R is for Reset. With the end of the year comes a great time for reflection. Everywhere you look you can find an article with tips for making those New Year's Resolutions last. I'd like to take a bit of a different slant on the same general idea for today's blog. The concept is Resetting Your False Ceiling and centers around something written by Dr. Jack Curtis.
Dr. Jack Curtis has been working in sport psychology for close to thirty years and has worked with multiple MLB teams. He is a great person who I had the privilege of watching a game with a while back when I was trying to figure out what to do to pursue sport Psyc. Dr. Curtis was incredibly generous with his time and knowledge. Anyway, a concept Dr. Curtis discusses in his book Baseball's 6th Tool: The Inner Game is the idea we never really reach our full potential because of false ceilings we create for ourselves. There is a simple but solid chart going along with the concept that shows the tremendous gap between the false ceiling and our potential. We have beliefs about what we are able to do or not, and those beliefs likely place limits. This is something we are probably all guilty of in one capacity or another. We aren't smart enough to do this or have enough ability to do that. Maybe the beliefs have come from the expectations of others. We all love the scouting reports and projections of young athletes as four and five star prospects, and they certainly have their place in today's sports world. What we probably love as much, if not more, is the guy who somehow goes from being poorly rated to a star. Players who exceed those rating expectations do so because the thoughts of others either fuel their fire or are irrelevant. They don't allow the limiting beliefs to become their own. It's easier to play it safe and not risk failing. What's easy isn't what is best when you're trying to be an elite performer though.
What I would challenge you to do as the New Year gets started is consider two things. How big of a gap is there between your potential and the false ceiling you have created for yourself? Then, what can you do to narrow the gap? Understanding where you're at is only as valuable as the work you do to improve. Narrow the gap, and make gains that last.
Q is for Quick. In order to be successful in baseball, you need to be able to make quick, decisive decisions and movements. You have likely heard it before. A 90 MPH fastball leaves hitters with somewhere in the neighborhood of four tenths of a second to react to whether they will swing or not and to physically perform the action of the swing. At the AASP Conference in October I had the great privilege of listening to Dr. Charlie Brown speak about the brain. Dr. Brown is a sport psychologist in Charlotte, North Carolina and is very well respected in the field. He also is a great speaker. The topic Dr. Brown addressed was brain function. Neurology in general can be a very intimidating topic. So much goes on in the brain, and there are all sorts of names of parts of the brain, what it produces, and what it does in general. There is also great mystery in what the brain does. Dr. Brown did an excellent job of making a sometimes intimidating topic a little more inviting, and I hope I can do that for you today as well.
The specific topic Dr. Brown talked about was the idea that you have a top or front brain and bottom brain. The front portion of the brain, he said, is where we learn and reflect. When you are working on the tee on making a specific mechanical adjustment, you are likely using the front part of the brain. You need time to process what you are doing. This is what can make a physical change to the swing so frustrating. The expectation for the quick fix is there for the hitter, but he is unable to think through the movement and react to a pitch in the requisite amount of time. That is why hitting takes time and dedication to master. The bottom part of the brain is where we are rapid and appear automatic in our movements. Habit and routine create the automaticity of the movements. After a certain magic number of swings, individualized to each hitter and situation, the change the hitter is making becomes automatic. Then, they can dig in the box and react to the 90 MPH heater. What is fascinating about baseball is its incorporation of both the top and bottom parts of the brain. The flow of the game lends itself favorably to time for learning and reflection on everything going on. At the same time, each pitch is a time for the bottom brain to take over and just react. It's when the magic happens. "How did you do that?" we ask players. "I just did," is what we sometimes don't like to hear because we want to understand, but it's really such a beautiful answer. "I just did" is the answer we want to hear more often because of the preparation already done for that particular moment. Understand the moment's preparation must be earned.
Challenge yourself to think through some of what you do during the day. What do you have to really work through, and what happens on autopilot? Those are the different sections of the brain at work. If we lived entirely in the front part of our brain, life would be a maddening experience. Take time to reflect using it and to be thankful for the bottom part that "just does it."
P is for problems. We all have them. We have them individually and within our teams no matter where we work. The media provides plenty of reminders of all the problems going on in the world. Acknowledging problem areas is as important to self-awareness as knowing and working towards strengths. The question to ask then is, "What do we do about problems?"
There are several ways of going about addressing problems, and it'd be impossible to be comprehensive in a blog like this. What I'm going to do instead is share a simple but different strategy than so many of us tend to gravitate towards. I read a book recently called Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath. It was one of the best books I've read in quite some time, and I felt strongly enough about its concepts that I gave a copy to six different people. One of the concepts I loved the most in the book was something called "bright spots." The basic premise is that when we are trying to create significant change we often spend our focus on what we should be doing differently. In that, we miss out on the opportunity to build on what we are already doing well. Those are the bright spots. They're the examples of how we want to be doing things that we can try to make happen more often.
An example I've thought of over the last several weeks is a situation that happens often in sports: a new coach. I have noticed a couple of ways to approach being a new coach. The first is to come in and change everything. "What you were doing wasn't working. That's why I'm here." What you risk in doing this is you're telling the athletes that what they've done in the past is a waste. Saying you're going to come in and change everything may sound good in the beginning to some, but is really what is necessary? If you do that, you're missing out on an opportunity to build on what has done well because it's extremely unlikely things were 100% bad. The second approach is to build on what the program has done well in the past while picking your spots for change. This allows players, the most important stakeholders, to be involved in the transition and to be advocates for change. Try looking for pockets of success in the team, and recreate them over and over and over. Certainly there are no two situations that are exactly the same, but taking advantage of whatever good is already there can help anywhere. Just a thought. Different ideas? I'd love to hear them.
Side note: I'm in New York for the week so the format may look a little odd!
