A quick recap

In my previous post I outlined how I came to the realization that I was ‘majoring in the minors’, spreading myself thin and in need of some help. Once I had identified my problem I set about finding the solution. Interestingly, the keys to my solution were found in my email inbox and the pages of the Harvard Business Review.

Frequently I get emails and requests for ‘work experience’ from aspiring undergraduates, high schools kids and others. Earlier in my career I felt this type of thing would actually be more of burden on me than help. Since in taking someone I was taking on more responsibility, another person to look out for.

My outlook changed however on a professional development trip to the US to meet and learn from some of the worlds top coaches within the strength and conditioning field. Michael Boyle is man whose work and philosophies I have the utmost respect for. Upon meeting him at his own elite performance facility I immediately noticed how active and involved his ‘interns’ were in the day to day running’s of the facility and coaching of athletes.

In fact I noticed this trend among all of the coaches I met with on the trip. All of the facilities were filled with eager young coaches thriving at any opportunity they got to learn and apply their learning. The other thing I noticed is that these facilities more often than not seemed to run like a well oiled machine regardless of who was present. Sometimes the master coaches were there, sometimes younger coaches who were employed, however all of the time interns were right alongside the coaches coaching.

Coaching and working with interns is one of the best PD tools I have come across

The best way to learn is to teach

I decided to put on two interns who would help me at my busiest times, times where I felt spread too thin. This meant that I could spend more time coaching and communicating with athletes and less time on tasks that could be delegated to the interns. In exchange for their help I began teaching them and fielding their questions.

An interesting by product of my educating and mentoring the interns was that I was forced to organise the intellectual property scattered throughout my mind. In doing so I became more aware of patterns and trends in my methods. As a result of this I gradually developed a system for my daily tasks and decisions. This system has ultimately worked to make improve my output, effectiveness and efficiency in three ways:

1. Improved Transparency:
Having a clear system in place meant that both athletes and interns I was managing within my day to day role had more clear understanding of what was required of them at all times. This worked to improve athlete independence and intern confidence.

2. Improved Decision Making:
Systems create a consistent framework on which sound decisions can be made. After taking the time to develop my system I spent less time planning sessions and improved my ability to adapt to rapidly changing situations.

3. Improved Ability to Delegate & Prioritize:
Developing my system meant that I ran the microscope over all of my daily actions, as I did this I uncovered the ‘minors’ I had been majoring in and developed ways to teach and coach my interns on managing these lower priority tasks. Allowing me to conserve my energy for matters of the highest importance and priority.

Regulating energy

Now I had the task of, ensuring that those I worked with always got exactly what they needed from me, and then some. Putting on interns was the first step, but I wanted to ensure I always have plenty to give to those I am working with. I began researching productivity and management strategies and came across an article in the pages of Harvard Business review by Tony Schwartz.
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The article titled ‘manage your energy, not your time’ summarized some interesting research on productivity and workplace efficacy. The crux of the article stated that there was an inherent problem with time management when it comes to productivity in the workplace. Since time is a finite resource it cannot be renewed. i.e. you cannot ‘get back’ time wasted at work.

Energy however, is an infinite resource, which can be renewed and manipulated in order to increase output. Schwartz believed that time was less important than energy, since his findings demonstrated an energetic and inspired worker can get more done in much less time than a tired, worn out worker who had the luxury of more time to complete a given task. I had to agree with this point since my 10 hour days were not producing the results I would have hoped for.

This article and its findings were very interesting to me and I began to ask myself some even more interesting questions. I realized that if energy is the key to my performing well, then my poor performance at work must be the result of inefficient use and poor regulation of my energy. I asked myself a couple of key questions:

1. How and where do I personally gain energy in my life?

2. What are the aspects of my job, which unnecessarily sap me of energy?

In this way I began to think of my output and efficiency as much the same as a jug of water. I reasoned that In order to do my best at work I must be able to pour the water (my energy) into my work whenever I am present. Of course before you can pour from a jug you must fill it up. Understanding where and how I filled my jug (or gained energy) in life helped me to create rituals that ensured I would always have a steady flow of energy and enthusiasm.

Regulating energy is key for sustaining performance

I took time to answer these questions and ranked my responses for each one. Following this I isolated the top three activities that I felt gave me the most energy, and the top three which sapped my energy. I began to include those activities into my daily and weekly planning to ensure that before I came to work I had a full jug with which to work with and therefore an abundance of energy and focus.

Alternatively I made an active attempt to avoid those tasks that I had identified as sapping my energy unnecessarily. A kind of ‘not to do’ list. These were the tasks I looked to delegate or completely erase where possible. As I started implementing my energy rituals and began delegating or avoiding lower priority task I found an immediate improvement which was soon to validated by someone who took the time to notice.

Coming full circle

A few months ago I was talking with some athletes, joking about how I was moving to a rival team post season. The same player who had made the ‘you don’t even care do you?’ comment (in part one) responded by saying ‘if you leave I am going to hunt you down mate’. I laughed and said ‘mate if I left, someone else would come in and do just as good a job and the wheel would keep rolling, no dramas’. ‘Yes but I doubt he would care as much as you do?’ he questioned. At that moment I realized I had come full circle.

‘Must have been my sledging’ I laughed jokingly after hearing that the teams Captain (and one of its oldest players) had run a significant personal best on our ‘gold standard’ fitness test.

We were deep in the bowels of our pre season training phase, and had just come off an easy week designed to freshen up our athletes before testing. During this week the athletes are subjected to a battery of physical tests to gauge the teams readiness for the upcoming season.

