The Fear of Working Too Hard

Gladwell: This is actually a question I am obsessed with: Why don't people work hard when it's in their best interest to do so?  Why does Eddy Curry come to camp every year overweight?



The short answer is that it's really risky to work hard, because then if you fail you can no longer say that you failed because you didn't work hard.  It's a form of self-protection.  I swear that's why Phil Mickelson has that almost absurdly calm demeanor.  If he loses, he can always say: Well, I could have practiced more, and maybe next year I will and I'll win then.  When Tiger loses, what does he tell himself?  He worked as hard as he possibly could.  He prepared like no one else in the game and he still lost.  That has to be devastating, and dealing with that kind of conclusion takes a very special and rare kind of resilience.  

Most of the psychological research on this is focused on why some kids don't study for tests - which is a much more serious version of the same problem.  If you get drunk the night before an exam and you fail, then the problem is that you got drunk.  If you do study and you fail, the problem is that you're stupid - and stupid, for a student, is a death sentence.  The point is that it is far more psychologically dangerous and difficult to prepare for a task than not to prepare.  People think Tiger is tougher than Mickelson because he works harder.  Wrong.  Tiger is tougher than Mickelson and because of that he works harder.

10 brainteasers that demonstrates how our thinking can fail us!

Below are the 10 questions. After you read the brainteaser and think of an answer, highlight directly under the  question to reveal the answer. No cheating!

1. Johnny’s mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third child’s name?
Johnny

2. A clerk at a butcher shop stands five feet ten inches tall and wears size 13 sneakers. What does he weigh?
Meat.

3. Before Mt. Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain in the world?

 Mt. Everest. It just wasn’t discovered yet.

4. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?
There is no dirt in a hole.

5. What word in the English language is always spelled incorrectly?

 Incorrectly (except when it is spelled incorrecktly)

6. Billie was born on December 28th, yet her birthday always falls in the summer. How is this possible?

 Billie lives in the southern hemisphere.

7. In British Columbia you cannot take a picture of a man with a wooden leg. Why not?
You can’t take a picture with a wooden leg. You need a camera (or iPad or cell phone) to take a picture.

8. If you were running a race and you passed the person in 2nd place, what place would you be in now?
You would be in 2nd place. You passed the person in second place, not first.

9. Which is correct to say, “The yolk of the egg is white” or “The yolk of the egg are white?”
Neither. Egg yolks are yellow.

10. A farmer has five haystacks in one field and four haystacks in another. How many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in one field?
One. If he combines all his haystacks, they all become one big stack.


Okay, some of these are a bit corny. But they all illustrate several brain idiosyncrasies that affect how we make decisions in the world.

Thanks to the way our brain works, we have a very strong tendency to see what we want to see and what we expect to see.

When we only see what we want or expect to see, we miss competitive threats because our brain tells us a threat couldn’t possibly come from that direction. We miss opportunities because we only see what has worked in the past rather than what could be.

Our brain doesn’t like information gaps, so we tend to jump at the first answer/solution that looks good rather than take the time to examine all the data. This is especially true in a world where we receive more information every day than we have time to assimilate. Finally, our brains love to see patterns and make connections. This trait serves us well in many ways as we move through the world. But the brain doesn’t always get it right.

For example, how did you answer question #1 (be honest)? For most people, the first word that pops into their head is “June,” because the brain quickly spots the April/May/June pattern. Upon re-reading the question and analyzing the data, the answer “Johnny” becomes obvious.

And what about the man with the wooden leg? Your answer depends on how you interpret “with.” Does it refer to the man with the wooden leg or to the camera? A bit of a trick question, but it clearly illustrates how the language we use shapes the way we look at the world.

Perhaps the best example of how we miss things is the egg yolk question. Everybody knows egg yolks are yellow. But the question’s phrasing puts our attention on selecting the correct verb, so we overlook an obvious piece of data and an even more obvious answer.

We can’t change how the brain works – at least not yet. Give science another 50 years and who knows what our brains will be doing! For now, we can become more aware of how our brain works, then pause from time to time to consider what we’re missing. This includes the data we’re unconsciously screening out as well as different sources of data to counterbalance what we expect to see.
Get in the habit of teasing your brain. You’ll be amazed at what you end up seeing that you didn’t see before.

Jody Conradt Keynote Address

4/27/2012

Below are some notes I took from Coach Conradt's keynote address at A Step Up coaching symposium in Dallas this weekend. Watch for much more A Step Up information over the next few weeks!


This is a PROFESSION; teach one, reach one- each one.