O is for Opportunity. Our truth is often in our perception of what goes on around us. There is a quote attributed to a Roman General Scipio Africanus that says, "I'm convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 96% how I react to it." While Scipio's math can certainly be questioned, his accomplishments on the battlefield cannot. He defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War and is considered one of the great generals of all time. Regardless of the math, the quote speaks to really what so much of life is about. There are countless variables for which we have little to no control over and how we react often determines our performance or quality of life. Viewing situations that come up as opportunities, more often that not, is the healthy response that give us our best chance of success.
Competition is something that people have differing view on. Some are threatened by it. Whether the competition is within a team for a position or in a game against a quality opponent, some athletes do not like it. There could be many reasons for this but a flawed perspective on what the competition means is likely. Rather than being threatened or scared, the competition within a team is an opportunity to push yourself and see how good you can be. The fact your team has competition is also great because it likely means your team is good! I read something early on in my degree program that struck me. It was about plants in really crowded areas where sunlight is limited. The plants are forced to bend all kinds of ways in order to get sunlight and grow. The plants don't allow the competition for sunlight or the fact it won't be easy to give them an excuse to die. They treat it as an opportunity to grow, and they do. The analogy holds true for environments of any kind where there is competition. You can feel sorry for yourself that a position or playing time aren't going to be handed to you (the sunlight), or you can be thankful for being somewhere you will be challenged to grow. Great teams often thrive on a competitive environment within the team. Players push each other to be as good as they can possibly be both individually and as a group. A great example of this is the University of Kentucky men's basketball team. Like it or not, they reload with young, premium talent every year. Coach Calipari is great at encouraging competition within the team and helping them grow. There is little doubt the fact that so many want to be NBA players helps with the competitive environment within the team as well.
There are also different ways to react when you are faced with the challenge of competition in a game. Some performers will do well when the competition is not very good. They are like the plant who is alone with a great angle on some sunlight. Then, when the competition gets better they feel threatened and panic. Maybe they start to doubt their preparation and are taken out of their game. Great competitors see the challenge as an opportunity to see how good they can be. They know their job is to get sunlight regardless of whether it is easy or not. They are task-oriented and compete against the game itself instead of letting the opponent dictate what they do!
Opportunity is available in so much of what we do in life. It's up to us to find the opportunity and take advantage of it or not. Like so much of sport psychology, the concept is pretty simple to understand but tougher to do. Finding opportunity can be really hard when things are going poorly. Like the glimmer of sunshine in a crowded forest, it is there. You just have to be willing to look.
O is for Opportunity SOTD is KISS- New York Groove
I know there's not much to do with the letter O, but I'm driving to New York for the week today. Also, it kind of sounds like a redemption song for a plant that had to battle for sun if we really want to make a stretch..
N is for Never. Never is easily defined. It means "on no occasion," "at no point in the past or future," and "not at all." Never is another simple word with profound reach. At no point in the past or future spans a long, long time. There is an ironically flexible saying that starts, "Never in a hundred years." Well, if you're really going with "never," you're putting much longer than one hundred years on the line. For the blog, something I'd like to discuss the word never in coaching and sports.
"Great players never show bad body language." "It's never okay to make a mental mistake." "The grind never stops." When we speak in terms of such absolutes, we better be VERY confident in what we are saying. In the three preceding statements, none would hold true. There have been plenty of great athletes who have shown bad body language. Novak Djokavic is one who comes to mind. He appears mad in between many points, games, and sets. Few would argue against him being great. Now, I'm not saying that is what makes him great. It's possible he is great in spite of his bad body language. Nevertheless, he is a great player who shows bad body language. The statement about mental mistakes is unfair. If we allow for the understanding that physical mistakes will be made, how can we then expect mental perfection? Major League Baseball players have forgotten the number of outs, thrown to the wrong base, and missed signs. If we know that creating an environment where athletes are not afraid to make mistakes because it allows for freedom to play, then the mental part of the equation has to be considered part of the environment as well. Expecting perfection is unfair. The final statement is easy too. People need breaks of some duration physically and mentally. Even professional athletes take time to decompress and recover. What's particularly concerning is the young age when the expectation is to grind and work every day on their sport. Much has been written about youth sports burnout and the need to take time off to do other things. I will just say I agree with both and think sometimes we lose perspective of who and why we are coaching. If you're coaching youth baseball, coach youth baseball. If you're coaching high school football, do that. Forgetting our role and clientele can be detrimental to the experience for all.
In conclusion, I'd like to just caution you again with absolutes like "Always" and "Never." There are few in life (death, taxes, etc.) and few in sports as well. It only takes one time to disprove an absolute, and they create unrealistic expectations for your athletes. While many need to learn accountability for actions, understanding they aren't supposed to be perfect is a lesson many need as well. Let's help them to learn it rather than accidentally work against them.
N is for Never SOTD: Rick Astley- Never Gonna Give You Up
If you never heard of the "Rick Rolled" sensation, you are missing out. Please do yourself a favor and Google it. Also, I'd say my dance style is 25% Rick Astley.
M is for Make a pitch. The phrase is so simple yet somehow encapsulates so much. It focuses on the task at hand. It stays away from results and with the controllable process. It keeps things simple. It keeps things present. Rather than worrying about pitching 7 or 9 innings or working out of that 2nd and 3rd with nobody out jam, you just make a pitch. Harvey Dorfman talks a great deal about whittling things down to the lowest common denominator. The phrase does that. Three words stand for so much but speak to the simplicity of what the mental side of the game is all about. To be sure, saying "Make a pitch" and actually making a pitch are two different things. To simply say "Just make a pitch" without helping pitchers to work through whatever internal and external influences are preventing them from doing so is where the work comes in. While this can go in any number of directions for pitchers, the end goal is the same.