During one such testing session (in the gym) I noticed our team captains’ strength testing results in comparison with the teams. In my early days working with the team I remembered him as being one of the strongest pound for pound out of everyone on the list.

It seemed that now he was ‘average’ in relation to the group however. Had the team gotten stronger or had he gotten weaker? He was still more than adequate in terms of strength but I challenged him on this half jokingly anyway. The next day he went out and took a massive chunk off his previous best in one of our running tests. Jokingly I took the credit but this result was one of many which began to intrigue me.

Throughout the pre season the athletes I work with are tested on a range of objective measures which allow us (the strength & conditioning team) to make intra and inter athlete comparisons over appropriate measures of time specific to each individual and also the teams overall physical development.

Pre season training is a tough but necessary part of a teams preparation

This pre season however, was producing some very interesting findings. As expected with a young team, many of the athletes had improved their physical output significantly. However the most interesting results were those achieved by those who would be considered ‘veterans’.

Conventional wisdom holds that over time, an athlete will experience diminishing gains. That means, their capacity to physically improve their output will decrease with training age as they get closer to their genetic ‘ceiling’. However our ‘older’ players seemed to be bucking that trend and their improvements were just as notable as those of our younger athletes.

This aroused my curiosity as to why we were seeing these interesting results. The obvious question was ‘were they previously not fit?’ all of our data and intel suggested that in comparison our experienced athletes had traditionally stacked up very well against the opposition. It seemed that this new level of performance was not our athletes ‘catching up’, but morel likely them taking themselves to a whole new level.

I decided to cross-reference our methods from previous pre seasons with the methods we were currently using. To my surprise the prescription in terms of frequency (how often), volume (how much) and intensity (how hard) was very similar if not the same, however there was one minor difference, which upon reflection, I believe made all of the difference.

Previously during conditioning sessions designed to improve running capacity the athletes would simply be told exactly what to do and then go out and do it. The results from each session would be tracked and athletes could gauge their improvements after the data was presented (which often would be a day or two after the session was completed)

Under the new method we were using, the athletes had the ability to track their output instantaneously from session to session and rep to rep. They knew as soon as they had finished each session whether they had improved, stagnated or declined in their output. In this way they KNEW how much they each had improved as opposed to being told.

Previously the results (or feedback) was initially processed by others and then the results were filtered through to the person afterward, but now the feedback was relayed directly to the athlete in real time and allowed them to process it independently. Basically the difference was that previously, the ‘thinking’ was done FOR the athletes, and now it was done BY them.

In this way the central nervous system was actively engaged in every aspect of the task at all times throughout the whole pre season, whereas beforehand only when they were presented the data after the fact would athletes be able to process the results they had created. This robbed them of the opportunity to ‘rise to the occasion’ during a session in order to improve performance.

Research has confirmed that when people who are perceived as ‘experts’ offer advice and information to others, these people actually lose the capacity to process information and make decisions for themselves. The most successful and highest performing athletes I have worked with are those who consider themselves as the experts of their own career and take control and responsibility accordingly.

Often it is those who assume control and responsibility for their own success are the highest performers

I believe this subtle difference had a huge impact on the level of engagement, motivation and belief gained by the athletes through this form of conditioning. The impressive results seen across the board, but notably among the teams more experienced players were a clear indication that the highest levels of performance only come when those are charged with managing these improvements seek to EMPOWER those they are seeking the improvement from.

Creating an environment that allows people to drive their own performance, think for themselves, and easily see and track their results works to engage them both physically and mentally. This provides them with a framework they can use in their own way to succeed. It also affords them the self-belief and respect, which comes from FEELING responsible for your own success.

‘You’ve got the job’, you will start tomorrow’ Tears welled up in my eyes as I took these words in and at that moment I knew it had all been worth it.

I had just accepted my dream job, to work with elite athletes at the age of 23 and months before even graduating. At this time I was one of the youngest (if not the youngest) coaches in the country. Some people within the industry were shocked and openly questioned whether I was ready for this level of responsibility. But as I have come to learn, whether you feel ready or not is irrelevant when it comes to taking your chances and performing on the big stage.

What the doubters didn’t realize was that I had been single mindedly working toward this moment for 5 years. When I arrived in Melbourne I could not even get a job at a local sports store let alone work with elite athletes. I knew nothing and no one, the only thing I knew was what I wanted to achieve.

At my first university lecture I was told: ‘on average there are five full time strength and conditioning positions within Australia each year, there are also well over five thousand graduates from this course. Competing for these five positions will also be people who have already had experience from this country as well as others’.

What matters most is how you see yourself, not how others see you

After 5 years of up-skilling myself, accelerating my learning by doing well above and beyond what was required within and without of the course, and working for free or a pittance, I felt that had paid my dues and deserved the chance I had been handed. So there was no hesitation on my behalf when I was offered this job. I knew I may not have been ready, but I sure as hell felt worthy of the opportunity to live my dream.

Recently, two players debuted in the same game for the team I am contracted to. One player was a first round draft pick, who had been earmarked for greatness from a young age. The other was a mature age recruit who had been repeatedly overlooked for years before getting his chance.

When it came time to perform on the big stage the mature age recruit made more of an impact in my opinion than the first round pick. The funny thing is, both players were picked in the same draft and had both spent the summer training together for this moment, one was no more prepared or ‘ready’ than the other. However I believe the mature age recruit felt more worthy of his chance and this accounted for his greater influence on the day.

