During a fight a captain must be allowed to make decisions without fear of removal. That concept was a guiding principle of pirates. Many pirate crews had the expectation that if a captain was not performing their duties to expectation they could elect a new captain. However, this was suspended during combat. The middle of a fight is a terrible time to rethink your strategy.

So how does this apply to the modern world of sports and competition? When you’re in the middle of a game, the crunch of playoffs or a tournament, or some other high stress short period of time you do not want to try to rebuild your entire game-plan. Trust that the practice that you have done leading up to this point was supporting your growth. Familiarity and comfort can go a long way in creating success. When everyone understands their roles, even if they are not perfect, you can trust yourself or teammates to perform them and know what is going to be done.

Now this doesn’t mean if something is not working, or has stopped working, that you should just blindly keep doing the same thing. But there is a high opportunity cost to trying to pivot during these high intensity moments and the cost of pivoting must be worth it in the short term. If you’re two days out from a major playoff game is it better to try and build a completely new game-plan or stick with the one you are more practiced on? There are moments during a season or off-season that are perfect for trying to implement new systems. But remember, in the heat of the moment, trust the process.