How can we take this beyond the act of pitching? Easy. The tasks that we may find daunting in our everyday lives can be simplified by eliminating all of the extra stuff and simply "making a pitch." How about an example? As a teacher and Athletic Academic Adviser, I have the great privilege of working with and talking to a lot of student-athletes at the school where I teach. Students who are struggling often feel overwhelmed with all of the classes, all of the assignments, and all of the grades. This seems to be especially true with freshmen who are going through a significant adjustment from middle school to high school. Before you know it, the students may have 3 or 4 F's and feel helpless about the situation. Something I like to challenge these students to do is to stop looking at it as this daunting task of trying to pull up 4 different grades, and focus on what you can do in each class. Those 10 points you need in Algebra sound tough, but what if you just turned in one more classwork assignment? What if you studied for 10 minutes each day? How about tutoring one day week? Before you know it, you'd have your ten points. Each assignment is "making a pitch." Going to tutoring is "making a pitch." Paying attention in this class, today is "making a pitch." Asking a question is "making a pitch." If I could give just one piece of advice to students, it might be, "Ask questions." Students are so hesitant to do so, and I think part of that is due to a flawed perspective (athletes too). You are in HS for a reason. You have so much to learn! You're not supposed to know it all! I have been in school for what seems like one hundred years and don't know anywhere near everything! Ask questions! After a couple of weeks of "making pitches", you have created habits that are going to make you successful if you continue to do them. Breaking larger tasks into their lowest denominator is a tip I think can help anyone feeling a little weighed down.
How about some interaction? What is your "Make a pitch" that you use in your daily life? Is there a situation you would benefit from just "Making a pitch?" Let me know, and Merry Christmas to you all!
M is for Make a Pitch Song of the Day: Lit- My Own Worst Enemy
I like it, it starts with M, and fits well for what can often be the case for people. The greatest opponent we face can be ourselves.
L is for Lessons Learned. One of the greatest but challenging parts of my journey into the field of sport psychology over the past four years has been the forced reflection it has caused me to do. It would have been impossible to not be reflective as I have learned about topics ranging from brain functioning to effective coaching. It's been a difficult process, but I am better for having gone through it.
The transformation process can really be split into two different stages. The first stage was the Exploratory Phase. This is when I first started to learn about sport psychology. I wanted to try everything and believed everything, and it was a bit overwhelming. I wonder sometimes if I was creating more for players to think about rather than less. Between the first and second phase was a lot of observing and questioning of the way I had done things. There were times I doubted almost everything I thought or said as I found myself caught between pre-sport psyc and post-sport psyc Coach Ehrlich. There was a great deal of cognitive dissonance, and I have to say I didn't like it very much! Finally, I moved into a Discovery Phase. I'm not sure the exact moment, but at some point things clicked. I was far enough along in my degree program, had read enough books, had talked with enough people both in and out of sport psyc, and had enough opportunity to try some different things with athletes where I felt good all of a sudden. This second phase allowed me to create a solid philosophy for how sport psychology is best applied. To think my philosophy is complete would be very short-sighted. What I can say is I have learned a great deal and look forward to many more phases in the future. With that, I've decided to create a list of Lessons Learned over the last four years. Hopefully you can relate to at least one, and you can use them to help your sporting experience be just a little bit better.
Lessons Learned: 1. Most people in Sport Psyc are awesome.- The degree program I chose and the career path I hope to make my way into has forced me to branch out to try to make contacts with people. The overwhelming majority have been incredibly helpful and generous with their time. A list of a few who have had a great impact on me are Geoff Miller, Justin Su'a, Dr. Jack Curtis, Dr. Robert Troutwine, Dr. Rob Bell, Dr. Charlie Maher, Chad Bohling, Chris Pasarella, Dr. Taryn Morgan, Bob Tewskbury, Tami Matheny, Dave Williams, Dr. Alan Kornspan, Stu Lierich, and Dr. Rob Seifer. I feel bad for not listing every single one, but these people have gone above and beyond in one way or another. They are Givers.
2. Some are not, but that is OKAY!- I'm certainly not going to list any. While we disagree on some major principles and methods, I am grateful for them too because they have helped me to reevaluate what I think is the right way to do things. 3. Comparatively speaking, I was a REALLY bad coach when I was younger.- I will never forget the first unit we had in my very first Sport Psyc class was on coaching. Coaching? I thought we were going to learn how to help athletes. It hadn't even registered to me that effective coaching was such a major component to sport psychology. Needless to say, I realized very quickly how much I had to learn. That was tough! 4. I'm still not anywhere near as good as possible.- One of the greatest things I think sport psyc has done for me is completely changed the way I experience sports. I am always observing, and that has been very helpful. We learn something every single day and all have such a long way to go. I look forward to a continual path of improvement.
5. Learning is fun.- Going to college as an adult is completely different than when you're going straight out of high school. It's an experience I would recommend everyone have even if it is for one class. Try to take something you are genuinely interested in learning about. Knowing exactly what I wanted to do and being able to keep that vision throughout the degree process was helpful. Beyond the classes, I have grown to love reading and really forcing myself to think through ways of doing things..
6. Learning is hard.- As much fun as learning new things is, it also can be incredibly difficult. Like I touched on in the beginning, sometimes learning can make you worse before it makes you better. In many ways, it's similar to that process hitters go through as they make a significant change. It can be tough, but it is worth it.
7. Every quote is an opportunity to learn.- Sport psychology completely changed how I watch sports. I am now a "++ Dork" for the coaching interviews and post-game interviews of any kind. I love seeing what people say and thinking about how sport psychology has influenced them. It's fun..for me at least.
8. Quotes themselves are not enough.- Quotes are excellent opportunities to learn and see how different concepts are applied. Some people like them for motivation too. Quotes themselves are not enough though. They're nice, but experiences and finding what motivates YOU are better.
9. Information is great.- Knowing your stuff, regardless of your field is important. You've got to know what you are talking about for people to take you seriously, and it can't be just repeating sayings you have heard like a doll on a string. Having knowledge is great for increasing your toolbox to help athletes.
10. Too much information is not great.- Sometimes we talk too much. In wanting to help athletes, we may give 5-6 different suggestions. That can be overwhelming for the athlete. This is something I know I've been guilty of as I have wanted to share everything I know. Maybe I've done that with this blog too! Being able to pick and choose what will help the most is something I look forward to learning more and more with experience.