Coaching is not just recruiting; what's most important is being a student of the game; setting your self apart and rising above. Coaching is teaching- be a lifetime coach.

Be a giver.

"Opportunities don't go to the best kept secret"

Make no mistake...coaching is a winning business. Accept the challenge. (Win every day, all day, in everything you do).

An important element of leadership is helping others love our passion for women's basketball.

Recruiting
-Culture is defined as the core values on which something is built. This is the hard part...trying to get your student-athletes to use their talents to be part of the team.
-Team is defined as a group of people brought together with common purpose.
-Need to lead SA's to "doing the right thing" by promoting and upholding standards of the team.
-Consider the PSA's culture when recruiting them to your team. Evaluate their home life and high school experience (AAU is temporary; mostly in the summer, limited practices, etc)

Important Player Qualities:
1. Focus/Intensity/Passion/Willingness to commit to goals and achieve them/Natural enthusiasm
-need athletes who believe its fun to compete in practice!
-todays athletes don't want to compete and make each other better....they're afraid of making each other "look bad" (it's almost like you need alter egos in practice so kids can leave emotions at home).
-It's up to us to create an environment where competition is fun and healthy
Remember....life's not fair; accept responsibility (the ABILITY to RESPOND! Event + Reaction = Outcome).
 
2. Willing to accept their role
-What happens when you wine and dine a player, then they sit on the bench their freshman year?
-Who on your team OWNS rebounding? Steals? This must be developed by coaching staff through repeated emphasis.
-The best compliment a player can get... "When you are on the floor, everyone plays better"
-As a coach, avoid saying "my" team. It's the players team! Help make them feel that way- allow them to create team rules. This creates a sense of ownership and shared responsibility. Avoid calling them "kids"- this is a built in out for immature behavior and other ills! Think of the qualities we hate to see in kids....do we ever display those? Lead by example!
-Selfishness and ego will kill teamwork more than anything.
 
3. Communication- listen, sense, feel.
Women are more preoccupied with relationships than achievement; they want to please their peers more than adults.
Often, a roommate or teammate will be the peril of one's academic/basketball woes. Ask the player- have you talked to this person about the issue you are having? Odds are there is a lack of communication.
-Create an environment of communicative efforts!
-Give examples of situations and ask the team to answer. For example: Your teammate is in the parking lot/cafeteria/room with their boyfriend or girlfriend. They show up to workouts late and tell the coach that they were finishing a test and talking to a professor. The entire team knows where that athlete was but the coach accepts the tardy excuse and moves on. What do you do? Answer: the team should police, protect the team and uphold its standards. Teammates should let that player know that is unacceptable behavior and if it happens again then there will be more serious consequences.
In life there are consequences just like in basketball- when you foul 5 times, you're out!

-Leadership is an art, not a science. Need to learn when to nudge and when to show...when to hide and when to be visible...when to use the stick or the carrot...when to shout or whisper.

Chemistry fits in with confidence. You have to like the sense of team and environment. Understand your team members! Encourage confidence in each other- it will only help you! Respect- don't have to like everyone.

Important qualities in assistants:
1. Teacher- on Coach Conradt's staff, no one ever missed more than 5 practices per year. Why would you punish an assistant with that?

2.  Mirror the HC's values

3. Competent piece for the program. What is their expertise and does it fit in/balance out staff?

4. Complete the HC's weaknesses and fill other assistant's voids

 
 Q&A

How do you delegate leadership? 
"If you're a senior, you're a captain"



What is coach's role in promoting the program and growing the game??
Regarding marketing: it IS your job to get people in the seats and newspapers to cover you!
MBB are like bankers...people with lines out the doors, plenty of business.
WBB are like insurance salesmen...must go door to door!

WBB sells on personality and story of players.

Think we do need players names on their jerseys for public recognition.

Skylar Diggins and the Headband - Sport Psychology

Great post from http://www.nicolemlavoi.com!

Skylar Diggins’ Headband: A Sport Psychology Perspective

nmlavoi | March 25, 2012

I love March Madness. Normally I write a blog to critique sport media in terms of TV coverage amount and quality of between the men and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments. This year I am happy to report the ESPN coverage of the women’s games includes all rounds, full game coverage of all Sweet 16 games, great production quality, highly talented color and in studio commentators, all games in HD, cross brand promotion of espnW, and coverage that looks and feels nearly the same as coverage for the men. YAY.

