Strategic Discipline Blog

Real change doesn’t start with circumstances.
It starts with what you think, what you believe, and what you expect.

A powerful example of this showed up recently in a story shared by The Athletic—a moment that perfectly illustrates how quickly our inner dialogue can determine outcomes.

A Moment That Almost Defined a Career

Tyler Milioto, a senior kicker at St. Charles Catholic High School in LaPlace, Louisiana, found himself in the most pressure-filled moment of his football career: the Louisiana Division II state championship game.

With less than a minute left, St. Charles Catholic scored a touchdown to make the score 21–20. An extra point would tie the game and send it into overtime.

Tyler missed it.

Immediately, his thoughts spiraled.

“There is no way that just happened. How did you just do that? You just lost your team the game.”

That inner narrative—self-blame, fear, and regret—was enough to collapse most people.

And for a moment, Tyler believed it was over.

The Power of Support—and a Second Chance

As Tyler sat on the bench with his head in his hands, something important happened.

His teammates showed up.

They didn’t criticize him.
They didn’t pile on.
They reminded him: You’re still one of us.

Then—through a series of unlikely events (a kneel-down, a personal foul for removing a helmet stopped clock)—St. Charles Catholic got the ball back.

Tyler was called in again.

The kicking net was already packed up.
The tee was gone.
Parents on the sideline held up the net by hand.

And this time, Tyler did something different.

The Shift That Changed Everything

Instead of replaying failure, Tyler changed his focus.

“On the extra point, I had thought too much about what would happen if I missed.
This time, I thought about the celebration if I made it.”

He didn’t try to kick harder.
He didn’t overcorrect.
He didn’t change his mechanics.

He changed his thinking.

“Step right there. Kick the ball.
Step right there. Kick the ball.”

He stayed present.
He trusted his routine.
He let go of the past.

And he made the kick.

Later, Tyler reflected:

“You have to know what you messed up—and then put your mistakes in the past.”

That is the essence of real change.

Where Change Actually Happens

Most people try to change results by changing circumstances.

But that’s like applying makeup or shaving cream to your reflection in the mirror—
you’re adjusting the illusion instead of the source.

If you want to “beautify” your life, your business, or your future, you must go deeper.

Change the source:

• Your thoughts
• Your beliefs
• Your expectations

That’s where transformation begins.

Create Your Envisioned Future

At Positioning Systems, we help leaders and teams break free from the familiar past and intentionally build envisioned futures—personally and professionally.

If you’re ready to:

• Rewire your thinking
• Elevate your emotional state
• Create new results for yourself and your organization

Explore NCS – Change Your Mind. Create New Results. training.

Challenge yourself.
Challenge your team.
Challenge your business.

👉 Contact us today for a free exploratory meeting and begin becoming the hero of your own story.

Let’s create your envisioned future—together.

Growth demands Strategic Discipline.3-2-1 Thursday by James Clear shared this important understanding about 2026 goals and resolutions, "New goals don't deliver new results. New lifestyles do. And a lifestyle is a process, not an outcome. For this reason, all of your energy should go into building better habits, not chasing better results."

We often fail to understand the reason why we do things, most unconsciously, is because we have an identity. If your identity is to drink coffee in the morning, with cream, you will. If you drink coffee black, you will! The part lost on us is this is our identity. To change our identity, we must change who we are. We must become someone else.

Building an enduring great organization requires disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action, superior results, producing a distinctive impact on the world.

Discipline sustains momentum over a long period, laying the foundations for lasting endurance.

A winning habit starts with 3 Strategic Disciplines: Priority, Metrics, and Meeting Rhythms.   Forecasting, accountability, individual, and team performance improve dramatically.

Meeting Rhythms achieve a disciplined focus on performance metrics to drive growth.

Let Positioning Systems help your business achieve these outcomes on the four most Important Decisions your business faces:

Positioning Systems helps mid-sized businesses ($5M - $500M+) scale up. We align your business to focus on Your One Thing! Contact dwick@positioningsystems.com to Scale Up your business! Take our Four Decisions Needs Assessment to discover how your business measures against other Scaled Up companies. We’ll contact you.

NEXT BLOG – A Lifestyle Is A Process, Not an Outcome