11. It's important to take time for reflection and to see how you can get better.- I'm not sure how many of you have Sirius Radio, but I LOVE the MLB Network station. I heard a great interview with Indians GM Mike Chernoff, and the host asked him about how they have kept a group together in the front office for so long (other than guys getting promoted to higher positions elsewhere). He said something to the effect of always looking for ways to get better and never getting complacent. What great advice regardless of your field. For me, genuine reflection is helpful for creating a plan for improvement.
12. I have some great friends.- Something you are not aware of as a reader is the amount of time several of my friends have spent proofreading and giving me feedback on the blog. They don't get paid nearly enough (or at all), but they do it to help without anything expected in return. I can't thank them enough. Jeremy Plexico (college teammate and friend), Brent Walsh (HS teammate, coach, and friend), Chris Carrrara (college teammate and friend), and David O'Neal (HS Teammate and friend),
THANK YOU. In addition, thank you to all of the people who have given me feedback. This includes coaches and players from different levels who send me emails with their thoughts or asking questions (Dudley!). You make me think further, and I appreciate that. It also includes people who have nothing to do with sports. The applications to regular life are a huge part of why I love sport psychology. Thank you all too.
This is really just a start to a list that could be much more expansive. Depending on the reaction, maybe we can revisit in a Part Two at some point. I hope you're enjoying the ABC's as much as I am! Thank you to everyone who has given me feedback so far. Please keep it coming!
L is for Lessons Learned Song of the Day- Dave Matthews Band's Ants Marching
The reason I chose this song is I like it. I also like sport psychology. I want you to like them too.
K is for Knowledge. "Knowledge is power." We have all heard the saying. As we touched on the other day in the Instant Gratification piece, we live in an incredible world in which our ability to access information has increased exponentially over the last ten to fifteen years. I can remember getting annoyed as a kid when I didn't know a word. "Look it up," adults would say which meant finding a dictionary and searching for a definition. Today, "Look it up" has been replaced with "Google it." If you want to find information on a topic, it is out there for you to find. Today's entry is going to touch on two very different topics as I hope to challenge you to consider Knowledge in a different light.
"Knowledge is power," is the popular saying. For, the saying should be a little bit different. Knowledge itself is not power. "Knowledge is power potential." There is a significant difference between knowing and doing, but they are codependent on each other. Doing without knowledge is like trying to play a game without any explanation of the rules or how to play. You're going to be very inefficient and likely will get frustrated. Knowledge of the rules and how to play, on the other hand, is equally useless unless we choose to play. I'm reminded of that person who never wants to actually play the game but will come talk trash to everyone about the moves they make. "Why didn't you move there?" "I can't believe you didn't want that card." Well, then come play if you know so much! Therein lies the key to why knowledge is power potential. It gives us the opportunity to be effective when we choose to act. The courage to act can be just as difficult to acquire, however, and is a major separator in those who accomplish and those who could have accomplished.
This time of great access to information does not come without a new set of challenges. While it is easy to "Google it" or to find it on Twitter, we have to be careful with what it is we find. In school, it is fairly easy to create protocol for students doing research in search of quality resources. The task away from the classroom is a little bit tougher. My caution to you is to be careful what you read, and make decisions for yourself as to what is quality information and what is not. I think sometimes we may see a quote we agree with that is really just an opinion and mistake it for factual information. Again, I know I have been guilty! Just the other day, something got me a little fired up on Twitter. There is an account that advertises itself as being quotes from one of the most respected people in the field of sport psychology. The idea for the account is outstanding. It has great power potential. The execution, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The account rarely posts any quotes that are actually from the person himself. Even worse, the account has put several what I call "Whiny Coaching Diary Quotes" up. These are emotional quotes about coaching gripes that would probably be better made in private than on social media. When an account like the one I'm describing posts them, coaches everywhere read the and get the misconception that is what sport psychology is. Again, dangerous. Your impact as a coach is so great. If you are taking the time to search for knowledge to help your athletes, the intentions are there. Twitter is good for a lot and I certainly owe it a great deal for a number of reasons. All I ask is that you be careful what you choose to read and pass on to your players. Ultimately, there are no set rules for you like I would give students working on research. Allow your judgment to be your guide.
K is for Knowledge Song of the Day: Rod Stewart- Ooh La La (When I Was Younger)
I picked this song because, no matter what your age is as the reader, you know things you didn't know when you were younger that would have made the experience easier. I'd encourage all of us to
take advantage of the older, more experienced people in your life and all they know.
I is for Instant Gratification. We live in a fast moving, on the go society. Love it or hate it, that is the way things are. Hungry? You've got fast food, can order pizza with several clicks of a button, and many restaurants have apps to order ahead of time. My personal favorite is the one for Chipotle. E Coli scare aside, nothing screams, "I'm smarter than you, and my time is more important," like walking to the front of the line during Chipotle peak times of the day. Truth be told, I felt bad the first few times. Everyone has access to the app though, and my guilt was quickly outweighed by the agonizing possibility of being stuck behind a large group who asks one hundred questions. See something you like advertised on TV? Chances are Amazon has it. Sign on, click, and boom. I'm as guilty again as anyone of this. Clothing, supplements, Christmas presents, and anything in between is getting ordered. If you are an Amazon customer, I'd encourage you to take advantage of Smile Amazon where Amazon donates a small percentage of every order you place to a charity of your choosing. Anyway, the many positives of the technological, quick service society we live in certainly comes with it's negatives. The fact that we can get some things very quickly makes us want everything quickly. That is a significant issue when it comes to sports and the development of talent.
