Attitude! – Five Lessons From the
Super Eagles & One From D'banj

So our ‘boys’ won the trophy last night at the
African Cup of Nations, a feat that has
proved impossible one way or another since
1994 in Tunisia where Emmanuel Amuneke
scored two goals against Zambia. The trophy
they lifted in 94 was more attractive than the
one they won yesterday but the success,
coming after 19 years is sweeter so here are
five lessons we all can learn from our team:

1. Believe in Yourself, When No One Else
Does - I’ll admit: I was waiting for these boys
to crash out in the quarter-finals, regardless of
the opposition. They didn’t have the big names
that I’m familiar with and I’m sure I’m not
alone in having had doubts about their ability
to deliver. Coming so soon after the London
Olympics fiasco of Team Nigeria, it was
impossible to hope in them.
But they believed in themselves and that’s
what proved crucial at the end of the day.
People will doubt you and find a dozen reasons
for why you would fail but you only need to
hold on to one reason to succeed. Looking for
belief from other people is an ice-thin terrain to
walk on: it can break at anytime. Some people
have what Joyce Meyer describes as
‘approval addiction’ where they want
everyone around to validate their dream or
their ability to perform. They take their dream
to everyone and explain it to them under the
guise of seeking advice or counsel but what
they’re really looking for is encouragement and
yes, sometimes you’ll find encouragement from
others but you can’t motivate yourself with the
belief of others. You’ve got to believe in
yourself because if the world believes in you
and you doubt yourself, you will never win but
if the world doubts you and you believe in
yourself, you are more likely to win.
Sometimes infact, you can deliberately set
yourself against people by raising the bar so
high that even your family doubts your sanity
(blogging everyday for example) and you’ll find
that the pressure that comes from their doubt
will bring out the most creative side of you. The
best part to believing in yourself when nobody
else does is that with every victory you
achieve, you will convert more followers but it
won’t matter much to you anymore. Each
Super Eagles match had more people
watching than the previous one. The world
identifies with success, believing in yourself
brings you success.

2. Have Faith in a Higher Power - More than
past Super Eagles teams, these guys prayed;
before the first half, at the end of the first half,
just before the second half and at full time –
they huddled together with Vincent Enyeama
kneeling in the middle and often saying the
prayers.
Whether God gives footballing victory is still a
matter of much debate (I firmly say ‘nay!’
except in general terms of God giving
everything) but faith in a Higher Power
produces deeper belief in yourself and gives
you the conviction that you’re not facing your
challenges alone. Some will call you religious
and tell you faith has nothing to do with it but
it doesn’t matter, so long as it works for you
just like it worked for the Eagles.

3. Prove Yourself Against Tougher
Opponents – Some of our most terrible
matches came against teams we were
supposed to win easily but there’s a problem:
such teams usually play without tactical depth
and 100% passion. Their major aim in the
tournament wasn’t the same as that of the
Super Eagles, it’s usually only just to beat a
major team before they crash out of the
games. It was when the Super Eagles played
against the No 1 team in Africa that paraded
names like Didier Drogba,Yaya Toure and
Gervinho that they stepped up their game
and proved their class.
Don’t go round looking for ‘the easy victory’,
that’s a myth and a paradox: easy victories
don’t exist and easy victory is really hard
victory because it makes you complacent
thereafter. Instead, seek challenges that seem
greater than you (raising the bar) and when
you succeed, nothing else seems much of a
challenge anymore until you increase the
stakes.
It was only after the Super Eagles defeated the
Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire that many
pundits began tipping them for victory and
that reputation preceded them into every
match. Nothing is too big to be challenged so
long as you can motivate yourself enough.
A note of caution: resist the lure of accepting
your status of greatness and treat every
challenge with respect. Don’t think because
you overcame a business challenge of 20
million naira yesterday that 500,000 naira
cannot ruin your business. The Ivorians
believed the myth of their own invincibility and
played against Nigeria casually.
So while you must step up your game to
greater opposition, don’t get complacent with
lesser ones.

4. A Win By a Slim Margin Still Gets You
the Gold – The mistake many of us make in
the pursuit of success is thinking that you have
to be 100 times better than everyone else to
succeed but as every successful person will tell
you, that’s not true.
In a horse race, the horse that wins by the
nose with a split second victory gets twenty
times the prize money of the one that comes in
second but it is not twenty times better than
that horse.
Burkina Faso defeated Ethiopia by 4 goals to
nil, Nigeria did the same with just two goals;
both teams got the same 3 points for a victory
and Nigeria beat Burkina Faso in the final by
just one goal but that was enough for victory.
The crucial factor for success sometimes boils
down to one thing and one thing alone. Being
better than your competitors in just one area
can make all the difference between you and
them. Find that one thing and success will find
you.

5. Surround Yourself With Mentors - If
there is any man to whom all hats must be
doffed it should be Coach Stephen Keshi. It
was he who as captain of the Eagles in 1994
lifted the trophy (with the a younger Issa
Hayatou as CAF president). It was Keshi’s belief
in a team that comprised many players who
were playing in the cup of nations for the very
first time that inspired a nation to believe but
he wasn’t alone…
I was a little bit miffed when watching the
game against Ethiopia in the 70th minute (or
so) to see Daniel Amokachi and Ike
Shorunmu laughing at whatever joke it was
they were sharing. With hindsight, I think such
a sight would have given our boys confidence
to relax and keep playing their game. (It
helped that Keshi was on his feet and putting
pressure on them though). Austin Okocha
was also in South Africa as well as Kanu
Nwankwo who never had the privilege of
winning that trophy. Sunday Oliseh in the
studio creating an atmosphere of belief (even if
he wants Keshi’s job) also helped our boys.
When you have mentors who have been there
and done that, you can go farther in life. When
experiences confront you and you think there’s
no way out, you need a mentor who has gone
through it before and learnt the lessons.
Nigeria was the only team that had such large
numbers of ex-players almost everywhere in
the host country even including a veteran,
Sylvanus Okpala, who was part of the Green
Eagles team (as they were then called) that
won the trophy in 1980.
To clarify, your mentor doesn’t have to do
exactly what you do: I don’t have any blogging
mentor but the basic principles in life are the
same in all areas of human endeavour. I have
an upcoming artiste who calls me his mentor
and once in a while I find that a little strange
but it’s the values imparted that count.

And from Dbanj: Go Under, Then Right
Back to the Top – My admiration for this
artiste knows little bounds and he took it a
notch higher yesterday in front of a crowd of
80,000 people. Last year was supposed to be
the year that would seal his career as an artiste
and sometimes it did appear as if he was never
going to rise again with few errors on his part.
Watching him perform the theme song he
wrote last night, I couldn’t help but feel
emotional not just because of his music but
because I’m a fan of comebacks. I just love it
when people say a person is finished and then
he does it just one more time. They said he
couldn’t sing and then he sings in front of
80,000 people…how’s that for a comeback?
Go into this week and prove them wrong my
friends! Nothing can hold us back anymore…
we are, after all: Nigerians!
Have a great week, no matter what and
subscribe to the blog to stay updated
throughout this week.

Source: demolarewajudaily.com/attitude-five-lessons-from-the-super-eagles-one-from-dbanj/

Very nice point.
I'm very proud of keshi.
There is power in selfbelief.

Nice one but i beg to differ as regards d'banj. This is not a come back for him cos he was never out of the scene. Look back the past one year in his career, check the awards he won, and you will agree wit me that he is even better off than before. Dont let what some minority bitter hataaaz say affect your sentiment. In Africa d'banj is the man.