10 lessons from athletic coaches
I had an inspiring moment and thought to pass it forward to you. No rush on reading this, but it's here for you should you want to pick it up.
This past week I visited my friend Alex at his family log cabin in "the Berkshires" in Western Massachutsettes. Incredible place with rich history.
Alex's father, Bruce, had recently completed a final renovation on their cabin right before his unexpected death due to cancer; it was an extended screened-in deck. Serene. On it, we enjoyed the sounds and breeze of nature, but without being attacked by the bugs. As I sat with my dear friend Alex, in this special room, I learned another aspect of his fathers legacy which I feel inspired to share with you.
Alex's Dad was a sports man.
To be specific, Bruce was a Yankees fan. Bruce had season tickets for over 3 decades. On a wall in the Cabin there are balls signed by some of the greatest to ever dawn the Yankees jersey, as well as signed pictures of Lawrence Taylor, Wayne Gretzky, Dick Butkus, you name it.
asked Alex what the Yankees meant to his Dad, and his answer was they represented excellence - the Yankees are best at what they do. As Bruce was a hard charging lawyer in NYC, I imagine his identification with them helped to embody excellence in all that he did too.
This is what I want to share with you, how the lessons from sports and athletic coaches can empower you as an executive athlete.
As a hard driving men, many of us come to naturally identify with sports and love to see ourselves as athletes or, at least, as high performers. Coaching evokes images of successful sports figures, brilliant coaches, winning teams and high performance cultures.
With that said, here are 10 lessons from sports coaches:
Lesson 1: Drive
Highly successful coaches and athletes are focused and driven to the extreme. Most normal humans do not possess their brand of single-minded concentration.
Gary Player stated, "What I have learned about myself is that I am an animal when it comes to achievement and wanting success. There is never enough success for me."
Lesson 2: Teach the fundamentals
UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden is famous for starting each new season of the lesson on how to properly put on sweat socks. All the coaching books stress the fundamentals; the basics of the game.
Wooden suggested that "If you keep busy learning the tricks of the trade, you may never learn the trade."
Lesson 3: Play against yourself
One of the defining aspects of sports which make it a high flow activity, similar to work, is that at the end of the day you can look up (or down at your to do list) and see exactly how you did. However, even though sports coaching books stress winning, the majority focus on playing against yourself; that is, striving to better than your own best performance.
If you're always striving to achieve success that is defined by someone else, you'll always be frustrated. It's paramount that we define success for ourselves.
Lesson 4: Visualize
Virtually all successful athletic coaches use imaginary or visualization to boost their performance. Many athletes go through their entire performance ahead of time in their mind, step-by-step. And the Sport Psychology literature suggests imagery increases motivation, builds confidence, and builds a mental schema or blue print of how to perform so that when the moment arrives, you know exactly what you need to do.
We focus so much on how to perform at our best, but we all know life is about trial and error. Each day we can practice giving that speech, seeing ourselves workout, building that business.
Lesson 5: Learning from defeats
Virtually every coach and athletes book makes reference to the importance of adversity and one’s response to it. The pain of losses is what fuels learning. Joe Namath suggested that "To win, you have to lose and then get pissed off." I imagine if you reflect on what you're best at, you will see it is something you were once terrible at, or at least experienced some significant pain around it.
My father calls this the "fuck you let me show you who I am attitude." Pain is the greatest motivator for change, let us embrace it when it arrives.
Lesson 6: Communication, trust, and integrity.
Coach K, the Duke blue Devils long-standing coach who recently retired, always stressed that communication should be in service of the truth. Successful coaches must use direct, frank, and honest communication. I must be honest with you, and you must be honest with me. If not, we're both going to loose because we will not be grounded in what is real, we will not be operating in reality.
Whatever the cost that living in alignment of truth brings to us, it is surely worth it.
Lesson 7: Perpetual change
Rick Pitino, the basketball coach, stated that "The older we get, the more we must change."
Change becomes more important as we age, because it keeps us energized. This is often the opposite of how humans behave in real life, as we get older we often become more stuck in dependable ruts. But to succeed over the long run we must continue to embrace change. And not just slight changes in your behavior, I would encourage you to notice how you yourself, is changing each day. The self is not static, it is a dynamic process. If you're open to this reality you may be surprised by what you see, and just how alive you feel noticing it.
Lesson 8: Patience is not a virtue
In reality, many of the top performing coaches, athletes and teams do not embrace patience as a virtue.
My buddhist nun suggested the most important thought we can have each day is that "life is precious," and that "living people die before dying people everyday."
Recognizing our own impermanence is the greatest approach to living our life fully that I have come across in my decade of studying personal development. Nothing lights a sense of urgency under your ass more than knowing this could be the last opportunity we have to perform, whether in sport, business, or with our loved ones around a dinner table (or even more true, on ones death bed).
Meditate impermanence and watch life transform. I ask you to always remember, the day you're going to die will be called "today."
Lesson 8: Love, Fun and Work
The master of his craft does not see a seperation from the effort he puts into their work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his past or his present.
The master makes every moment count, they seek excellence in everything they do. This challenge - and the skills it requires - makes all of life into an enjoyable dance.
While I was in NYC this past week, I interviewed 100's of people asking them about Flow-state. One of the questions I asked was what advice would the give to others about how to find flow; the most common answer I received was you have to love what you do. That means this moment, right now. Let us continue to intentionally create gratitude, fun and love until its a more permanent state.
Lesson 9: Awareness is Everything.
Coach Phil Jackson used to teach Jordan and Kobe to meditate. For Coach Jackson, being present was everything. If you have seen The Last Dance you have seen the yoga and meditation training the Lakers underwent. And you learned how what differentiated Jordan from others was, among other things, his ability to always be in the moment. If you have ever searched in youtube "the artistry of Michael Jordan" you will see exactly what were talking about here.
In our coaching session we will always spend time in presence, and I will also encourage you to pick up yoga and meditation too.
Lesson 10: Relationship-based organizations are the ones who win.
Playing for ourself provides only so much meaning and therefore motivation. When we play, or work, for the sake of others we transcend the normal limits of our capacity and reach new heights in our potential. Every coach says their athletes must play for the name on the front and back of their jersey. The same goes for business.
--
On this final note, I wanted to share that in memory of his father, Alex was inspired to create an annual hockey tournament on his cabins lake. The winning trophy is named after his father. I found this really moving as I could see the meaning and pride Alex felt in sharing what he was up to - and the support the event is receiving.