Diggins sans headband

Diggins' with headband

In the absence of critiquing sport media, I want to discuss “the headband” of University of Notre Dame junior hoop star Skylar Diggins (@SkyDigg4) from a sport psychology perspective.
I’ve watched Notre Dame play on TV 6-8 times this season and have heard “the headband” discussed in every game by commentators. It is also the source of many fan tweets. At the start of the game, Diggins wears a wide white Adidas headband. If she is happy with her play, it stays on. If she is unhappy with her play, she takes it off. Usually it comes off at halftime, but recently she has taken it off as early as the 5th minute. As a fan of Notre Dame, when I see her take off the headband I groan. As someone trained in sport psychology I find it an interesting case study. Here is my analysis of “the headband” ritual using sport psychology research.(note: I have not talked directly to Diggins, about how and why she uses this ritual, nor have a talked to her coaches or teammates about how they perceive her ritual).

Having a competitive ritual helps increase the likelihood of optimal performance in many ways: Athlete’s who have developed and practice detailed. consistent, and controllable competitive rituals are more likely to optimally perform on command regardless of the situation.

THE GOOD: Doing the same thing in the same way helps reduce uncertainty which can lead to less anxiety, provides control for the athlete, focuses attention, focuses emotion, and focuses energy. Diggins has discussed her headband ritual with the public, therefore her opponents likely know of the practice, so it signals to the opponent that she is refocused and coming at them. It also tells her teammates and the public that she isn’t happy with her play, and she can do better.  It might help her teammates feel confident (“We know when Diggins takes off the headband, she means business). From reading tweets, it seems that a majority of fans believe she gets more focused, serious and competitive when the head band comes off.

THE NOT SO GOOD: The problem with this competitive ritual is she is not consistent about WHEN the head band comes off.  Her subjective assessment and mood state dictate when/if it comes off. A good competitive ritual is done the same way at the same time. (For example a free throw ritual, wearing the same socks, tapping your racket on the ground before returning a serve, addressing a golf ball). The downside of this ritual is that she is telegraphing to her opponent and teammates that she isn’t feeling confident and isn’t happy with her play. Taking off the headband may undermine her teammates’ confidence (“Diggins took off the headband, she isn’t feeling it. Here we go again. I better play well now”).

The second downside is she is spending energy with the headband that she could be using to focus on what she needs to do to play better. If starting the game WITH the headband gives her confidence, but it quickly dissipates and results in whipping it off whenever she can during play or at a whistle, I might advise her to rethink “the headband”. If it is her signature but she can’t keep it on the whole game, then maybe she should start the game without it. Just leave it off. Then if she is playing poorly, her teammates and opponents don’t have the benefit of knowing she is vulnerable. She would look the same regardless of how she is playing, and that gives her and her team the advantage. If I were a coach, I’d tell my team when they see Diggins take off the headband to go right at her and to feel confident that we have her rattled. She shouldn’t be giving her opponent so much information that can be used against she and her team.

Mentally tough athletes and those that perform consistently at the upper range of their competitive talent, use positive emotion, feel challenged by equally matched opponents/teams, and see competition as a fun and enjoyable opportunity. “The Headband” appears to be linked to negative emotion such as anger at herself and her play, and this is not a facilitative competitive ritual. Again, I don’t know what is going through her head, but I can see her body language at the times she takes it off and she appears irritated, angry, flustered, frustrated, and not confident. Often it shows in her play. If an athlete is mad at herself, then she is mad at the one person she NEEDS to compete well and is wasting energy. VERY FEW athletes can use anger effectively as a competitive ritual and tool.

Lastly, in all sports, some days competing and playing seems effortless and easy. All your shots drop, your legs feel lively, the hoop seems very large, you see plays unfold, and time seems to slow down. Other days it doesn’t. This cannot be controlled, it just is. What can be controlled is how an athlete reacts to this phenomenon. Athletes that start a game feeling they HAVE to or SHOULD play perfectly all the time, or at a certain level, are setting themselves up for frustration. Instead athletes should focus on what they can control-effort, mental focus (i.e., sticking with the game plan, taking the right shots), sportsmanship, emotion and behaviors.

When Diggins has her swagger going, she looks confident, her body language and facial expressions are very different, she takes control of the floor and leads her team. The Irish are much stronger as a team when she is in this mental frame. The team is good enough to compensate for Diggins when she isn’t, but to win a national championship the Irish need Diggins to play with confidence for the entire game, and I feel that is more possible if she leaves the headband in the locker room. When she takes the headband off, for her it signals she is playing poorly…which could also be a self-fulfilling prophecy and focus her attention on the fact she is playing poorly, rather than focusing on what she can do to play well.

