What To Do After You Lose The Super Bowl

Marv Levy is the best coach that you’ve never heard of.

You’ve never heard of him because his team — the Buffalo Bills — lost the Super Bowl. Or, should I say, Super Bowls.

They lost Super Bowl 25.

They lost Super Bowl 26.

They lost Super Bowl 27.

They lost Super Bowl 28.

The Buffalo Bills lost four straight Super Bowls.

They say no-one remembers who finishes second, but in the case of Marv Levy, we should remember.

Do you know how hard it is to play in FOUR. STRAIGHT. SUPER. BOWLS?

In a world that’s striving for better ways to teach resilience and how to overcome setbacks, I think we can learn from people like Marv.

“What do you do after you’ve lost the Super Bowl?” he writes in his autobiography. “Do you give up? Do you retire? Do you say, ‘Oh, what’s the use?’ Do you blame others? The Bills didn’t do any of those things. What, then, did we do? There was a five-step formula I adopted to help us get back on track.”

Levy’s process was:

1. Allow yourself some time to mourn
   You don’t just shrug it off. You’ve worked too hard to say that it really isn’t important. It is realistic to expect that you are going to hurt for a while. Just don’t continue to lie in the fetal position too long.
   

2. Own up
   Recognize and admit what it was you could have done better. Doing that will help you zero in on proper remedies.
   

3. Recognize the good
   Acknowledge what a splendid group of people it was with whom you worked. Shine the spotlight on all the positive qualities that exist within your organization. Highlight reasons for optimism while still being realistic about what can be improved.
    

4. Make a plan
   This is the ‘what are you going to do about it?’ part of the project. Exactly how are we going to get better? How are we going to deal with obstacles that need to be overcome?
   

5. Go to work on that plan
   A brilliant idea is a job half done.

What’s noteworthy about Levy’s formula is that it’s really got nothing to do with losing the Super Bowl. It’s a replicable process that’s just as appropriate for any performer whether it’s play-by-play, day-by-day, or week-by-week.

Five simple steps…

• Make space to feel the emotions of it (these are important guides).

• Accept accountability for the performance.

• Catch the good.

• Choose the next right thing to do.

• Go execute!