Larry Gelwix coached the Highland High School rugby team for over thirty-six years. And in those years, his team had a staggering 418 wins and only 10 losses. How did he lead his team to do so well for so long? One of his secrets was his ability to train his players to focus on the ‘WIN’.*
‘WIN’ is an acronym for, “What’s Important Now?” Instead of thinking about the next match, or the next practice, or even the next play, he taught his players to focus on what was happening in the moment, enabling them to be fully present and to perform without distraction.
In our lives, the same question—“what’s important now?”—can also be helpful. Whether we’re thinking about our life as a whole, or specific projects or tasks we’re trying to manage, taking the time to think through “what’s important now” betters the odds that we’ll actually do the most important things.
It’s also an important question because what’s important “now” is fluid. It can, and will, change. Depending on the moment, or the day, or the season of life, things that were previously important may not be important now. And other things we should give our attention to may have only recently come onto our radar.
Asking “what’s important now” doesn’t guarantee success in what we’re doing. But it does give us a better shot at focusing on the things that are most important—which is a form of success in and of itself.
I found the story of Larry Gelwix in ch 19 of Greg McKeown’s book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.