However, at this point in the season it is probably unwise for her to start a new ritual but for her senior year, it may be worth reconsidering “the headband”.
Regardless of this analysis, Diggins is an amazing athlete. I have used “the headband” as an interesting case study to help illustrate how competitive rituals can be facilitative or not of optimal performance.

Contribute or Contaminate

Easy enough: you're either contributing or your contaminating the practice court. Great video.

Is your coaching style adaptable to the new generation?

Here's a simple fact with huge effects: you cannot coach today's kids the same way you coached a team 10 years ago. Are you making the adjustment?

Below are 5 characterizations from the article The Most Technologically Advanced Yet by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin that pinpoints how today's "Generation Z", "Generation @" or "iGeneration" cohorts (generally born between 1991-2001) experience the world and what effect this has on how we teach and motivate them.

1. Technology has led students to expect instant results for all things, says Daniel Watts, a computer graphic arts teacher for at-risk youth at Elinor Lincoln Hickey Junior/Senior High School in Sacramento. “I gear my curriculum so students can experience success as quickly as possible. It’s motivation for them to want to learn more and take it to the next level.”

How coaches and teachers can adjust: emphasize the importance on the process and focus on small victories every day. Set them up for success- break complex drills/plays into bite-size chunks so they can experience success early; then, challenge them little by little every day, slowly moving them away from their comfort zone.

2. “They need constant feedback because of the immediacy technology has given them,” agrees Duane Mendoza, a technology resource teacher at E.O. Green Junior High School in Oxnard.

How coaches and teachers can adjust:  provide them with a measure of their success every day. For example, 2 years ago I worked out with a great young basketball player getting ready to play for a nationally ranked team in college that fall. One weakness was obvious: the player lacked quickness. The first 20min of our workout was dedicated to improving quickness with line-jumps, defensive slides, and sprints, as well as other basic basketball drills like Mikan layups, x-outs, ball handling, etc. I bought a handheld clicker-counter (I think it's used for baseball) and tallied each repetition in a specified time frame (example: how many right foot line-jumps in 30 seconds? How many slides, x-outs or Mikans in 45 seconds?). As the weeks went on, I charted and graphed the player's progress. I gave them a visual graph showing each workout and the time/number of reps in each drill, and the player could see their improvement day by day!

3. Every generation, for better or for worse, has a set of characteristics that define them. For Gen Z, the dominant trait is that they are masters of multitasking and can talk, text, listen to music and look up information on the Web without missing a beat.

How coaches and teachers can adjust: if you are talking, and one of your players is chewing their nails and not making eye contact, are they being disrespectful? Are they not listening? It seems like this multi-tasking may actually help them focus on what you are saying!

4. Some mental health experts believe that a constant stream of electronic information is causing a form of technology-induced attention deficit disorder. John Raley, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, uses the term “acquired attention deficit disorder” and says that technology is rewiring the modern brain.

How coaches and teachers can adjust:  Drills (for coaches) or lesson plans (for teachers) should be quick, concise, packed with information and have a clearly defined time limit. On the practice court, instead of reviewing 25 minutes of zone defense, it is probably beneficial to break that into 9-10min segments throughout practice.

5. Elias Aboujaude, director of Stanford University’s Impulse Control Disorders Clinic, has expressed concern that young people are losing the ability to analyze complex information.
“The more we become used to just sound bites and tweets, the less patient we will be with more complex, more meaningful information,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle. “And I do think we might lose the ability to analyze things with any depth and nuance.”

How coaches and teachers can adjust:  vocal teaching, pre-game talks, half-time adjustments, explaining new ideas and concepts, and teaching something brand new should focus on a few simple points and be communicated clearly and simply (KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid).

Talent is Overrated (VIDEO)

Talent is Overrated ... The secret to success? FOLLOW UP

How do world class performers get so good? The common perception is that they are born to do what they do (talent), or they have worked extremely hard to get where they are (work ethic). Research has shown that it has little to do wither either talent or hard work.

Most people will argue that Tiger Woods was BORN to be one of the world's best golfers. There's no doubt that he is very talented and has accomplished things that most others will never accomplish in a lifetime. But in the last post I referred to a book written by Geoff Colvin called "Talent is Overrated". In it, he gives an account of how Tiger got so good at his sport (the short answer: deliberate practice).

The book is a great read because it debunks some common perceptions about how people get so good at what they do and it truly eliminates the mystique of top performers while helping you to realize steps that we can take to improve ourselves.

