was that when you surround yourself with people that believe in you and you and them. I'm not quoting him exactly because I didn't write it down, but this is what I put, those are the notes I put in my phone, that when you surround yourself with people that believe in you, you can accomplish anything. And so I think that's really the magic of that team is that was the locker room energy. Like they believed in themselves, they believed in each other and they surrounded each other with that belief all season long. The adopted anthem for our season this year was the Blink 182 song, all the Small Things. If you ever watched a Colorado Avalanche game, which I hope many of my fellow ice hockey fans are listening to this podcast because it's kind of a love letter to you guys too, right? That. So that was our adopted anthem for our season this year. And I think it's such a great, also a great illustration that it's all the small things, that it's not one big season or one big player or one big change that makes a Stanley cup champion team. It's all the small things. It's all each player on the team doing all their own small things, right? And. And also having fun doing it. Coach Bednar said in one of his post game interviews, I don't remember where I saw it, I should say some interview I saw of him. He said that happy hockey players are the best hockey players. That was another part of the culture is having that fun and joy and that joy of the game. He said another time during the season that this team just loves to win. It's such a great quote because in that quote we have love and we have winning, right? And that if we're happy and we're having fun and we are showing up to our field of play and fun and happiness and joy, then we. That helps us to be the, the best player in our game, right? And so that is. Those are some of the lessons that I learned that I picked up from this season, from the Colorado Avalanche, Stanley cup winning season, that I wanted to share with you. And, and I. I hope this inspires you. And finally, what also inspired me was watching the Colorado Avalanche victory parade through the streets of downtown Denver and ending up at the Capitol, and just watching those guys. Well, and throughout, you know, right after they won, throughout the subsequent days of watching them celebrate. And that's another lesson that I want us all to take, is that anytime that you achieve a big goal, you celebrate the shit out of it, right? I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a team of professional athletes celebrate as vigorously as these guys. And I think it's so great, because what that does is it just cements that victory into your muscle memory, and it makes it easier for you to recreate that victory again. And so oftentimes, as women, it's hard for us to celebrate or for our type A personalities, we, like, get a big win and we say awesome and moving on. And I want you all to just take a moment. I don't care what day it is that you're listening to this, but I want you to just think about one thing that you are celebrating today, that you want to celebrate. And I have a coach that says that to fully celebrate, you have to incorporate dancing or movement of some sort, like a happy dance, right? So maybe you want to put on song that you love and just dance and celebrate something that is worth celebrating for you today. And just in conclusion, I believe that we all have the capability and the value to create whatever business, whatever income level we want, whatever schedule that we want. And I believe we are all capable of that. That all it takes, my friends, is determination and willingness to find a way. And that was also our. The tagline, I guess, for the post season for the Colorado Avalanche is find a way. And that's what it is. That's what it's all about, right? Is that we're all going to have losses. Life is not all about getting W's. There's definitely going to be some L's in our score sheet, but yet we can still find a way. And so I want to just encourage you that you can find a way. And the best way to do it is with a team to surround yourself with people that believe in you, and you get to decide who you want to surround yourself with, and you can accomplish anything. And I really believe that to be true. And if you would, like, help or support my support and getting there and finding a way for yourself and your business, please reach out to me. I would love to have a call with you and let's put together a plan of how you can accomplish your dreams, make your vision come to life. All right? And I wish you a fabulous rest of your day and many, many celebrations to come. All right, I'll talk to you soon. Bye. If you like this podcast, then you have got to sign up for my free on demand video training Grow youw Sales Doing what yout Love, where I teach you in depth my simple process that you can implement right away to harness your mindset and your skills to grow your sales to whatever level you want. So go grab that now. The link is in the show notes and I'll see you next time.