Knowing both athletes well I can tell you that there is absolutely NO difference in their desire to succeed. And both are first class people. The simple fact is that the older player has had more life experience and had dealt with more adversity related to fulfilling his dream. These factors combined to mean that on the night, the older player was able to access and express more of his ability, despite the fact that they had trained together in preparation for the occasion.

I have come to realize that we can never be ‘ready’ to take the chances we are given, because it is impossible to fully account for the unknown. In my case I believe it was because I felt worthy that I have been able to live my dream, not because I felt ready.

To test this assumption I recently asked a group of elite athletes the question: ‘when you got the chance to live your dream and compete at the elite level, did you feel ready?’ Every single one of them said no.

For me, I needed to believe I was worthy of the job I was offered. This meant I had to feel comfortable with the fact that people would doubt me, I would make mistakes & learn many lessons. Because I felt worthy I took the risk (of falling flat on my face) and approached my job with assertion and confidence. And this has proved to make all of the difference.

Self worth (the opinion you hold of yourself) is very important when it comes to accepting the opportunities that constantly present themselves. Your level of self worth occurs in direct response to the stories you tell yourself about who you are and what you have experienced.

Feeling worthy is paramount in order to give yourself permission to take these chances when they arise in life. Time and time again I have seen athletes who ‘can’t seem to catch a break’. These are usually people who on some level do not feel ‘comfortable’ or that they ‘belong’. I have noticed that these are the athletes who tend to under-perform (relative to their ability), are frequently injured and recover slowly from injuries.

I believe these type of comments may elude to a lack of self worth. The crazy thing is, this is rarely a truth. The first round draft pick was no less worthy than the mature age recruit. Both trained hard and did what all that was required to get their opportunity. However it is the perception, which makes all of the difference.

A lack of self worth can rob us of the expression of our skill and ability since we might hesitate to take the chance (or not take it at all). We doubt ourselves; avoid taking risks, being proactive and bold like we normally would in our ‘comfort zone’.

When 1% makes all the difference, preparation is not the only factor.

The key to performing at the highest level is rarely how much training you do or how much you might know (since everyone at higher levels trains hard or has a lot of specialized knowledge) but how worthy you feel of the opportunity.

The key to self worth is to look inside and ask yourself the simple question: do I feel worthy? If the answer is an emphatic yes then you have nothing to fear. If the answer is no you would be wise to ask yourself another simple question and challenge its response: Why not?

‘How many efforts should I get coach?’ an athlete asked me just before he taught me a valuable lesson about performance and the value of those who are important to you. He was nervous and I noticed a bead of sweat drop from his forehead as he leaned forward and tightened the straps around his feet.

The session he was about to complete involved repeated high intensity efforts on the rowing machine and was designed to improve fatigue resistance. These sessions are brutal but there are tremendous physiological and psychological benefits for the athlete who is willing.

This particular athlete had been recovering from a serious overuse injury for some time, the injury and extended rehabilitation meant that at times he felt isolated from the group and of little value to the team. The rowing sessions were designed to help him to maintain fitness whilst being off his legs to allow for the recovery of his pathology.

The session involved repeated intervals of incremental distance before a ‘challenge’, which pitted the player against himself each time he completed this session. This challenge involved the player maintaining a set intensity for a set distance for as many efforts as possible until he could no longer maintain this workload. Once he dropped below this threshold his session was over.

The real battle in sport and life is against yourself. Training (or living) this way teaches you many great lessons

He had completed this session twice and improved his output (by beating his previous number of efforts) on both occasions. I decided to have him complete this session one more time to really test himself mentally before progressing his session again to accommodate for his improved fitness. This session would be tough since his previous effort was excellent and had seemingly pushed him to his limit.

He started the session well and as he began his challenge a few of his teammates became aware of the session purely due to the intensity he was exhibiting to complete each effort. They came over and asked how he was going as compared to previous sessions. At this point he was reaching his previous ‘best’ of 9 efforts and looked very fatigued.

At this critical point in his session, his teammates began to cheer him on knowing that if he beat his previous best he would again have taught his body to reach a new level physically. As he attempted his ninth effort there was around 6 teammates egging him on. They screamed encouragement as he neared completion of this previous best and equaled his output from his last session.

Now his teammates sensed a victory here and recruited others to encourage as the athlete steeled himself for the tenth effort. This would be a phenomenal achievement since the athlete looked as though physically he had little more to give. Still he gritted his teeth and went out hard against his ghost with the aim of achieving a new level of physical and mental strength.

At the halfway point of this effort there was around twenty of his teammates literally screaming at him and imploring him to beat his previous self. The noise was deafening since the gym was small and crowded. The noise created attracted more interest and by the successful completion of the tenth effort the sound was incredible.

By now the majority of the team and even some of the coaches was surrounding the rowing machine and every single one of them was encouraging the athlete to compete again. At this point I thought it would be physically impossible since the workload completed was already unbelievable, however the athlete was composing himself for another effort to the roar of the crowd.

Just being willing to give it a try required huge mental strength since he was well past physical exhaustion and could not fully recover between each effort at this point. But as the crowd willed him on he seemed to find another gear from somewhere and successfully completed yet another effort.

The crowd responded by again going crazy. The effort and determination displayed by the athlete frankly demanded this reaction and everyone in the room was buzzing with enthusiasm and awe as they willed him to try and eek another effort from his weary body.

This cycle of maximal effort and peer support went on for almost another 20 minutes as the athlete continued to defy all logic and somehow drag himself to the line repeatedly to the roar of the crowd. When he could no longer pull the cable he had completed 21 efforts. This equated to close to 6km worth of sprints at a 2: 1 work rest ratio (this means each effort was twice as long as each recovery) and remains one of the most amazing physical feats I have witnessed.

