The first game of the season has been won, we were all excited and were looking forward to a night of celebrating.

The next day we had a recap and review of the game, what we did wrong, what did we do right, where we could improve. These recap sessions were valuable. It helped us grow.

One other aspect of this day after the game was to refocus on our long term goal and to create another short-term goal, win next week’s game. Keeping our long term goal in front of us ensured that we would not rest on our laurels and hope that last night’s victory would carry us next week and to the end of the year.

Even during the games we lost, our coach was still able to show us where we had victories. Perhaps it was a play or a defensive stop. Our coach was trying to show us that we had minor victories during the defeat, we just did not have enough of them to win the game. This strategy worked well because it lightened our spirits and let us know that we did a lot of things right and we can build on that for next week.

The same is true for non-sporting activities. In business and in life, when you have a small victory, that is part of your long term goal, celebrate, you deserve it but, don’t forget to review the last win. What did you do right, what did you do wrong, were could you improve. Once you have made this recap and review, refocus on you long term goal, make sure you keep that in sight and make sure you are going in the right direction. If your goal(s) have shifted after the last win, so be it, adjust your course and move down the new path, if not then keep the course. You will also want to set up and focus on a short term goal so that you have a smaller win to focus on.

Even if you lose the contract or do not get the sale, get a recap of the conversations and see what you did right, and celebrate those. You want to repeat those and continue the celebrations.

Visualize your winning strategy and set out to achieve the new goal.