We’ve just seen the 2014 Fifa World Cup Brazil. Unfortunately for the host nation in spite of playing at the very highest level of football and being

some of the very best paid players in the sport of all time, monumentally

failed.

Their total capitulation began at the semi-final stage where they were

blown away 7-1 by a less than sympathetic German side. Following

this utter humiliation, they even managed to lose their 3rd place play-

off match against the Netherlands where they lost 3-0.

To put this into perspective for those who don’t follow football, conceding

10 goals in 2 games is something to be embarrassed about especially if you’re Brazil and you’re playing on your home

turf.

The comparisons between the Brazilian football team’s failure to win the World Cup and the downfall of an

over-confident trader are striking.

A supreme level of misplaced self-belief, willingness to try risky tactics in the middle of important situations and failing to handle pressure when things aren’t going very well are just a few of the hallmarks of a trader who’s waiting

to blow up their account.

So given the fact that performance has some core truths to it regardless of the

endeavor, is there anything that we can learn from this sporting

malfunction? The answer is a resounding yes.

Some will say that the Brazilians are not what they once were. They don’t have the stars of yesteryear. But then you can argue that you don’t need to

have a team of brilliant players in order to succeed.

Sure, you need some talent, but what you need more than anything else is to play to your strengths – and of course recognize/mitigate your weaknesses.

So a Brazilian team who don’t play flowing, creative and attacking football have probably lost their way to say the

least.

When you get over-confident, it’s easy to not accept responsibility for your

mistakes or dismiss them entirely. The trouble with this is, as was more than

evident with the Brazilian football team in their earlier World Cup

Matches, it leads to making the same mistakes again and again, until finally,

these repeated mistakes cost you in terms of results and you end up paying

the ultimate price – which is exactly what happened to the coach with him ‘stepping down’ from his job after the

World Cup had finished.

The problems only start to become apparent to the individuals in

question, when they are staring evidence contrary to their own self-

belief in the face.

At this point, a situation can be brought under control if said persons

were experienced and humble enough to set their emotions aside and act as they should instead of doing the same

things as before.

It was rather more of a case of “The Charge of the Light Brigade” for the

Brazilians in the case of the semi-final they lost so heavily to Germany. Failing

to change your tactics when clearly things aren’t going well has the

potential to do this.

The trouble is, over-inflated egos rarely deal with the reality of poor

performance particularly well.

The truth of the matter is, that whilst there are some strong similarities

between sporting and trading performance, there are also some

differences.

Unfortunately, you can’t really fire yourself as head trader. You can’t bring in new players. For most, you probably won’t be able to ask the Chairman for more capital to invest if things aren’t

going too well.

And this is all the more reason for ensuring that you’re taking control of

performance so you can make the most out of your time and money.