Paraphrasing from the book:

TIGER WOODS
Woods' father, Earl, was a retired teacher who had a lifelong passion for sports. He was a star baseball player at Kansas State and later coached youth sports teams in addition to teaching cadets in military practices at the City College of New York. He grew to become fanatical about golf and had achieved a handicap in the low single digits, placing him in the top 10% of players. Enter Tiger....he is born into the home of a pretty darn good golfer who loves to teach and is eager to begin teaching his son as soon as possible. Earl is retired and his wife does not work outside the home; they have decided that Tiger would be their first priority.

When Tiger was born, Earl wrote "I had been properly trained and was ready to go. I took over new ground in starting Tiger at an unthinkably early age".

At age 7 months, Earl gives Tiger his first metal club (a putter). He sets up Tiger's high chair in the garage where Earl hits balls into a net and Tiger watches hours on end. Before Tiger is two, they are at the golf course playing and practicing regularly. At age 4, Tiger was being trained by professional teachers.

Neither Tiger or his father suggest that Tiger came into this world with a gift for golf, and Tiger has repeatedly credited his father for his success.

Trying to understand his early interested in the game, Tiger does not talk about an inborn fascination with golf. Rather, he has written, "golf for me was an apparent attempt to emulate the person I looked up to more than anyone: my father".

Another example? Google "Polgar sisters chess".

 Going to post a video interview with the book's author- definitely a great way to spend 5 minutes!

You don't "have to"; you "get to".

Here is a link to a great post written by Michael Hyatt entitled "How a Shift in Your Vocabulary Can Instantly Change Your Attitude"- click here.

Culture beats strategy...All day long!

How Do You Weigh Strategy, Execution, and Culture in an Organization's Success? -Article from Harvard Business School by Jim Heskett

Strategy, execution, and culture: Do we have our priorities right? 

"An outstanding strategy weakly executed will always be trumped by a weak strategy with outstanding execution.

What if you had a plan to be president of the USA? You could have a perfect plan. A brilliant one! One, that if put on practice, it would give you a 100% chance of being the next president of the USA.

There is a catch. It's extremely hard to accomplish and you can't do it alone. Actually, you need the best people available, you all have to be believe you can do it and above all, you have to learn how to work together.

Other than that, the plan is perfect.

It's all about people. It's all about making ideas become reality.

Reality is made of people, doing small things, every day. It's not about abstract ideas that in the realm of imagination look good.

Is strategy good? Of course it is. It gives us a goal, direction, things to care about, helps us to work together.

But it's not everything. And actually, it's not even a must.

You can win without a strategy. You could be lucky. You could have other people who care about you and help you in your objectives. Your competitors could make the wrong choices.

There are an infinitude of variables that just makes every good strategy a good guess.

Strategy gives you an edge, but it's nothing without people (culture).

Aspects of Peak Performance- Sport Psychology

My wife Christine has shared many great articles with me as she was getting her Master's Degree in Sport Psychology. Here's a great one:

Although peak performance at times may seem illusive, there are universal aspects of performing well. Loehr et al. (1995) found from research that athletes performing at peak levels are physically relaxed, mentally calm, and exhibit focused and flexible concentration, high energy, consistent motivation, and positive self-talk.

You might have experienced this yourself when you have been at your best. Sometimes it is referred to as "Flow" or "The Zone". Whatever term you use, when performing well in sports you most likely consistently develop the aspects mentioned above.

Csikszentmihalyi (1994) and Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi (1999) also state that peak performance is an altered state of consciousness where we experience performing without over analyzing. We just "flow" and react without getting caught between our ears. Because, in sports, often when we think we are then a second behind.

Csikszentmihalyi (1994) also found that peak peformance will contain aspects of playfulness, a feeling of being in control, concentration and highly focused attention, mental enjoyment of the activity for its own sake, a distorted sense of time, and a match between the challenge at hand and one's skills or confidence.

Peak performance in sports and other aspects of life has been actively researched for four to five decades. From this research we have the knowledge to enhance one's experiences throgh maximizing one's strengths and identifing one's weaknesses. We all can learn skills that allow us to be physically relaxed and mentally prepared even when competition and life get difficult.

A + B = C

A (event) + B (attitude) = C (outcome)

Good or bad, if something happens- it happens. It's done. In the books. We can't control it and shouldn't waste our time wishing it hadn't happened.

Our attitude, or reaction to the event, shapes the outcome. Many people get caught in the orbit of a negative event- possessing a pessimistic or victim-like attitude, and thus negatively affecting the outcome.

A motto in certain psychological models states "we think, we feel, we act". If we positively shape our thoughts, everything that follows will lean towards optimism.

How to Develop Mental Toughness

How to Develop Mental Toughness on the Court

By Alan Stein, CCS, CSCS, StrongerTeam.com

A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to meet Graham Betchart, a brilliant performance coach who specializes in mental skills training for athletes.