The other athletes immediately asked me how this had been possible and for the first time I had no plausible explanation. At the time I could not logically explain how this could have occurred. The last time this athlete had completed this session he had left nothing in the tank yet one week later he had more than doubled this workload. How could this happen??

It was not at all that he had not tried as hard the previous week, in fact it seemed that last week he had worked much harder in comparison to this new level of physical ability. Having worked with this athlete for years I could never question his effort. He actually does not know how to give anything less than 100% so his effort was constant. The other constant was his longing to feel like he had something to offer the team despite being restricted physically.

In fact all variables associated with performance were the same from week to week, however there was one important difference. The physical and emotional support of his teammates. The fact that his teammates were physically present and vocally expressive of their support, seemed to open up the possibility for some kind of nonverbal dialogue between this athlete and his teammates.

Each and every effort was a message from the injured athlete to team he felt isolated from. The response of the crowd was their acknowledgement. The simple fact that they were present to support him allowed this athlete to use the session and his physical effort as a means of communicating what he was struggling to verbally express to those around him.

I believe that health and elite fitness requires a balance of the body and the mind. Dr John Demartini has been one of my greatest teachers and through his work I learned that you cannot achieve a balanced physiology (a healthy body) without a balanced psychology (a healthy mind). This particular session was a definite turning point for this injured athlete and I believe that this event provided a healing for him by allowing him to balance his mind and body to facilitate his recovery.

Through this event I learned not to underestimate the support of those who are important to you. And the effect this support can have on your progress. Being able to express yourself and your experiences with those you care about (and who support you equally) can help bring about the balance that is required in order for you to move forward through setbacks and sticking points in your life and achieve results you may never have anticipated.

Being aware of this and refusing to place boundaries or limitations on your success can lead to exceptional results. I have come to learn that you never actually achieve anything in isolation although you might think you are solely responsible for your results. Understanding this keeps you grounded in times of achievement and also improves your experience with regards to success because success is that much sweeter when you can share it with those who are important to you.

Success is so much sweeter when it can be shared

I once had the privilege of meeting Lute Olsen (a college basketball coach who’s widely regarding as one of the most successful and respected coaches in any sport) and hearing him speak. In answering a question as to why he had not accepted numerous offers to coach at the professional level he said: ‘I am not interested in working with people who think they know it all, I believe its what you learn after you know it all that counts’ This stuck with me at the time & soon after this I learned exactly what he meant.

Lute Olson, coach of the UA Wildcats

Whilst coaching a group of athletes recently I had an interesting challenge when providing some constructive feedback to an athlete within this group. The reaction to my feedback was along these lines: ‘You cant teach me anything here, I’ve played at the elite level for over 7 years, a veteran of this team and one of its best and most consistent performers’

As you can imagine, this type of reaction can be quite jarring when your obvious intention is to improve this person’s performance and help them succeed. Why would any athlete at the elite level NOT wish to improve anymore??? I first wondered if the reason for this response was due to the way I framed the information.

Over the next few weeks though, I became aware that this guys response was always the same with regard to feedback regarding his technique and skill level (in terms of athletic movement and efficiency) on field. It seemed he was un coachable in this area. Now this athlete is by no means unskilled in this area, but a few simple tweaks here and there could improve his performance dramatically, reduce his risk of injury and potentially help him recover faster on field. Useful information right??

His summary of himself was spot on though; he has performed at a high level for a long period of time and is certainly one of the highest performers in his sport in the world.  The question is though, at what point does someone decide they no longer need to or want to improve? And how do they come to this decision?  Especially at the elite level where 2-3% improvement can mean the difference between winning and losing, or in this athletes case MVP or also ran. Its fair to say this one had me stumped!

Funnily enough, it turns out the answer lay with a bunch of primary school kids. Some research using primary school children by Carol Dweck (a professor of psychology at Stanford University) led to the theory that people can fall into one of two mindsets within different areas of life. The fixed mindset or the growth mindset.  Dweck found that these two mindsets where the result of the type of feedback the children received and this could also dramatically influence their subsequent behaviour.

Those who were praised for their results and ability in a task chose not to challenge themselves on further tasks, whereas those praised for their effort chose more complex and difficult tasks with greater potential for learning and development. Consequently those who continued to challenge themselves were much more likely to improve their results. Whereas those who chose not to continue to challenge themselves saw a drop or plateau in their performance.

In the growth mindset, people believe that hard work and dedication can lead to success. They believe that people have the capacity to learn and improve their intelligence and skill at any task with practice. This belief influences their behavior accordingly. People who possess the growth mindset are prepared to put in the hard yards and accept failure as an inevitable stepping-stone on the path to success.  These are the people who choose to continue to challenge themselves and usually these are the people who create exceptional results.

Champions embrace a challenge and thrive on the opportunity to learn

In the fixed mindset, people believe that talent and intelligence are traits people are born with and cannot be modified in any significant way. Those with a fixed mindset believe that in the end natural talent will trump hard work dedication to a task. This belief causes people in the fixed mindset to view hard work and failure as direct feedback on their talent (since only those who lack talent are likely to have to work hard and are the ones who more often than not fail repeatedly) and subsequently they avoid both like the plague. As we will see, this can have dramatic implications for potential and success.

Dwecks’ research showed that these mindsets could actually be the result of conditioning. she showed that teachers, parents coaches or anyone charged with influencing people can actually push people into one of these two mindsets as a result of the way they frame their feedback. Dweck found that when praising someone for their results by describing them as ‘gifted’ or ‘a natural’  etc  the message these people are receiving is: wow you are good at this task, I value your ability to complete it successfully.  Positive feedback when framed in this way can actually work to push high performers into the fixed mindset. This is because the feedback is solely focused on the outcome.