Over the last four years or so, I have reached out to many sport psychology professionals. The overwhelming majority have been extremely helpful and generous with both their time and advice. Regular readers of the blog have seen me mention a few. Dr. Rob Seifer, sport psychologist for the Miami Marlins, had a quote in a conversation we had that has stayed with me over the last couple of years and applies to the topic for today. "It's about short-term sacrifices for long-term benefits." To me, this is not only very true but helps provide an all-important rationale in resisting the urge to make everything in our lives about instant gratification. The quote also works in framing what great discipline athletes have who are truly dedicated. The resistance to feed the "elephant" (Switchreaders) of emotion that wants to be pleased right now is powered by a clear vision for the future (path).
The delaying of instant gratification is a major obstacle in coaching. Winning now is the instant gratification that sometimes is better delayed for the sake of development of the athletes. I know as a baseball coach I was often impatient with this concept. Kids want to be good RIGHT NOW. As coaches, we want the same. The challenge often lies in whether we choose what will make kids successful right now at the expense of what will make them as good as possible down the road. Like so many other topics I write about, I think there were definitely times I was guilty of this. The idea of winning, particularly as I had a warped idea of success early on, sometimes trumped development. The concept also has its place in the general topic of sport psychology. The market is flooded with promises of quick fixes, and people gravitate to these promises. In reality, to get the true benefits one needs to make a time-consuming commitment. There may be some quick fixes, but they are like the 3 day cleanse of the the sport psychology world. You'll feel better for a few days but likely quickly sink back into poor habits. The greater emphasis and commitment to the mental side is the healthy lifestyle that ensures overall well-being over the long haul. In conclusion, I invite you to join me in the challenge of taking some time to slow down our lives from time to time. Consider whether the short-term sacrifices may be worth the long-term benefits in certain areas of your life. My guess is that in many cases they will be.
I is for Instant Gratification Song of the Day: Kid Ink- I Just Want it All
So do many athletes Kid Ink. The question is whether we will do what it takes or not.
H is for Honesty. Telling the truth is something we are taught from the time we are little. The Boy Who Cried Wolf and many other children's stories work to do the trick. Somehow, as we grow older, many of us lose sight of our truth-telling compass. One need only peruse your social media of choice to see one broken heart after another telling the world of their lying ex. Broken promises have created a society of mistrust. Politics are another great place to see dishonesty at it's finest. "Misremembering" and other rationalizing all work to help people explain away lies. For whatever reason, there is a culture of great mistrust in high school sports these days as well. Parents are sometimes lied to by recruiting services, travel coaches, and others whose intentions may be misplaced at best, incredibly selfish at worst. Anyway, off the soap box and onto the point of today's piece which is to hopefully minimize or eliminate the mistrust.
Honesty is incredibly important as a coach. Telling players the truth, although difficult at times, is an admirable behavior that coaches need to have. One reason honesty is important is it allows athletes the opportunity to improve. If we ignore weaknesses or poor performances, then we are robbing athletes of this opportunity. Honesty can just as easily help athletes understand how good they are too. This is often overlooked. We want to keep athletes grounded. At the high school level in particular, however, many are going through a difficult search for self. Their bodies and minds go through significant changes, and sometimes they need help seeing the good.
Something we did at the high school where I helped coach baseball is have individual meetings. Our head coach and at least one assistant met with players at the end of the fall, usually right before the season, and after the season. Many things were discussed. How school was going, thoughts on how workouts or a season had gone, and expected roles within the team headed into these different time periods were all in play. I loved it all. Discussions of school helped players understand the importance of taking care of business off the field and often the connection between work ethic in the classroom and on the field. Talking about fall practice or the season helped players to process what had happened and allowed for some reflection opportunities. Prior to the season, the role expectation was something I felt was critical to a team. For one, things that seem obvious to coaches oftentimes is not so obvious to players. If they went into the season expecting to start at third base when, in the coach's mind they are a possible bat off the bench, there would be a significant and dangerous disconnect. Think about how tough it would be that you are not a starter for the first time by a posted lineup card, a piece of paper instead of a human being. Another reason these meetings were important is it often gave guys something to continue to work towards individually as a season started. Understanding you are a bat off the bench going into the season but that the possibility for more opportunities exists helped provide motivation to continue to work to improve. Finally, and possibly most importantly, honesty allows the player the opportunity to move into role acceptance and HOPEFULLY towards what I term role embracing. Players see where they fit in with the greater good of the team and how it is important. The earlier this happens, the greater you have a full team of embraced roles by the end of the season when it is so crucial to have a group that is together. I've been around teams, both as a player and a coach, where guys were ready for a season to be over. I've also been on teams where nobody, regardless of role, wanted it to end. I know which I'd rather be a part of and have a feeling you do too. Honesty can help you get there.
The H is for Honesty Song of the Day: Here I Go Again on My Own- Whitesnake
The whole finding a song that fits perfectly with the themes has proven more difficult than I realized. For now, I'm just going with a song that starts with H instead.
G is for Growth. More specifically, G is for Growth Mindset. The concept of a Growth Mindset is something I have stumbled across within the last year or so. Tami Lenker, the Learning and Technology Coach at the high school where I teach, told me about a book I needed to read called Mindsetby Dr. Carol Dweck. Tami is one of the greatest people I have had the pleasure of working with in education so I immediately got the book and started reading. The basic premise of Dr. Dweck's research is that there are two types of mindsets people have: Fixed and Growth. Fixed mindsets see human qualities as static. You are the way you are. Growth mindsets see qualities as things that can change over time. Most of us are some sort of combination of the two. We see some traits as fixed and others as developmental. Throughout the book Dr. Dweck gives examples of applications of mindset in different areas of life from education, to relationships, to business, and sports. It can get a bit redundant at times, but the expansive number of studies and applications help create the theory. I skipped over the business section because I know I will just suck at business no matter what (bad fixed mindset joke)!