After numerous phone conversations and email exchanges we finally connected in person at a Big East college basketball game.

I have always been fascinated by the role the mind plays in achieving success on the basketball court, and have spent a ton of time studying (and improving) that aspect of my own coaching arsenal.

Depending on who you ask, most agree that basketball is around 75 percent mental (Bob Knight was even quoted as saying the "mental is to the physical as 4 is to 1"). Yet most players readily admit they don't spend time working on mental training. So at best, they spend 100 percent of their time and effort focused on the remaining 25 percent.

If you want an edge, you have to train your mind and body.

Mental Toughness

People define "mental toughness" in a variety of ways, and there is usually some truth to most of those definitions.

Part of mental toughness is learning how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Another part of mental toughness is the ability to focus on what you can control and stay in the moment (also known as "Playing Present").

One of the biggest roadblocks to maximum performance for both players and coaches is falling in the trap of focusing on (and worrying about) things that are out of their control.

You are 100 percent in control of:

• Focus
• Attitude
• Body Language
• Effort
• Thoughts
• Communication

You have zero control of the refs, the fans, or your opponent. And contrary to most people's understanding, you don't have full control over making a shot or winning a game! You can do a series of things that strongly increase your chances of making a shot or winning the game, but you don't have complete control of it. If you did, every shot would go in and you would win every game!

The key to effectively playing present is to focus on the 'next play.' Not the one that just happened--it's over. Not the one that may happen later, but the play right in front of you. You must learn how to focus on the task at hand and execute that to the best of your ability. Then do that for the next play. And the next play. And the play after that. One play at a time.

When you get back on defense, that stop is the most important stop of the entire game. Why? Because it is the ONLY one you can directly affect. It's kind of like the old coaching mantra "the next game on our schedule is the most important game of the year." There is a ton of wisdom behind that quote.
Same holds true for shooting. The next shot is the only one that matters because it is the only shot you can affect. That is what makes Michael Jordan so phenomenal. Although it rarely happens, if MJ misses his first 10 shots... he doesn't let it affect his 11th shot. The 'next shot is going in' mentality is why he was such a potent offensive player. He always thinks, "My next shot is good."

Focus on the Process

A key component of playing present is being able to focus on the process, not the result. For instance, don't worry about whether or not you make the shot. Instead, focus on the steps needed to greatly increase your chances of making the shot:

• Being on balance
• Having good footwork
• Staying square to the rim
• Keeping your eyes on the rim
• Executing your shot technique
• Holding your follow through

Focus on these things because they are things you have complete control over. You control whether or not you are on balance, have good footwork, are square to the rim, etc. If you focus on these things, more times than not, you'll make the shot. But if you only worry with the outcome (making the shot) instead of the process (the steps above), you will not be a very good shooter.

You need to be so into the moment ('Play Present')... that on an offensive possession you are thinking something to the effect of, 'cut hard to an open space, catch the ball, square up, survey my options, and make the right play.' Now of course all of this needs to happen quickly, in real time. You can't be out on the court in La-La-Land day dreaming! In fact, it is the opposite. When you 'Play Present', you are so dialed in you have razor-sharp focus.

Creating this awareness is what separates an NBA superstar from other talented players. He always gets back to the process and doesn't worry with the outcome. Don't be a sucker for the results! Focus on perfecting the process and the results will follow.

John Wooden was famous for NEVER talking about winning. All he talked about was the characteristics needed to be successful. In his case, the winning (obviously) took care of itself.
Just remember, the next step is always the most important step... focus on each and every possession. Play present. Coach Betchart also calls this concept W.I.N. -- 'What's Important Now?' The only thing that should be important now is the play that is right in front of you; the next play.

Get in the "Zone" Part VII

 Part 7 of a 7 part series on helping athletes and coaches get focused, achieve flow and "get in the zone".

 

 

Persistence

Many top athletes have had to go through hardships and adversity in order to get to the top of their game. Bereavement, long term injuries, and psychological issues are some of the challenges top athletes have overcome in order to get to the top. Two recent events in the world of golf saw Darren Clarke and Tiger Woods overcome the emotional turmoil of losing an immediate family member during the 2006/2007 PGA Tour season. Through persistence and tenacity they moved beyond their personal losses, and in the process became stronger and more accomplished athletes.

Accessing the zone more often involves tenacity and determination. Whatever life or your sport may throw at you, hang in there. All it takes is a quick turn of events and suddenly you are back in your flow state, playing at your best. By persevering and remaining committed to your cause you maximize your opportunity to get back in the zone.

