While you can affect the future, and there’s much you can do to try to direct the future, you can’t control or guarantee it.

Look at the New Orleans’ Saints victory in the Super Bowl and you know that sometimes things work out far better than you even guessed they could (that is, unless you’re an Indianapolis Colts fan).

Or, as Toyota’s woes show, and as those woes grow, you see that the future may turn out far worse than you expect.

The bottom line lesson from both of these events?

The future’s not a sure thing, until it’s actually in the books.

Until then?

Everything’s up for grabs.

I’ll discuss Toyota’s difficulties in the next post.

For now, let’s look at five key things the Saints did right to create their victory:

1. They didn’t believe their press.

They were not – to put it mildly – expected to win.

They decided to believe they could be victorious anyway.

The Saints had worked hard all season and earned the right to be in the NFL’s annual ultimate game.

And they wanted more than the memories of playing hard but falling short, which many people expected is all they’d have to show for their effort in Super Bowl XLIV.

2. Their fans believed in them, and they didn’t take that loyalty lightly.

Saints fans – the “Who Dat Nation” – believed their beloved team could win.

And fan loyalty, like customer loyalty, is a very precious thing. The Saints did not take their fans’ loyalty for granted.

They’d shared the horrible bonding experience of Katrina and its long, and continuing aftermath.

And they felt that life which dealt them such a difficult 2005 fate at the hands of Nature, could send good things their way at the hands of the Saints.

Their belief was rewarded.

“We played for more than ourselves. We played for our city,” Drew Brees said following the victory.

“It’s a fairy tale! It came at the right time!” said one celebratory and thankful fan.

“They mirror us in terms of resiliency, and not giving in to what they’re not supposed to be able to do,” said another.

3. They worked as a team.

Each person played his part, to the hilt.

And each played, full tilt, until the clock ran out its final seconds.

They could have collected their second place finish with pride, crowded off the victory stand.

But they showed up for, and chose to play a different game.

4. They took measured risks.

The Saint’s second half-opening onside kick was risky, history-making and game-changing.

They may have surprised themselves with the success of that move.

“I wasn’t worried,” said the kicker, Thomas Morstead. “I was terrified.”

He’d never tried an onside kick before, yet was trying it in front of the largest TV audience ever.

The kick and its outcome certainly surprised their competition, as well. It gave the Saints their first lead of the game.

5. They played the game, the whole game and nothing but the game they had to play on that day.

They didn’t play down to others’ expectations.

They played up to their dreams.

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