One of the major areas of interest in sports is the view of talent. Those with a growth mindset see talent as something that can change over time with hard work and repetition. "Great hitters aren't born. They are made." Fixed mindsets tend to see talent as static. No matter what you do, either you have it or you don't. "Some people can just hit." Attribution of success and failure has a lot to do with mindset as well. With a fixed mindset, failure is seen as a reflection of deficiencies as an athlete and sometimes even as a person. "Why did we lose? Because we suck." With a growth mindset, failure is an opportunity to get better. "We will work on this, and we will do better next time." With a growth mindset, success is a product of hard work, effort, and execution. It's repeatable. A fixed mindset's view of success is that success is a product of just being good at something. To me, this is a slap in the face of the players and how hard they work to be good. They take part in countless drills, hours of sweat in the weight room, in the classroom, etc. so they have the best chance of being successful. To then attribute success to "just being good" completely nullifies the value of all of the work that led up to a performance. That's without even mentioning the question of the purpose of coaches and educators if athletes are just good and students are just smart.
So what are a couple of simple ways you can take this concept of Growth Mindset and make it useful moving forward? If you are coach, praise effort. Praise SPECIFIC effort. Stress the importance of work, and celebrate the successes of improvements. Most of the coaches reading this are working with players at the high school and/or college level. What a dynamic time to be working with athletes! If you are a player, understand that an individual performance is not a valuation of your ability. It is simply a performance. If you do well, be proud of the preparation that led to the performance. If you do poorly, understand there are ways to go about improving...or growing.
Like with feedback, there is really so much more that could be written about growth mindset. It's becoming more and more popular in the sport psyc world and with great reason. I have heard Josh Lifrak, the Director of Mental Skills with the Chicago Cubs, refer to growth mindset multiple times. At the AASP Conference in October, IMG Academy's Mental Conditioning Coaches gave an outstanding presentation on working with parents. They are "all in" with growth mindset. I think the concept will only continue to expand in popularity in the future, and I hope it helps you along the way.
The G is for Growth Song of the Day: Rather than a song for today, here is a 4 minute video I show my students about Growth Mindset. It does a really good job of simplifying the concept with the comparison to the fable of The Tortoise and the Hare,
F is for Feedback. Feedback is such a critical part of sports and life. We give and receive feedback constantly, both verbally and nonverbally, and we constantly process the feedback given to us. Coach just said I took a good swing. My teacher wrote that I did a great job on my project. That girl just smiled at me. If you are a player, all three are examples of feedback you may get in your daily life. As coaches, we constantly constantly give feedback. We tell players what we see, what we think of what we see, and often times get frustrated by their inability to see what we see. What we say, how we say it, when we say it, and why we say it are all important to consider. Although we may be less aware of it, we are constantly getting feedback from our players as well. Whether we do so purposefully or not has a great impact on what we do with the feedback we get. There is really so much great information about giving and receiving feedback, but my goal for the blog today is to give you just a couple of things to consider that I hope will make the playing/coaching experience a little better for you.
As someone who worked with hitters, I was guilty for several years of giving horrible feedback during practice. "Good swing," I'd say when a player would hammer a line drive into the gap during a round of BP. It was the same thing I'd get so annoyed with as a player. "Good swing? I know it was a good swing....I just hit a ball to the f*in wall." Then I would pop a ball up. Crickets. "Was that a bad swing?" I would think to myself. A couple of swings would go by, and I wouldn't hear my coach say anything. "Were those bad swings? He didn't say good so surely they were." Before you know it, I thought my swing was screwed up in one round of BP. Irrational thinking for sure. Fast forward to my work with hitters, and again I was guilty of what I'd hated so dearly. I was aware but a little unsure of how to go about changing. This touches on something many coaches can probably relate to. As young coaches, we are so often what we experienced as players. Rather than really forcing ourselves to think about best practices, we do what we have learned through observation or experience. That was challenged for me early on in my sport psychology degree program by a book called The Inner Game of Tennisby W. Timothy Gallwey. The book talked about the danger of what Gallwey termed as judgments. Any time we label something as good or bad we are judging. The key, according to Gallwey, was to use observations instead. Rather than good or bad, a swing was simply a series of movements with a clear result. Like I said, the book challenged and ultimately changed my way of giving feedback. I realized that saying "Good swing" every time a hitter struck a ball well in BP was basically useless and actually had the potential to do more harm than good. Instead, I needed to be able to give specific feedback about what happened. Still better yet, I needed to be able to talk with hitters about what they felt happened during a round. This would force them to understand what was going on. Then, they had a shot at the improvement they sought and at being self-aware. I am not saying I was some great hitting guru by any means. I do think I got better with my communication with players though and that they were better off as a result.
I feel very strongly about the concept of observing instead of judging. It not only changed the way I coached, but it changed the way I taught and thought of students as well. I'd been guilty early on of labeling kids as "good" or "bad" kids rather than observing behaviors independently and reacting accordingly. This was extremely dangerous for multiple reasons. First, it was incredibly high and mighty of me to think that I had the right to say a kid was a "bad kid" or not. Second, it indirectly left me open to reacting way too emotionally and irrationally to behaviors. That kid talked when I'm talking. He is a rude, bad kid! Teachers really think that way, and it's so irrational. It's unfair to the kid and makes your life much more difficult than it needs to be. Since I have challenged myself to judge less and observe more, my feedback with students has improved tremendously. If a student misbehaves, we are able to have a rational discussion rather than anyone being put on the defensive. I'm not saying it works all of the time, but again I think it has helped.
As I have written before, one of the things I love most about sport psyc is the easy application to everyday life. To be clear, this is really just the tip of what could be many icebergs when it comes to feedback. I'll probably come back to the topic with multiple pieces later. In the meantime, my hope is you were able to draw something from the mistakes and experiences I have had that will improve yours in the future.
F is For Feedback Song of the Day: Kenny Rogers- The Greatest
It's a great baseball song and a nice lesson on using self-awareness to change your plan!
