Every Coach Needs A Coach

radiology study 

182 – We get what we look for; we are going to find what we look for no matter what. Find that good everywhere. Start somewhere, engage in a conversation.

Steve Cohen is a magician who performs in NYC, and i saw him when i was 16 as a birthday present from my aunt and Uncle. He wrote A book called win the crowd, that I read at 16 years old, and the principles in the book and the practical application of them have significantly influence my life for the better. Steve introduces what he calls the Maksims of magic, they are principles he uses to gain over the trust of the room he is entertaining. The first maxim of magic is be bold. He tells a story of a Las Vegas magician who throws a card into a bank vault at 4:59 PM one evening. Magician comes back the next day with a reporter, just before The bank opens. He has the reporter ‘pick a card’ (he somehow forces the card tha the threw into the vault into the guy’s hand), then makes that card disappear from the desk, and asks  the manager to unlock the safe. It was a little before 9am, and the manager said the safe was on a time lock, and it was impossible for him or anyone to open the safe before 9am. Once 9 am hit, they walked into the vault and found the ‘missing’ card on the ground. That magician was able to book any gig he wanted after the publicity that astounded reporter gave him.

The moral of the story is to be bold. Steve notes that the worst that could have happened when the magician tossed that card into the safe is that the guard would see it, and tell him to go get it, and that would have been it. But he didnt see it, and the magician’s life was changed forever because of the 2-3 seconds of boldness it took to take that chance.

I like to tell that story to my athletes, because it reminds them of teenage girls, but if they want results other people aren't getting, they have to do things that other people aren't willing to do. A lot of the times that means taking a chance, acting outside of the norms, and being bold.

...⠀just stop 

what do we REALLY say when we talk for so long?

180 – Respect your audience, respect your own time. Don’t ramble, keep it simple make a memorable statement and call it a day.

John Maxwell in 'Leaders Made Here' describes the concept of 'pay now, play later' vs. 'Play now, pay later'

Life has a price, the good news is we get to decide how much we pay for it. We control our experiences and our response to those experiences. This concept is relevant to us as coaches and for our players because of how we spend our time in the off season. Do we spend it ONLY relaxing? Do we spend it ONLY preparing? Do we BALANCE those two as best we can? 

We can pay now (put in the work , get up early, hit the gym, stay on top of our finances and health, etc) and play later (enjoy ourselves and the fruits of our labor), or we can PLAY now (relax, sit back, not take care of our bodies, spend all our money, etc) and PAY later (spend our Time worrying about finances, our health, our outcomes, etc). 

A college professor goes up to his whiteboard and starts doing simple math problems..1+1=2 , 1+2=3, 1+3=4, etc. and he gets to 10+1 = 12

Right away, hands shoot up , and the students in his class jump down his throat. "Professor, Professor, you got that last one wrong!" 

He turns around and asks what they mean and for them to clarify. He calls them out and says to them, 'none of you said a word while I was banging out the easy ones and getting them right, but the moment I got an easy one wrong, you called me out and jumped down my throat for it"

That's the simple story that has a few deeper meanings if we choose to examine it. 

#1 - Once we get to a certain level, it is EXPECTED of us to get the easy ones right. College freshman playing division 1 ball? She should make a wide open layup. kindergartner playing for the first time? she should NOT make a layup, and if she does, it's a huge deal! Take that same college freshman who misses a wide open layup, and her coaches, teammates, media, whoever, is going to jump down her throat for missing what she was EXPECTED to make. 

#2 - When we DO get the easy ones, we are not necessary going to CELEBRATE that 1+1=2 accomplishments. you may not get PRAISED for doing the BASELINE level of work or results. Now, if 1+1=2 is a really , really hard concept for you (and this is all relative..maybe it's dribbling with your non-dominant hand or foot, or finishing around the basket or goal, or completing a backhand cleanly), and you DO get it, YEAH, we're going to celebrate that. 

So it's all relative. Just know that your teammates and coaches are going to know you best and are going to communicate their expectations with you.

“Players think - “Play me and I’ll show you”.  Coaches think - “Show me and I’ll play you”  - Shaka Smart

This boils down to expectations. Many conflicts (in relationships (think spouses/players/coaches/bosses/employees/...fill in the blank) arise from unclear or unmet expectations. 

