Inspiring Lesson in Reflecting and Planning by Joe Marler

Passle

A really valuable reminder that sometimes it is important to stop and take stock of your current situation. This is easily reflected across all roles within a business including sales and marketing. The phrase 'work smart' is important as it can be easy to keep a good pace of work but overtime lack of innovation, adapting to a changing environment or market can have detrimental impacts on productivity, morale and revenue.

Joe's honest account is not pretty and I can imagine being in the pack for a premiership rugby team is one of the most intense jobs however it really is no different to a like for like position in business.

Simple plans to assist with this include weekly team meetings, setting goals and checking progress, having a strategy that focuses you daily, weekly and quarterly. This does not replace working hard too!

The good news for Joe is if he keeps on the right path now he will have plenty of post rugby career job opportunities since this is a pain of all organisations.

He asked to miss England's tour to Australia and says he "spent the entire off-season reflecting on the year". Speaking about the decision to opt out of the Australian tour, the 26-year-old said: "I was driving home when I was like, 'I don't want to be here'. I just didn't have it in me. "I told [England coach] Eddie Jones the following day and he was really good about it, wished me luck and that was it. "I wouldn't want to be running around the field with someone who is there just to pick up a pay cheque. I thought about what I would have thought as a kid if I saw my hero, or a player I looked up to, just going through the motions."