Get in the "Zone" Part VI

 Part 6 of a 7 part series on helping athletes and coaches get focused, achieve flow and "get in the zone".

 

 

Do not try at trying

Falling into the trap of trying too hard when you want to achieve a desired result is easy. It occurs frequently in sport, when you get an athlete desperately trying to regain their past form. Unfortunately their attempts to get back to winning ways are usually in vain. The rule is, if you over-try to reach a particular outcome your efforts push your target further away from your grasp.

The key to entering the zone is to find the middle point between over-trying and under-trying. This state is probably the most important factor in determining how successful you are at staying in a zone-like state for extended periods of time. 

The reason you often drift in and out of the zone during a performance is because of a failure to maintain the equilibrium between under-trying and over-trying. Sometimes when things are going against you, you will try to force the issue, tipping the scales towards over-trying. The moment this occurs you leave your zone-like state. 

‘Don’t force the flow. When you push, things tend to push back.’ Neil (2006)

Get in the "Zone" Part V

Part 5 of a 7 part series helping athletes and coaches focus, achieve flow and "get in the zone".

Enjoy the game

Focusing on enjoying your sport will increase the chances of entering the zone. 

Feeling good causes the release of a set of chemicals into the body known as endorphins.

Endorphins are naturally occurring hormones that are secreted within the brain in order to carry information around the body. Endorphin secretion is associated with an increased sense of well-being and heightened receptiveness, improving the body’s functioning on a physical and a mental level. During zone-like states athletes often report heightened feelings of well-being and pleasure, much like the states associated with an endorphin release. 

Therefore it is advisable that you get yourself feeling good before you perform, because there is a strong likelihood that being in the zone could well be a by-product of generating an increased amount of endorphins. Common ways to do this may include listening to music, using visualisation techniques, and using deep breathing exercises.

Get in the "Zone" Part IV

 Part 4 of a 7 part series on helping athletes and coaches get focused, achieve flow and "get in the zone".

Play for someone who you love

Making the commitment to play for a cause beyond yourself  will inject inspiration, drive and determination into your performance.  

Athletes often dedicate performances to loved ones, admired individuals who have recently died, and sometimes for charities and other worthwhile organizations.

The effect on athletes who use this strategy is often miraculous. They appear as if possessed by a force greater than themselves, helping them to attain a zone-like performance.

Answering the following question before competitive performances may help you to enter the zone before performances.

How would you play if you wanted to express your love to someone close to you?

By directing your attention and focus to how you would play if you were dedicating your performance to someone special, the mind fills will positive thoughts and actions to increase the likelihood of playing at your best.

The power of process

Athletes are often distracted by performance outcomes. In professional sport winning is more important than anything else.

However its important to remember that consuming yourself with the outcome of winning does not tell you how to win. It is therefore essential that your focus is directed towards the processes that creates the winning result.

Outcomes are just a by-product of the quality of the processes that you have followed. If the quality of the process is poor, this will be reflected in the outcome.

Work out the key processes that form the backbone of performing well. For example, in basketball, some of the key processes may include maintaining an athletic stance, shooting hands/feet ready, timing cuts perfectly, etc.

The key processes depend very much on the sport that you are playing. Sometimes it is useful to sit down with your coach to identify these key processes.

During a performance if you direct all your focal powers towards these processes, you increase your chances of producing a strong performance.

Get in the "Zone" Part III

 Part III of a 7 part series looking at how to help student-athletes and coaches "get in the zone".

 

Focus outwards

There are only 2 directions focus can take: inwards and outwards. 

Inward focus consists of attending to your internal thoughts. In the context of sport, planning your routines and set-plays is an example of inward focus. Dwelling on past mistakes, and worrying about up-coming events are also examples of inward focus. 

Outward focus involves attending to the physical events that are going on around you. Being consumed with the physical actions of your sport would be a prime example of outward focus. 

Do all your inward focusing before a performance. This may involve planning your strategic approach to the game, and creating a positive internal state to go out and compete. 

Once you enter the competitive arena, become totally absorbed in the physical actions of your sport, and allow your internal thought processes to function automatically. The moment that your focus goes inwards during a performance, you run the risk of paralysis by analysis. This is a state that arises when you over-think automatic actions. The moment that you think too much about the specific action you cause it to unravel, and become cumbersome. 

Find a comfortable seat in front of a clock and spend as long as you can focusing on the movement of the second hand, with a clear mind. The moment a thought enters your head, stop and start again. Time yourself and see how long you can last. Over time your performance on this task will begin to improve. This will help you achieve a very effective outward focus system. 

