In the world of sports, the concept of defense is treated with great reverence. Sports announcers will often say things like "Defense is the name of the game" and "Defense wins championships." Yet, the truth of the matter is that offense is what wins the game. The point of every sport is to outscore your opponent, the prerequisite of which is that you score in the first place. After all, without any offense, your best hope is a scoreless tie.

Well, this same principle applies to the game of life. If you focus all of your efforts on keeping what you have, all you can ever hope for is a tie - the status quo. To move forward in your dash, you must become offensive-minded and look for your opportunities to score. In fact, moving forward is required today just to stand still.

Take, for instance, the computer software industry. When Microsoft first introduced its Windows operating system, consumers were ecstatic. The ability to point and click was a tremendous improvement over the days of typing archaic commands in MS-DOS. Yet, could Microsoft survive today if it were still selling the first version of Windows? Of course not. Microsoft has only been able to keep its market share by continually coming out with more and more sophisticated versions of its products. And the same principle applies to all business from high-tech to low-tech to no-tech. The best defense is a good offense.

However, not only do you need a good offense in business but you need it in all areas of life. In your marriage and relationships, you need to be continually looking for a way to move the ball downfield; a way to increase the level of friendship, intimacy and passion in your relationship. Love is like a flame, unless you're constantly adding more fuel to the fire, it eventually goes out.

Therefore, the key to success in life is to be offensive-minded; to constantly look for ways to get more and more out of all aspects of life. Of course, this is easier said than done because most of us are naturally defensive in our approach towards life. Most of us are much more motivated by avoiding loss than achieving gain. For example, an incredibly high percentage of Americans wait until April to file their tax returns, even though a great many of these people are entitled to refunds. And what gets them to finally file their tax returns in April? The threat of fines. The sad truth is that even though these people have much to gain by filing early, they would probably never get around to filing their tax returns if it weren't for the prospect of loss to get them into gear.

Now, even if you're the type of person who files your taxes in January, don't think that you're off the hook in this regard. Most of us have at least one area in which we are simply playing defense. Perhaps, it's in our business. You've become so focused on just treading water - making payroll and keeping the business afloat - that you've almost completely forgotten about all of the exotic ports of call that you envisioned at the start of your voyage. Or perhaps, you've turned the focus in your relationship from sharing an incredible journey together to simply not rocking the boat. In either case, you're getting nowhere fast and you're probably noticing that you're taking on water. In your business, you're starting to lose employees and customers. In your relationship, you're starting to notice that you're drifting apart slowly and almost imperceptibly.

Well, that's the bad news. The good news is that you're not sunk yet. You can turn around an ailing business, relationship, friendship, financial situation or what have you by simply becoming a "scorer." A scorer is someone who always looking for an opportunity to put points on the board. A scorer in business is someone who is constantly looking for new products and customers and ways to improve their profitability. In a relationship, a scorer is some who is always on the lookout for ways to grow closer to their loved ones.

Now, is being a scorer risky? Yes. Sometimes, in your quest to make things happen, you will make bad things happen. You'll introduce a flop of a new product into the market. You'll invest money into businesses that fail. You'll buy gifts and perform gestures for loved ones that go unappreciated. Yet, the greater risk is to do nothing and hope for a scoreless tie. Remember, as a youth hockey coach once told Wayne Gretzky, "You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take."