Now if the feedback were framed in a manner which acknowledged both the outcome AND the process, as in: ‘Gee you do that very well, you must have worked quite hard at it well done!’.  The message the person receives is: I value the effort and persistence that was required in order to for you to have produced this excellent result! Now this feedback although only marginally different, produces very different results. This feedback fosters the growth mindset in those who receive it.  These people will be more likely to persist at a task and their response to failure is one of gratitude since they value its role in teaching them what is NOT working.

Great teachers and coaches have always focused on the process over the outcome. John Wooden, the man who is pretty much universally regarded as the greatest coach of any sport ever, (John’s UCLA basketball teams won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, 7 of which were in consecutive years and an enjoyed an 88 game winning streak) was so process focused, that when he first coached players he took them to the dressing room and showed them how to put their shoes and socks on correctly. He did this so that they would avoid any blisters.  Blisters John reasoned, could cause you to lose focus.

Great sports stars; performers and business people all possess the growth mindset. It is well known that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he openly values failure as the reason he has succeeded in sport and afterward. Elvis Presley was fired and famously told ‘you aint goin nowhere son’. Steve Jobs dropped out of college and was fired from his OWN company. All of these people were obviously of the growth mindset, since failure did not deter them. In fact they used failure as feedback for future success.

Sure there are talented individuals who have done quite well, but never have they become legends as the three above did. John McEnroe was a very good tennis player, but his violent and aggressive reactions to failure and the fact that he was negligent in his training and preparation suggest that he was firmly entrenched in the fixed mindset. And what is John remembered for? Not his tennis that is for sure.

John McEnroe typified a fixed mindset throughout his career.

The tragedy is that the world may have been robbed of the full expression of McEnroe’s genius as a result of the feedback he received when growing up.  I wonder how good he might have been if he had grown up a lifelong learner as all of the highest performers are.  The fact that he was able to be number one for around four years with in this mindset is actually quite amazing, however it is no wonder he was such an angry person.

If you are a parent, teacher, coach, manager or anyone who is in a position to influence others, consider how this information might benefit those around you who listen to you and respect your opinions. Is it possible you may have crippled those around you with outcome-focused feedback?? If so, how could you adjust your communication to ensure you foster a growth mindset in those you have the honour of influencing.

Also, consider how this information could impact your own life. Look at the different areas of your life and assess where you might have a fixed mindset. (I’ll give you a clue here, these areas will usually be areas where you show or have shown little or no improvement and have had limited success) Alternatively, identify areas of your life where you show an obvious growth mindset. Notice how this mindset and its implications have worked to create results within these areas.

Thanks for reading

TC

I have a confession to make. Recently I have been feeling a little out of sorts with my own training and physical fitness. For me, honestly this is not something I have had to deal with before. And as a coach charged with the responsibility of preparing athletes to perform at their peak, this has been slightly alarming for me! Usually I genuinely enjoy training and consider it a reward as opposed to a chore. Lately though this feeling has changed somewhat.

Don’t get me wrong its not like I have stopped training at all or my nutrition has dropped away much or at all. In fact I think overall I probably would have maintained my intensity or even increased it at times over the last month. However the way I go about my training has slowly changed due to circumstance and dare I say it: complacency.

The funny thing is, the vast majority of athletes I work with have recently tested extremely well in their fitness assessments and many have taken their conditioning to new levels whilst my own performance and motivation has stalled.  Even funnier is that the only real training I have been managing to get in are sessions I am doing alongside these athletes. Now you would think that if their results are improving I should at least be maintaining my performance levels or improving also. Granted it is impossible for me to do every session these guys do I still found this very interesting.

After wandering around for a few days feeling pretty confused about the situation I realized that it was true, a few things had not gone my way (I had been overseas and way out of my routine for a long period and had no time to adjust upon my return), but one variable had changed significantly over the past few months. I had stopped training for ME, and assumed that what was good for others would be good for me. This change led to another huge change. I LOST MOMENTUM. Momentum is huge when it comes to improving physical performance and pretty much anything else.  You loose momentum when you lose or stop paying attention to feedback.

Momentum only comes with consistent effort and attention to feedback

My complacency led to the assumption that any training that others were doing which might be similar to what I had been to doing would ‘get the job done.’ I stopped tracking my own training and instead trained when the opportunity arose. I followed no set plan as I usually do and my efforts to improve performance were based on someone else’s ideal plan for success. However that plan was not put in place for me, but for someone else. Since this was the case I could not follow it as I would my own plan.

The thing is, when your looking to improve performance, you need to measure and track your progress. This is the only way to know if what you are doing is working or is a complete waste of your time. Peter Drucker, the man who is widely regarded as the father of modern business management said: ‘what gets measured gets managed’. Now this is a great example of how effort counts for ZERO without objective measurement & feedback systems in place.

The reason that feedback, and the awareness of it are crucial for success is lies in the way our brains work. The subconscious part of the brain (the part that is really running the show) is cybernetic in nature. Basically this means our brains are goal-seeking machines, and are always working ‘toward’ something. This is great news IF we take the time to provide our brain with something worth focusing on and working toward.

This is the reason why those who set goals are more productive than those who don’t. Goals are like the highway that leads us to the results we are after. Feedback is the road signs, which let us know how far we have gone, and need to go. Feedback also tells us if we are headed in the right direction or may need to change course. Those who write down their goals and pay attention to feedback are steering the wheel and control their own destiny.  Those without goals are passengers who have no control, and put their faith in a driver who has no clear directive about where they are going and is relying on their ‘sense of direction’ to ‘get the job done’. They might end up somewhere, but there is fair chance the result is not a pleasing one.

