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Mindfulness on 60 Minutes

12/16/2014

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Check out Cooper Anderson's recent piece on 60 minutes about mindfulness. It can offer some help with the stress of the holiday season.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mindfulness-anderson-cooper-60-minutes/

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Grit: The Difference Between Average and Great

12/12/2014

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Part 2:
Tips for Building Grit

1.      Race your strengths and train your weaknesses. Top performers choose to work on their weaknesses while amateurs choose to practice what they're already good and what is comfortable. Turning a weakness into a strength is incredibly frustrating because one is repeatedly exposed to shortcomings through the process of failure. Grittier athletes don’t give up and return to the comfort of working on a strength.
            a.       Two Michael Jordan quotes come to mind with this concept
                           
                i.     
My attitude is that if you push me towards something that you think is a weakness, then I will turn that perceived weakness into a strength.

                               ii.      Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.

2.      Focus on what you are doing. Do not obsess on what you are not doing. For some athletes this is a problem when they constantly think about playing for a better team, playing a different position, or getting more playing time. Although these goals are important, this obsessive thinking can be very distracting and disheartening. I often tell players to use each workout, training session, scrimmage, and game as an opportunity to be a little better than the previous day. This mental framework helps ground athletes to the present, remain motivated, and limits obsessing over what he/she is not doing.

3.      Find the inherent pride that comes with perseverance and hard work. Athletes who are preparing for deliberate practice are often derailed before they even start because of dwindling motivation and effort. They are only thinking about how much the workout is going to suck. They are hyper focused on the muscles burning, being out of breath, being uncomfortably hot, feet hurting, or the boring monotony of repetitious practice. Then when they are actually engaged in deliberate practice, all of their attention remains directed toward the sensations of feeling the agony and suffering. This makes deliberate practice feel awful, motivation and effort drops, and the athlete either gives up early or half-asses the workout by going through the motions. Many athletes I’ve worked with have never even considered the good feeling of pride that emerges with a tough work out. They either never think about it or they only briefly think about it after the workout. It can be incredibly motivating and energizing to focus attention on the positive gains of getting stronger, faster, and better while one is working out. This more positive outlook allows athletes to train harder and for longer periods of time.

“The successful person is the individual who forms the habit of doing what the failing person does not like to do.”  - Donald Griggs

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Grit: The Difference Between Average and Great

12/10/2014

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Part 1: What is Grit?

I recently had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Angela Duckworth, a University of Penn researcher and the leading expert on grit. Her lab defines grit as the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals. This is one of the most important characteristics for any athlete. I contend that psychological characteristics such as grit are as important as physical characteristics, which is why athletes need to understand this concept and how it plays a crucial role in their success. 

Achievement = Talent x Effort.
Dr. Duckworth shared this formula to highlight the importance of hard work. She then explained that hard work helps build talent through deliberate practice. For athletes, this comes in the form of interval sprints, long runs, going to the gym every day, and training very hard. It is the type of training that most athletes dread. It is not fun and there are not immediate noticeable rewards. However deliberate practice can allow athletes to reach long term goals. Dr. Duckworth shared the sentiments of a world class dancer. Spectators get to see the flawless, seemingly effortless, graceful, and perfect dance recital. But behind this amazing performance are countless hours of suffering, endless training, and “repeated deaths” in the form of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is connected with:

·         Setting specific stretch goals (goals that cannot be easily attained)

        
o   Working to improve weaknesses

·         Concentrating 100%

        
o   This type of practice is often done alone

·         Getting immediate and informative feedback

        
o   Self-reflection, coach feedback, analyzing video footage

·         Practicing repetitively until fluent/comfort on the playing field

The problem for a lot of people is being aware of purposely exposing themselves to suffering, but it is a natural part of deliberate practice. Sustained effort, exposure to frustration, and repeated pain is felt when working toward long term goals, for example, developing your weak foot, learning proper tackling technique, getting comfortable with left handed lay-ups, or playing at the college level. Deliberate practice is the least enjoyable part of being an athlete. It is the behind the scenes work that allows for someone like Messi, James, or Manning to be the best in the world. Someone does not achieve greatness on talent alone, grit is required. We all know an underachieving athlete who has “tremendous potential” but falls short over and over again. We also know an overachieving athlete who manages to succeed and be identified as one of the best despite having less raw talent. In both these examples grit impacts the unachieved potential and the overachievement in each athlete.

For additional information regarding deliberate practice check out http://thepsychreport.com/science/how-experts-practice-a-novel-test-of-deliberate-practice-theory/

The Psych Report was created by a former player of mine at Swarthmore College, Evan Nesterak.

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Effective Leaders

12/9/2014

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A former player if mine recently sent me the following article on leadership which got me thinking about think about leadership in soccer (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/25/opinion/david-brooks-the-unifying-leader.html.) Leadership exists throughout the different groups surrounding the teams e.g.  board members of clubs, coaching staffs, families, and teams. Each of these groups has a hierarchy of leadership. Boards have presidents, coaching staffs have a head coach, families have a decision maker, and teams have captains. But what are the factors that contribute to the best leaders? Effective leaders tend to demonstrate flexible thinking. They have psychological strength to recognize when pride and ego are interfering with a good idea or strategy. This can be exhibited through a nice balance of humility and confidence. For example, most coaches enter each season with great ideas about formations and styles of play. However, the better coaches are often the ones who can recognize when their players do not suit a certain formation or style. These coaches can adapt a game plan. For example, he/she might change from a possession style to a more counterattack oriented style on the flanks because speed, not possession, is the best team asset. Another flexible coach might institute a midseason change from a 3-5-2 to a 4-3-2-1 because they are easily conceding goals and therefore have a need for defensive stability.     
In my experience and according to the aforementioned article, collaborative leaders are often the most effective. These are the board presidents, coaches, and parents that allow for others to play the role of devil’s advocate. This prevents “groupthink” which is when everyone agrees to avoid feeling tension amongst the group. Allowing someone to play devil’s advocate prevents stagnation, promotes exploration of different strategies, and allows for great ideas to emerge. Another type of effective leader is called the transformational leader. As reported by Wikipedia, transformational leaders follow a style of leading that challenges and inspires followers with a sense of purpose and excitement. They also create a vision of what they aspire to be, and communicate this idea to others. There are three identified characteristics of a transformational leader:

·         Charismatic leadership has a broad knowledge of field, has a self-promoting personality, high/great energy level, and willing to take risk and use irregular strategies in order to stimulate their followers to think independently

·         Individualized consideration

·         Intellectual stimulation

Finally, effective captains are valuable components to any team. They can inspire, direct, and help carry out the team expectations. Captains are typically selected based on their ability to communicate, heart/desire, coachability, earned respect, and knowledge of the game. Yet sometimes players with these characteristics do not necessarily make the best leaders. It is important not to assume a player will automatically be able to handle all of the responsibilities that come with captaincy. It is important for coaches to mentor, guide, and teach the team leaders when necessary. Helping a captain to develop into a strong leader can be possible by fostering a mutually collaborative relationship between the coach and captain in which the captain feels comfortable approaching the coach in difficult times.



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