E is for Exceptional. Going back to the dictionary on this one, exceptional means "uncommon" or "unusually good." In other words, it means something that is going to resonate when you see it or experience it. Exceptional isn't easily accessed or attained. Steak, as an example, is rarely exceptional. Outback has some good steak. I could probably eat there every week. Exceptional though? Me thinks not. Movies? There are a lot of good ones, a lot of bad, but rarely is there an exceptional movie. We're talking Godfather, mind-blowing greatness here. Athletically, exceptional is just as rare. An athlete getting a lot of buzz over the last couple of years, with good reason, is Steph Curry. Is Curry uncommon? Absolutely and in every sense of the word. He is not a physical freak, was largely unrecruited out of Charlotte Christian High School, and somehow has become arguably the best player in the NBA. Is he unusually good? Without question. His metrics are off the charts, but the beauty and greatness in his game is equally visible to the casual observer as well. He is exceptional.
How does one become exceptional then? To be "unusually good" likely means a willingness to prepare that is "uncommon." Curry's work ethic is off-the-charts. A simple Google search of "Steph Curry work ethic" yields 227,000 results and an outstanding video. Another word that comes to mind with Curry is discipline. Uncommon discipline to prepare and work his butt off has allowed him to be exceptional. While I will leave it up to you to decide for yourself what is God-given and what is not, it seems clear Steph Curry's unfathomable work ethic has allowed himself to maximize any physical gifts he was born with. While the examples of great NBA players who are physical-freaks are much easier to think of, again Curry is exceptional.
Who isn't exceptional? The overwhelming majority of the population in and out of sports. I bring this up because I see a lot of coaches get frustrated because of having the expectations for all of their athletes to be exceptional at levels where that is just not realistic. Why aren't the cages packed every single day after practice? Why doesn't everyone invest the consistent time necessary to really benefit from the mental side? They aren't exceptional. That is why. While I have had the great privilege to coach several players who I would call exceptional in one form another, one player's work ethic was what I would truly take to the bank as the very definition of the word. Grayson Greiner, currently a farmhand with the Detroit Tigers, had a work ethic unlike any player I have ever been around in any capacity. The dude worked himself into being a monster. He committed to the University of South Carolina very early in high school but was the epitome of what coaches talk about with not being satisfied with just a commitment. His typical day started with a 5:30 AM lift at Gold's and about an hour of hitting before school started. Grayson then took AP classes (a semester's worth of college in all), did whatever we had for high school practice (common), and then proceeded to hit for another couple of hours afterwards (total of 150-200 swings DAILY). Of course there were times he probably would have rather been doing what common HS kids were doing, but he wanted to be uncommon more. As a result, he was and still is. Grayson started at the University of South Carolina for three years, played for Team USA, was drafted in the 3rd round, and played for the high-A Tiger affiliate this year. While I refuse to make any predictions about his future, I will, without hesitation, say Grayson is an exceptional human being who will be uncommonly successful. The question is, "Will you be?"
What would your ABC's of Sport Psyc E be? I'd love to hear it.
The E is for Exceptional Song of the Day is a Grammy performance from an Exceptional singer: Adele- Rolling in the Deep (Hello is way too slow for a song of the day)
D is for Do vs Don't. So I decided to cheat a little bit on this one and pick two words because they are closely linked. They remind me of a situation that starts to happen more and more the longer I am in the classroom: teaching siblings. The tendency, after teaching one kid from a particular family, is to assume a younger sibling you teach later will be the same. Anyone who has brothers and sisters would tell you it makes no sense, but we do it anyway. Many times I have younger siblings who go out of their way to make sure I know they are not like their older siblings. Quickly we figure out as teachers the error in our ways and realize how different the two are. Don't is the younger sibling of Do. Do sets the example. Do is responsible. Do takes care of your performance. Don't is rebellious. Don't likes chaos. Don't hurts your performance.
As an athlete, you want to focus on what you want to do. "Make a quality pitch." "Drive a ball to the outfield." "Field it, and throw it to first base." "Read a dirtball here." As a coach, you want to instruct athletes as to what you want them to do, and you want to do so specifically. All of the commands listed as self-talk for an athlete could easily be instructions from coach. This is preferable to the alternative focus on Don't. "Don't leave one out over the plate against this guy." "Don't swing at this guy's curveball." "Don't panic." We have all been guilty of saying each of those sayings to ourselves, to athletes we have coached, or both. Likewise, we have all probably felt the disappointment in ourselves or the disbelief in the athletes we coach who went on to leave one out over the plate, swing at the breaking ball, or panic. I can still remember taking one of those brutal rounds of BP in college. You know, the situational round that goes downhill fast. You DON'T get on top of a hit-and-run. You DON'T hit a ball to the right side to move the runner. You DON'T drive a ball to the outfield with the infield in, and you DON'T hit a ball down and in the middle with them back. Before you know, you are lucky to get the squeeze down and have a coach who asks how you could have possibly have had a round so bad. I know, for me, in that round once one DON'T happened I thought over and over about the DON'T. I was emotional instead of staying rational about what one swing meant. I let that one swing allow for doubt and snowball into a bad round. The easy fix would have been to move on and take the next swing in the round like I had taken so many prior. Fortunately, those types of rounds stand out as the minority although they certainly happened more than once. So in closing, I think the overall concept here is pretty clear. Choose the older sibling Do as an athlete or a coach. Focus on what you want to do. Ignore the younger sibling Don't. He's annoying, and we'd rather not have him around.
Got a different D word for your ABC's? Let's hear it!
D is for Do vs Don't Song of the Day: The Temptations- "The Way You Do the Things You Do"
C is for Courage. Many people have different ideas of what courage is. There is often a misconception that people with courage are never afraid. I'm reminded of the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz and his search for courage (I had two older sisters so cut me some slack here). The Lion gave off the perception of always being afraid, and therefore he had no courage. Harvey Dorfman, one of my favorites again and someone I write about a fair amount on here with good reason, says this about courage. "To many, it implies fearlessness. But that is not the point of courage. To have courage is to act bravely in spite of the existence of fear." I love this quote. It breaks through this false perception we have of great athletes that they are never afraid or never nervous. Like you and I, they are people. They aren't robots! The difference is the ability to act in spite of the fear. The Cowardly Lion acted despite his fears along the journey to the Great Oz. That is true courage.
