My brother-in-law Luis, who was kind enough to set up this blog for me, is from Spain and a huge soccer fan. Needless to say, World-Cup watching reached fever pitch over at my sister’s house with the Spain-Netherlands final showdown. Eager to be in the know, I tuned in for the historic battle myself. Sporting events like these are really quick primers in peak performance and in how to persevere and maintain consistency.

The World Cup final really delivered on this score. Here are just a few nuggets we can mine for inspiration – and a kick in the productivity pants:

“The bigger the challenge, the better we play” – that’s how one Spaniard described his team’s attitude toward difficult games. Instead of getting discouraged by tough situations, the team is energized by them.

“Losing against Switzerland got the whole team focused,” one commentator said of Spain. A loss didn’t lead to retreat or lack of confidence; instead, it made the team more cohesive and single-minded.

“Concentration is key,” noted one commentator said of goal-tending, “because it’s a long time between pieces of work.” Fallow, plateau periods in our projects are tricky – that’s when we need to be most vigilant about keeping our attention from slipping.

David Villa, a star Spanish player, broke his leg at age four and so he learned to kick with his left foot, which made him more versatile. As a young man, he was told that he was too small to play at an elite level, but today, he’s a World Cup winner. Ignore the naysayers and write on!

And when Spain deservedly won the gold, a commentator described winning the World Cup as the “Never-Neverland of the Netherlands.” Don’t you just love it?