Paying attention to feedback helps to keep us heading in the right direction

I had jumped in someone else’s car and assumed we were both headed to the same spot. Improved performance. The lesson I learned is that improved performance means something completely different to everyone. Since everyone responds differently and perceives the world in their own unique way.

So my commitment is to regain my momentum and ensure that my training provides me with feedback. Since writing this post I have regained my momentum one training session at a time, and so far the road signs are telling me I’m back on track. Also, as expected, my motivation has returned and I am once again enjoying my training.

If you are looking to create results in your life, or are wondering why you’re not seeing any, you can learn from my mistakes.  Answer the following questions:

1. Have you set any goals with regard to these desired results

2.  Are these goals linked in any way to your values (read this post to find out more)

3.  If you have goals, have you set up any feedback systems related to your goals?

4.  If you have goals and feedback systems, are you paying attention to them?

Thanks for reading

TC

Over the weekend amongst searching for wind somewhere, anywhere across the bay of Melbourne I found myself enjoying a beautiful sunset over St Kilda beach, spending time with friends at a good old fashioned impromptu Aussie barbecue. While taking in the amazing scenery and no longer wondering why they call it ‘the lucky country’ I also enjoyed a great conversation with a friend of mine about what separates those who survive and thrive in their environment versus those who wilt and eventually wither.

I really do believe Australia to be one of the luckiest nations on Earth. This turned out to be a beautiful sunset.

My friend is a talented and high performing professional within the corporate environment, and like myself, very interested in how to get the most out of herself as well as others around her. As we spoke the parallels between those who succeed in the corporate environment and athletes who get the absolute maximum from themselves and leave a legacy were profound and abundant. In fact this conversation actually vindicated the main reason I decided to write this Blog.

While discussing what makes the best the best I outlined an observation I have noticed when implementing a training technique I regularly use when dealing with athletes. Underwater walking has been used primarily by surfers looking to develop lung capacity and the ability to hold their breath following a wipeout. However I have noticed something interesting when using this method with small groups of players who are rehabilitating from injury. Those who I would consider to be ‘higher performers’ (meaning those who have the ability to push themselves and drive their own success) seem adapt best to this form of training. However the interesting thing here is that i do not believe these better results to be linked with physical abilities. I believe these performance improvements are nearly 100% due to the psychology of these ‘high performers’.

Underwater has physiological as well as psychological benefits

It has been said that as humans we grow and develop most at the border of support and challenge. In my experience high performers do not shy away from challenge but accept and even embrace it because they seem to inherently know this to be true. As a form of training, underwater walking is one of the more stressful situations someone working with me is likely to be subjected to, and there are many factors influencing your comfort level which are directly related to your performance in this task. The lack of oxygen, the feeling of being weighed down whilst underwater and a physically demanding task all compound to create a highly stressful environment.

All of the athletes whom I use this training technique with experience the same stressors, however the interesting thing is how the response to these stressors differs between high performers and the rest. Initially everyone experiences the same emotions such as panic and fear, however high performers will eventually improve their performance due to the ability to accept the challenge and develop unique strategies to deal with and eventually overcome it. Usually these strategies will be something simple like counting their steps, counting in their head or using landmarks in the pool to get an objective measure of performance. Once they have come up with these strategies they then turn the exercise into a game or competition with themselves which usually involves beating their previous mark.

On the flip-side of this, other athletes seem to be unable to focus their attention on anything other than how distressing and potentially unpleasant this situation is. As you can probably guess, these guys are the strugglers and never seem to improve as much as those who take ownership of the challenge and reframe their perceptions of it by turning it into a game or competition. These athletes usually come to actually enjoy this type of training since they have managed to shift this stressful experience back into their comfort zone somewhat and feel they have mastered yet another challenge. These ‘little victories’ which are won day in day eventually serve to create champions.

The principle is simple. Experience challenge, accept the challenge and all that comes with whilst looking to develop strategies to deal with and eventually conquer this challenge. It almost seems silly writing it here, but I truly believe many people miss this point when it comes to improving performance anywhere in life. Accepting challenge (and not avoiding it) in the knowledge that it can eventually lead to personal growth seems to be lost on many people. Even if the challenge is not sought out, the ability to see past the negatives associated with it is really the difference between those who sink, and those who swim in my opinion.

Those who accept and even seek challenge are those who grow and develop faster than the rest, these people are also more likely to be happier in life than others. Mihaly Csikzentmihayli described an experience he termed ‘flow’ in response being in a position where the level of challenge is sufficient to stretch the participants resources and force them to develop, but not too great that success is impossible. ‘Flow’ is an experience in which people are completely focused on the task at hand since success demands most of that persons mental resources. As a result of this intense focus and attention, people find that their everyday worries and negative thought patterns are temporarily switched off as the mind uses all of its resources on the task at hand.

Think of any skill you have learned and you will notice that the times you enjoyed yourself most were the times you were learning new skills and developing new and more complex skills. Take learning guitar for example, I actually started learning (or teaching myself) guitar a couple of years ago and over this time my motivation has come and gone, however I am most motivated and engaged when i constantly expose myself to new songs which i am eventually able to master since they are appropriate appropriate for my skill level. However if I tried to learn a song which was too difficult I found my motivation decreasing and as a result my progress would stagnate.