So players expect , well, if you play me, I can show you what I can do. and Coaches expect, well, show me what you can do, and THEN I'll play you (or play you more). 

Everyone in the organization wants the team to be successful. The goal is the same. Our mentality needs to be aligned. Everyone in the organization wants everyone IN the organization to be operating at their highest capacity, and THIS is the common ground, and how we get there looks different. 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6acpB3x1c0Z85ollXSnzQy?si=667e8f099beb44ad

Jon Gordon with Alec Ingold, and my reflection on part of their conversation 

It has always bothered me when you listen to any person who is accomplished something be interviewed immediately after. Inevitably the reporter asks did you ever think you'd get here? And maybe it's their response in the moment, or maybe it's really true, but they always answer, not in 1 million years.

I find that incredibly hard to believe. If they honestly thought not in 1 million years that I'd be in that position, and I absolutely would not be in that position. Some part of them at some point along their journey, believed that they would do the thing they just did. In this episode I referenced a conversation that John Gordon had with Alec Ingold. It is a very small sample size, representative of every other interview I've heard where that question is asked. Honestly if you've seen an interview for the answer something other than that or something to that effect, please, please, please send it to me! [email protected]  

176 – If you want to learn you have to be actively involved in the process. Greatness comes with doing the time and getting the work done. It all starts with believing in yourself, your team and think that you have everything it takes to do it.

Lauren Ammon was an energetic 5 year old who fell in love with swimming after her mom tossed her into the pool with her 2 big sisters. She swam for 17 years, including at the college level at Eastern Michigan University. After realizing that law school was not in her cards, she started a career in HR. Just before the 2020 Olympics, she considered a career change, realizing that  high level athletes often are not trained in the mental aspect of their game and performance. She then saw Michael Phelps do a commentary where he made a plea for governing bodies and organizations and professionals to support the mental health of their athletes, and Lauren saw this as her new calling. 

She now runs her own coaching business, "Performance Reimagined" where she helps athletes and coaches train their minds like they train their bodies. 

In this episode, we discuss the pressures that are put on athletes to perform , 'cracks in their foundations' of mental performance and health, and the power of athletics to bring people and organizations together and potentially serve as a platform for discussions around our own mental health and potential shortcomings. 

Lauren makes some great points about creating our own definitions of what winning means for us, how our Gold, Silver and Bronze performances look like both for our athletes and for us as coaches.

My favorite and most tangible takeaway was her thoughts on what effective coaches do to separate wins and losses from the emotional and mental care from their athletes, and the best question coaches can ask their athletes (spoiler alert--- it's "what is the 1 thing you want me to know in order to coach you more effectively?" ...followed up by "what does that mean to you or look like to you"") * this is GOLD, folks! * 

Lauren was a goldmine of knowledge and insight. I'm sure you'll find her resources and thoughts to be tremendously valuable. 

Keep getting better every day! 

To get in touch with Lauren find her through her website or Linkedin

 https://www.laurenammon.com

https://www.laurenammon.com//guaranteedwin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenammon/

Mark Twain said “Good judgement is the result of experience, and experience the result of bad judgement”

How stinking true is this? We make decisions based on perceived information and the meaning that we give to our past experiences.

I have had countless times where I’ve said to myself or my best friend, ‘wow, I misjudged that one’. I misjudged someone’s reaction, (sometimes my own), or mis judged a player’s potential or performance or capability to respond to a situation they were in on the field or court.

When something goes wrong, we often say, well,  ‘it was a good experience’. Or “Oh well, that’s how we gain experience” .

This applies especially when we’re looking at jobs. In my 20s, when my peers who were not becoming Physical Therapists were looking for jobs, it was hard for them because companies wanted employees with EXPERIENCE. That means they were busy making bad judgements on their own , or some other employer’s time!

You have to have experiences in order to develop better judgement. And in order to gain those experiences, you HAVE to mis judge some things and even sometimes execute POOR judgement! You have to MISS in order to LEARN.

We must LEARN from these experiences in order to GAIN the good judgement and insights. This is another way of saying, some lessons, we have to learn the hard way!