If you’ve been anywhere in the United Kingdom and haven’t been living under a rock, you probably know that on Sunday night England made it to the finals of the 2020 Euros [weirdly happening in 2021] and they took on Italy and at the very last moment… lost on penalties.
Why is it that despite having one of the best pop songs in footballing history, England have still never managed to actually bring it home? I suggest there are two reasons for this that are entirely based on language.
I’m sure there are plenty of tactical and strategic reasons and certainly some reasons based on the bizarre last minute penalty lineup decision. However, I’m no football expert, so I won’t go into the strategic and tactical reasons.
I am, however, an expert in mindset coaching, which brings me to a lesson that explains England’s struggles and can directly impact your personal goal achievementâŠ
Englandâs Poor Use Of Hypnotic Language
Over a decade ago, when I studied neuro-linguistic programming, I learned some interesting things about goal setting, specifically how to set SMART goals. One of the most interesting concepts was the idea that when we set a goal, it’s optimal to put a timeframe on it.
And it’s very important which tense you use as you phrase your goal. If you phrase your goal in the present or future tense, or if thereâs a linguistic implication in the way the goal is phrased that suggests that it hasn’t been achieved yet, it sets you up for failure.
For example, if I say that on the 31st of December 2021, I will memorize the Quran, then I’m telling my unconscious mind, that when we arrive to the 31st December 2021, the command I give you is âI will memorize the Quranâ.
In other words, I haven’t memorized it yet.. but I will in the future. Instead, a good NLP coach would teach you to phrase the goal, âIt is the 31st December 2021, and I have easily thoroughly memorized the Quran and I know the entire Quran from memory.â
That would be a well phrased, SMART goal.
Now what in the world does this have to do with England not winning the Euros or the World Cup?
Well, the hypnotic chant that the entire country has for the World Cup is “It’s coming home”. It’s not that it has come home, but it is coming home. In other words, the goal is stated in the present continuous tense – it hasnât actually arrived.
So if we’re all chanting, âit’s coming homeâ in 2021, then when we reach 2021, we’re still saying it is coming home. Not that it has come home.
Now it may seem bizarre and incredulous that such a small distinction in language could affect the collective consciousness of the English people to such an extent that we keep pushing the goal of winning the World Cup and the Euros out into the future. However, bare with me because I’ll give you another couple of examples that show how powerful language can be on the collective unconscious of humanity.
Spainâs Excellent Use Of Hypnotic Language
See, for example, Spain. I was delighted to be in Spain when they won the World Cup a few years ago and their catchphrase was “Podemos”, which means âwe canâ.
This was an excellent catchphrase for the Spanish people, because in Spanish, it’s very easy to say âno podemosâ. It’s a common saying that implies that the thing is too difficult and we can’t do it.
So by using the catchphrase âPodemosâ in the World Cup, it kind of preempted and eliminated the objection that we can’t by affirming and reaffirming and changing the collective consciousness of the Spanish people to âYes, we can!â. Not unlike Obama’s campaign, “Yes We Can!”
Funnily enough, a couple of years later, a left-wing political party got started in Spain with the same catchphrase, who named themselves, âPodemosâ. It only took a couple of years before they got joint power in the country, despite being a grassroots organization.
Case In Point: BREXIT
Let me give you another example from British politics you might have heard of: âBrexitâ.
Brexit was destined to win because they had such a cool name: âBrexitâ.
What was the name for the other campaigners, those who didn’t want Brexit? Oh, thatâs right⊠âRemainâ.
How exciting is it to âremainâ? It sounds about as boring as possible, and it doesn’t have any twinge of taking a stand for British national identity.
A few years later, Corbyn, the leader of the Labor Party at the time, lost the general election to the Conservatives. And I knew it would happen a couple of weeks before the election, the moment I turned on the television to see the BBC and Sky refer to the general election as the âBrexit Electionâ.
The conservatives had a clear stance on Brexit, “let’s get it done.” Labour did not.
âWe will kind of do Brexit a little bit, but not too muchâ, as I recall was the precise stance of the Labor Party.
The problem wasnât one of policy – it was one of language.
By framing the election as the âBrexit Electionâ, Labour all but handed it to the conservatives. If it was framed as âThe Austerity Electionâ, or âThe NHS Electionâ, it would have been an easy Labour win. Labour were campaigning on the idea that the Conservatives’ austerity policies to cut funding from anywhere and everywhere, including the NHS, was a really bad idea and they planned to reverse it.
The words we use as a nation and as humanity have a big impact on our psychology. It can determine the outcome of elections and yes, I believe it can determine the outcome of a football game.
Now I’m not a lyricist, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be too difficult to put together an equally awesome pop song that has a slightly more empowering message rather than the bitter-sweet, broken-hearted love song from ’90s group, The Lightning Seeds. In fact, Skinner, Baddiel and The Lightning Seeds could probably get together, slightly rephrase the song and make it lead to the inevitable success of the English Football Team.
And as a believing, practicing Muslim, one final bit of adviceâŠ
If you’re going to say âit’s coming homeâ, please, please, for the love of God and for the love of Her Majesty The Queen, at the very least make it âIt’s coming home InshaâAllahâ.
Otherwise, youâre just tempting fate.