Each time we accept a challenge, apply ourselves to it and master it we directly improve our self concept.  Now I am in no way claiming to be the next Jimmy Hendrix but imagine how my confidence improves as I master a new song and develop a totally new skill which previously was quite alien to me. The skill lies in selecting challenges matched to a persons abilities and again this is important for coaches and managers. We should always seek to match the challenge with the skill level of the person we are issuing it to. Issuing unmatched and impossible challenges only serves to sap those working with us of confidence and motivation, these two variables are very important when issuing people with challenges they may not initially be inspired to accept.

Ensuring the challenge is matched with your ability is crucial in the beginning when looking to build self concept. In my opinion the best method is to break down a gross skill or activity you wish to master. For example. If you want to learn how to dance hip hop, identify three beginner moves you find coolest and one at a time master each one. Once you have done so you might integrate all three moves into one short routine. You might bust this microroutine out on the dance floor on your way to the toilet to the astonishment of your friends who have never even seen you dance. Classic! haha but seriously the confidence you get from chunking the larger task (learning hip hop) into a smaller and more manageable one serves to bolster your belief that actually it is really only a matter of time before you master a whole routine and even get to the point where you can improvise.

This guy certainly turns some heads on the dance floor!

Unfortunately the value of amateurism has gone out of our society due to the absurd amount of information we are exposed to. No one wants to be seen as a ‘learner’ or ‘battler’ when we are constantly exposed the most talented doing the most amazing things. Everyone wants to just be pro now! The danger of the information age is that our society is slowly morphing from a population of ‘doers’ to a population of ‘watchers’ since excellence is really now just a click away. I believe this trend is costing many people unforeseen amounts of happiness as a result of improved self concept and confidence,

So  as is becoming custom with my posts I want to challenge those of you who have read this post and feel like this information has struck a chord with you to learn a new skill. Take a language class, learn a musical instrument, attend a sketching class it doesn’t matter really. Whatever tickles your fancy. Just make sure you are interested in it enough that you would be stoked to brag to your mates about it. Remember though, chunk it down first and then focus on completely devouring these chunks. Soon enough you will have learnt a cool new skill and if you take the time to notice your mindset will inevitably be much more positive as well.

TC.

Who has more willpower, an elite athlete or your local mailman? Who do you think would last longest if I put a big slice of mud cake in their fridge at home?

Most people would assume that athletes possess more self-control than most people. In my experience this assumption is WRONG! Assuming both people knew no one would find out about their consumption of this cake, I do not believe there would be any difference between athletes and non-athletes. In fact I think most athletes would scoff that cake down far sooner than non-athletes. From what I have seen I do not believe there to be ANY difference in willpower between athletes and non-athletes, especially when it comes to nutrition. And in my experience body composition is more about nutrition than training.

Just as many athletes would destroy a slice of mudcake put in their fridge as most other people. The difference is this sweet treat would be a once in a blue moon occasion for the athletes

Personally, I am no different to most people when it comes to willpower and nutrition either. I can guarantee you that my sweet tooth is just as ‘sweet’ as the guy sitting next to me at the bus stop who weighs 130kg. I can eat a bag full of sweets in no time. I love them, however I am at time of writing 8% bodyfat. How is it possible that I have the same or less willpower when it comes to sweets as someone who is overweight but my physical form is so different? The answer is that I do not rely on willpower to maintain my physical form. I rely on HABIT!

Creating new and positive habits, which assist you in achieving your goals is THE MOST effective way to change your body composition. In order to do this you must recruit your most powerful ally in your quest to achieve the physique of your dreams. Who is this ally? The answer is your subconscious mind! As I alluded to in my previous post, science has proven that the vast majority of our day to day behaviours are actually unconscious. If you have managed to move health and fitness up on your hierarchy of values through completing the exercise I detailed at the end of my last post,   your day to day behaviours and decisions should evolve over time to reflect a those of a healthier and lighter person. These new behaviours will eventually bring about the manifestation of that healthier and lighter person.

Most people have good intentions but fail to identify and change their bad habits

But what If we could speed up this process a little and almost bulletproof our success by modelling the behaviours of the elite and betting on our adherence to these new behaviours? I have been experimenting myself with a way to speed up the formation of new habits which I want to adopt. Science has shown that the brain begins to rewire itself to make a conscious behaviour (for me this has been drinking at least 10 glasses of water a day) unconscious only after 30 days. Importantly this behaviour should occur at the same time and on each of those 30 days without fail. If you miss a day the whole process starts again.

Armed with this knowledge and the determination to improve my day to day hydration I set out to use my brain against itself. I used an iphone app called ‘habit maker habit breaker’ which allows me to track my progress and essentially input each time I have consumed another glass of water. The app tracks your progress and provides you with a simple calendar marked with a tick which signifies your success each day. Next I set up an online account which I decided i would pay myself $3 for every day I achieved my goal of ten glasses. Finally I set up an automatic transfer of $3 per day so that i would not have to think about it.

I worked out that If I am able to achieve my goal of drinking at least 10 cups per day for at least 30 days then I will have saved $90. I then chose how I would spend $90 if someone gave it to me, I thought it would be cool to spend money on something like a new set of noise cancelling earphones (which will be perfect for the trip I am taking to the US in December) If I fail to achieve my 10 glasses in a day, then the money I have accumulated (which is up to almost $190) goes to charity. This has worked unbelievably well and I have an inkling it may even work better for when you are trying to break a bad habit. If I bet on my ability to create a new and desireable habit, with failure costing me tangible losses the feelings I associate with this new habit change completely.

