David Laszlo
David Laszlo

@David_laslo93

17 Tweets 44 reads Feb 16, 2023
Johan Cruyff: 8 principles for success in football and life [Thread]
I collected eight principles from his posthumous autobiography, "My Turn," that offers insight into his success and how to apply it to our own life:
◽️Never stop moving
Cruyff's philosophy is all about constant improvement. He believed that nothing is ever truly the finished article, and that's why it's so important to think creatively and keep progressing.
"Everything I have done has been done with a view to the future, concentrating on progress which means that the past is not something that I think about too much," he wrote.
◽️Turn a weakness into a gift
Cruyff's own experience of being a "bag of bones" and "looking like a shrimp" taught him the value of turning a disadvantage into an advantage.
He believed that any obstacle could be turned into a teammate for a one-two. "You can turn a disadvantage, like my scrawny appearance, into an advantage," he wrote.
◽️Listen and learn as much as you can
Cruyff learned everything he could about the sport from a very young age, sitting and listening to players day after day, soaking it all up like a sponge.
This helped him to develop quickly as a footballer and never feel scared of failure or worried about an upcoming match.
◽️If you can't change it, don't worry about it
Cruyff's philosophy was all about looking forward and focusing on the positive. He believed that setbacks should be filed away and that it's important to learn something new from them and move on to the next chapter.
"If I can't rectify something, I just switch it off. Start again, new page. I just file setbacks away. I immediately go in search of the positive," he wrote.
◽️Learn from other disciplines
Cruyff was always looking for inspiration from other disciplines. He was able to transfer advice from baseball to football successfully and took inspiration from history, for example, from the construction of the pyramids.
He believed that everything was possible if they managed to do the impossible nearly five thousand years ago, why can't we do it today?
◽️A great, inspired team is the foundation for success
Cruyff believed that the fundamental idea was teamwork. Arrive as a team, leave as a team, and return home as a team.
He discovered how difficult it is if players aren't inspired to perform to the maximum, and that success is impossible if that happens.
◽️Play for your fans
Cruyff believed that the fans were the most important thing in professional sports. He had a bit of a problem with people who go on about how winning is the holy grail of professional sport.
Of course, the result is important, but the most important thing is the fans: the people who feel the club flowing in their blood. He felt that the spectators had been working all week, and they had to entertain them on their day off while getting a good result.
◽️Build a team of experts
Cruyff believed that no single person can be the best footballer in every position on the pitch. He delegated the training sessions, the scouting, and other roles to others, simply because they were better at it than he was.
He believed that everyone on the team had a specific role to play and that it was important to build a team of experts who could work together to achieve a common goal.

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