Establish Your Home Field Advantage

This weekend the final four teams in the National Football League (NFL) will play to see who makes it to the Super Bowl. Two of those teams share an advantage over their opponents that many times is the difference maker – Home Field Advantage.

In team sports the term home field advantage describes the advantage that the home team is said to have over the visiting team as a result of playing in familiar facilities and in front of supportive fans.

Think about it – the home team doesn’t get an extra player, or extra points, or any real measurable advantage. So why is it such an advantage? It’s an advantage because they get to play in front of, and for their home fans.

If you’ve ever played team sports or been to a major sporting event before, you know the difference the fans can make on the momentum of the game. It’s psychological only – but that’s my point. Sports are psychological. And so is life.

This week I had a chance to go to my first TED conference. If you’ve never seen TED – check it out. They allow speakers to share their ideas with the world. One speaker I heard talked about how he coaches people to establish their home field advantage by determining who they are playing for.

Who drives you? Is it your family? Is it your spouse? Is it time with your kids? Or are you trying to make your parents proud?

Whoever it is for you – I want you to establish your home field advantage by doing two things:

1. Have a picture of your home field advantage in your place of work, etc. -as a reminder
2. Talk to those people and turn them into your fans and cheerleaders. If they know that they help you succeed – they will support your efforts.

I realize that home field advantage is just psychological. That’s the point though, it’s all psychological.