If I just consciously choose to create a new habit, then it takes a great amount of willpower and discipline to succeed without anything hinging on my success or failure. Paying myself to create a new habit changes my associations with this new behaviour from pain, to pleasure (due to saved money and a new set of earphones)  and also amplifies my disdain for failure (lost money, no earphones  and uncomfortable trip to the US). The aim here is to change behaviour QUICKLY! and so far my results have been impressive.

Give this method a try if you are trying to make or break a habit and again please send me your results and feedback. If you have want to have a better chance at succeeding at making or breaking a new habit read my last post and complete the exercise detailed at the end of the article.

Some ideas for creating healthy new habits

1. Drink 10 glasses of water a day.

2. Stop drinking flavoured drinks except tea.

3. Walk 30min every day.

Hi guys. Wow this is a big moment, I have been messing around procrastinating about writing this first post for about 2 weeks haha. I Guess the first thing to do here is thank you for being interested in me enough to hear my thoughts here. I hope that you get as much out of this blog as I do and I am always open to feedback positive and negative so please feel free to communicate.

I wanted to use this first post to tell you guys about some soul searching I did whilst on a kite ‘surfari’ in the cook islands recently. In September I had the opportunity to take some time off and my friend Andy had just come back from this spot in the cook islands and after seeing his pictures, in one of my more impulsive decisions I booked a 10 day trip there four days before leaving. I love to use any opportunity I get to reflect on the results I am seeing in my life and just keep refining my goals as a result of more knowledge experience and of course my constantly evolving ambitions.

.

Magazine shot haha. had to be done!

The paradise lagoon that is Aitutaki!

I would love to be able to tell you I landed this one! haha

Among a few beautiful days of kiting as well as a few other activities like SUP, snorkelling and scooter bush bashing I had plenty of time to sit and think about the previous year. (apologies I think in terms of seasons so I have been getting around talking about next year like its christmas time haha). Whilst completing ‘The Demartini Method’ for the first time on myself I realised that when in a position of Authority where you are managing and instructing people there are some significant drawbacks to the way we communicate our knowledge as coaches, managers, superiors etc.

As a coach I am dealing with athletes who are looking to me for guidance and instruction with regard to their physical preparation and in the end they put alot of trust in my well educated opinions. But as I realized the way that I communicate my well educated opinions and instruct these athletes every day can have a far more profound effect on their career (and my stress levels) than I had previously thought. Obviously this realisation comes with experience but I thought it worth writing about for those who are starting out in coaching, management or supervisor positions.

In hindsight the evolution of my own coaching style reflects this. In the beginning I had to do it all, know it all and be the ‘go to guy’ if you had a question, problem or anything in between. Sounds exciting to some people especially when dealing with top athletes but let me tell you, this situation is not conducive to peak performance for athletes, or me as a coach.  most importantly however, this situation does not foster strong athlete-coach relationships.

When dealing with those under your supervision and whom you have the honour of influencing I believe it is important not to put yourself in a position above those people with regard to the knowledge and advice you are attempting to communicate. Portraying yourself as the expert and the only authority on everything your athletes (or employees, interns etc) need to know serves only to create a relationship of dependance. This eventually leads to athletes or employees who are less motivated, lack self belief and perform well below their capabilities. If those working under your supervision perceive you as ‘above them’ or the one and only authority in your area of expertise, they will forever be asking your permission for everything they do. And in the end you will resent them for it, and they will resent you for it as well.

The 'Drill Sergeant' mentality is a thing of the past in my opinion

This lack independence and self exploration cripples them because they may never truly find out the limits of their capability as a result. For athletes, if they do not develop an understanding of their body and how it responds to training, they never get to know their limits. As a result they may under-perform by training or playing well underneath their capabilities, or they may be frequently injured because they continue to surpass these limits. For managers or supervisors, having employees  who have no autonomy or creative freedom within their roles will more than likely result in sub par output due to low motivation and poor performance goes right along with the above.

Frequently injured and or underperforming athletes is NOT what I am after as a coach who is charged with the responsibility to physically prepare athletes for elite level competition. As a coach I aim to provide an environment and advice which allows my athlete room to explore their bodies abilities, and learn about how it responds to the load we place upon it to elicit a training response. This is why I will never scoff at an athlete for attempting to educate themselves on training methods or coming up with their own ideas for training, recovery etc. I may not always agree with their ideas but I will always entertain them and more often than not these ideas have merit. After all, the athletes are the ones training each day and if they have taken the time to attempt to monitor how effective the interventions I provide them with are, then I am all ears.

People who often have the greatest influence are those in influential positons who give  those around them permission to explore, create and produce results which they themselves can own as a part of a bigger picture. Recently I attended a seminar where Sir Richard Branson was interviewed, as well as Tim Ferris among other notables. I have a huge amount of respect for both men however the thing that struck me was that the pure intellect of Tim Ferris was in my opinion far superior to Branson’s. However Branson has clearly had a greater influence on the world as we know it. It seemed pretty clear to me that Branson was the kind of guy who is brilliant at spotting talent in people and creating an environment which fosters the development of that talent. In fact Branson is a guy who finds and develops people like Tim Ferris and that I believe that is one of the reasons for his success as a businessman.

Richard Branson's influence is truly global.

We can all learn from Branson’s approach to business and life, and in the end it is not out of anyones reach to significantly increase their influence, improve performance, and strengthen relationships with those you work with. All it takes is a little self awareness and the ability to listen, delegate and put trust in those around you. So if you are a coach, manager or supervisor or someone in a position of influence, cherish the opportunity you have to work WITH those around you to produce results which you can all be proud of as a Team.