Filling up your tank

The brain does not distinguish between real and imagined events.

Take full advantage of this by filling  your mind and body with powerful energy to get into a zone-like state. 

We ask our student-athletes to get warmed up and mentally ready before a game. How do we, as coaches, get warmed up, mentally prepared and focused before a game?

A good time to use this exercise is in the locker room before competitive performances.

Get yourself into a comfortable and relaxed state by taking as many deep breaths as you need in order to achieve this. Close your eyes ...visualise and identify any negative energy that may currently reside in your body. This could be in the form of anxiety, nerves, apathy, or a number of other negative emotions. Now imagine opening your body to drain the negative thoughts and energy. Do this until your body is free of negative thoughts, nervousness, etc. Now imagine your body filling up with positive energy -use positive memories and visualize yourself performing successfully. Notice how it feels when it enters your body. Keep doing this until your body is filled to the brim with power and positive energy. Open your eyes when your mind and body feel energized and ready for action.

Get in the "Zone" Part II

Part II of a 7 part series.

 

As a junior in high school, I was fortunate to experience one basketball game when I was "in the zone". I remember it very clearly- I scored off a lay-up off of the opening tip. Throughout the rest of the game I felt like I couldn't miss a shot; all my movement and basketball mechanics seemed perfectly in sync and I could perform optimally with very little conscious thought. The game seemed slow; I felt like everyone else was operating in slow motion and I was one-step ahead of them. I finished that game with 42 points on 60% shooting and attribute the performance to the technique of focusing before the game by reciting several key words that were important to me (endurance, excellence, strength, commitment) and visualizing a successful game for myself and team.

 

Intuition

Intuition is an ability that involves feeling how events will unfold. In order to enter a zone-like state it is important to begin to trust and act on your instinctive feelings. However there is a huge gulf between intuitive knowing and intuitive acting. How many times during a performance have you said to yourself ‘I knew that was going to happen’ and not acted on this foresight?

Top athletes who enter zone-like states regularly do so because they are prepared to let go, and act on their impulses without fear.

'Intuitive knowing' and acting is especially important for fast paced sports that demand the co-operation of the mind and body.

A powerful way to develop and strengthen your intuition is to regularly train as if you are performing in the biggest match of your life. This strengthens your sense of focus and discipline that is required to perform well at the highest level of sport. By practicing with such intensity and commitment the brain is trained to work automatically under greater levels of pressure, allowing your intuition and instinct to take control.

State

The biggest predictor of behavior is state. If you feel good then this positive state will be reflected in the quality of your performance. Spend a few minutes before every performance getting yourself into a resourceful state to dramatically increase your chances of performing well. Emotional rehearsal is one way to do this.

Emotional rehearsal uses the power of imagination to create a positive emotional state. By mentally recreating positive personal experiences, productive states are produced encouraging the deliverance of zone-like performances.

Some athletes create internal pictures of their loved ones; some imagine the end product of feeling good after a strong performance, while others often reminisce about some of their best times in sport.

The subject material that is mentally rehearsed is irrelevant as long as it creates positive feelings.

Be aware, the  more intense your internal experience are, the stronger the impact will be on your subsequent behavior.

How brain science can change coaching...

I love evidence based, scientific research about coaching and sports...here's a summary of a great article from "Psychology Today" called Wired for Success: How to fulfull your potential by Ray Williams (full article here).

• Because the brain operates in a quantum environment, our perceptions and self-talk alter the connections and pathways in our brains. Whatever we focus our "attention" on changes or creates new brain connections; you think, you feel, you act. 

• The connections in our brains form "mental maps" of reality. Whatever we expect to experience, is what we actually experience; goals, goals, goals! Positive outlook. Optimist.

• Focusing our attention on solutions or new thinking is a better strategy than focusing on analyzing problems from the past, because the latter will only reinforce the problems; "next shot" or "next play" mentality.

• If leaders want to become more effective coaches themselves they need to learn to stop giving unsolicited advice to people, or if it is given, to be unattached to their ideas and present them as options to people; we do not own ideas; we share ideas, are open to other's ideas, and are constantly seeking new and better methods for improvement.

• Coaches need to be adept at reading peoples' body language, particularly when they have "insights" about their behavior. These insights are visually accompanied by changes in facial expressions which can be an indication of employees' mental state. Non-verbal communication; "a picture says a 1,000 words".

Coaching has evolved into a much more sophisticated profession based on knowledge from many other disciplines. Now brain science research has potential for having the greatest impact on coaching individuals and leaders in organizations.