In this Agility Challenge Tip, I'll speak on the topic of how to break down what might seem like an insurmountable list of training tasks in to chunks, in order to attain REAL agility mastery.

Why you should take off your watch and avoid looking at the clock when you train. And how to define when and how a training session SHOULD end, instead of defining it in terms of minutes and seconds on the clock.

Is your training actually productive? Do you enjoy it? Or do you view it as drudgery, something to be suffered through?

In this Challenge Tip, I'll dive in to how you can really get to the 'sweet spot' in practice and training, and how to get away from the unproductive swamp of 'shallow practice'. 

Teaching, just like anything else, is a skill that must be developed. GOOD teachers are those who have practiced good teaching skills. There are a lot of instructors out there in our sport who have not paid as much attention as they could to the practice of actually TEACHING. Here are 5 ways to pick a teacher or coach who will actually help you improve and GROW your skills.

It's so often that we think of talent as something that we're born with, like the color of our hair, or the color of our eyes. We assume that the surest sign of talent is early,  instant, effortless success, i.e., being a prodigy. Basically, this is just not the case – there's a well established body of research that shows that our assumptions about talent are just…false. Early success turns out to be a weak predictor of long-term success!

It's so often that we think of talent as something that we're born with, like the color of our hair, or the color of our eyes. We assume that the surest sign of talent is early,  instant, effortless success, i.e., being a prodigy. Basically, this is just not the case - there's a well established body of research that shows that our assumptions about talent are just...false. Early success turns out to be a weak predictor of long-term success!

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We've been talking about hard skills and soft skills as though they're entirely separate, but in reality, most talents are not exclusively one or the other. They're some combination of the two. You have to have the hard skill of good front cross footwork and the soft skill of knowing when to start that footwork in relation to your dog on course to successfully execute a front cross, for example. However, in his book the Little Book of Talent, author Daniel Coyle suggests we prioritize the hard skills, because in the long run, they're more important to developing your talent.

To build soft skills you should behave less like a careful carpenter and more like a skateboarder in a skateboard park: aggressive, curious, and experimental, always seeking new ways to challenge yourself. Dig in to this concept more with Daisy Peel in this week's Agility Challenge Tip!

To build soft skills you should behave less like a careful carpenter and more like a skateboarder in a skateboard park: aggressive, curious, and experimental, always seeking new ways to challenge yourself. Dig in to this concept more with Daisy Peel in this week's Agility Challenge Tip!

• Never miss an episode by subscribing via iTunes, Spotify or by RSS
• Help improve the show by leaving a Rating & Review in iTunes (Here’s How)
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To develop reliable hard skills, you have to connect the right wires in your brain. You want to be careful, slow, and highly aware of errors. You want to work like a careful carpenter. Dig more in to this concept in this week's Agility Challenge Tip with Daisy!