What is it that causes these fears we have during performance and other situations we encounter? There is no one answer to the question. Sometime, we catastrophize a situation and it's possible result. "If I don't get a hit here, everyone will hate me." "If I don't get this guy out, I'll never get to pitch again." In reality, your teammates won't hate you. In reality, you will get to pitch again. Both examples have a couple of qualities that get the athlete's focus away from where we would like to be. First, the focus is out of the present moment. Those horrible results, which many athletes have had in their heads, are in an uncontrollable future. Sure we can influence, but we can't control. Second, the focus is on the feelings of teammates and the decisions of coaches. Again, both are ultimately out of our realm of control. Finally, they're both again related to results. Do you sense a pattern here? By accepting the thoughts are normal and making the decision to instead focus on, "Make a pitch." or "See the ball," we are able to better enhance our likelihood of acting in spite of fear, or courageously. Something I think trumps any skills is proper perspective. Having proper perspective on what an at-bat, an outing on the mound, or any other sort of situation we may encounter in competition can go a long way in acting with courage. Every pitch is important, but no pitch is important enough to become two. Likewise, no one at-bat defines who you are as a person or even your career. Also, understand that so many other athletes out there have had to battle through the same thoughts. Acting with courage is certainly easier said than done. Like you, there are situations and times in my life where I have acted without it. There will continue to be. We're all human. Accept it, move on, and act with courage next time!
What's your C for our ABC's of Sport Psychology? I'd love to hear it.
C is for Courage Song of the Day: Eminem- Lose Yourself (acoustic version)
I chose this one because he's clearly acting in spite of fear and some physiological signs that come with fear. I also kind of like the different sound the guitar brings
B is for Belief. Belief, as defined by Webster, is a feeling of trust in the worth or ability of someone. The word trust is crucial to performance. A pitcher who trusts all of his pitches is dangerous in his ability to disrupt the timing of the hitter. A hitter who trusts his ability to get to the fastball in doesn't have to cheat to it and thus expose himself to other pitches in other quadrants of the plate. Without that trust, or belief, the mound can be a lonely place for the pitcher. The hitter without belief may have just as good a chance of success by going up to the plate empty handed. The belief of a coach in a player can often lead that player to reach to heights previously thought unimaginable. That belief also allows the player to perform with a freedom of knowing he doesn't have to constantly look over his shoulder for fear of the coach's wrath.
Belief is huge for any athlete to perform to his/her peak ability. The most valuable belief comes from within. If I trust I am good at something, it ultimately does not matter what anyone else thinks. In fact, athletes who are dependent on others as a constant source for belief are likely going to be feel unfulfilled and consistently inconsistent. Trust me, I'd know (see my very average college career). On the other hand, athletes with an unrelenting belief in themselves are going to be dangerous. They are going to be able to push through the tough times and enjoy much more good than bad. Players with varying degrees of ability fit the mold. They could be superstars or the "overachievers" who seem to exceed the visible physical skills present to the eye. They have a way of rising to the occasion and of outperforming the expectations of others. Even more dangerous than the individual who believes in himself is the team that believes in its self. We have all seen them before. They have someone different step up every night, win in a variety of ways, and somehow again outperform the expectations of others. To these types of teams, what others think is irrelevant. They are special, and the belief in each other is evident in the way they play. These teams pick each other up after a bad at-bat or pitch, don't point fingers, and they seem to truly enjoy each other's successes.
So what can you do to build this belief in yourself? You earn it. Prepare, prepare, and then prepare some more. There is no secret formula. Allow yourself to push your boundaries and to see how good you can be. Take chances with the understanding that it is only through failure that we can grow. Then, you'll be that dangerous player nobody wants to face. Then, you'll be that special team who achieves what you work so hard to achieve.
SOTD for B: "I Believe In a Thing Called Love"- The Darkness
Got a different B for me? I'd love to hear from you with what you have. Please reach out either via Twitter or through email ehrlichb1@gmail.com. Until then, I'll "C" you tomorrow!
Like many in my age range, one of my first favorite shows growing up was Sesame Street. My favorite character was Cookie Monster. Cookie Monster had one of the most important characteristics of a high performer...he knew his "Why." Cookie Monster wanted cookies. That was it. No matter what a conversation was about, Cookie Monster found a way to get it back to his endless pursuit for cookies. He even had a song about the letter-C standing for Cookie. I can still remember sitting in my room and listening to the song on a Sesame Street record I had! The song was part of the great job Sesame Street did with teaching kids everywhere their letters. Inspired by their work, one of my favorite books by Harvey Dorfman, and a favorite fourth grade project of mine, I want to do something a little different over the next month or so. I'm going to hit you every day with the ABC's of Sport Psychology. The blogs are going to be shorter, more direct, and will address some topic of a different letter each day. Keep in mind it is impossible to address everything within the field in one word per letter, but I'm going to do my best to combine some main principles with words that may not be used as often as others. I hope you enjoy it and learn something along the way.
A is for Attitude. Attitude is one of the more talked about and controversial topics in sport psychology. I love a quote from Joe Maddon saying, "Attitude is a decision you make every day when you wake up in the morning." The reason attitude is somewhat controversial is because of the literal take on the quote. If we truly have 100% control of our attitude, why would anyone ever have a bad attitude? Semantics, I would argue. Our attitudes have been shaped largely by our experiences throughout life and how we perceive those experiences. That doesn't mean we can't change our attitudes though. To do so often requires effort, and I think the problem some have with the concept of attitude being a choice is the simplicity of the idea's implication. Maybe all would feel better about the concept if we understand it isn't just the simple, one-time decision saying, "I will have a good attitude today." It's doing the grunt work that follows if things do not go your way at different points throughout the day. It's making the decision over and over again. This may not be easy and requires great discipline, but so does being an elite athlete.
You may not have complete control over your attitude, but you can certainly have great influence over it. Attitude has a major effect on what we get from an experience. One relevant example taking place all over the country right now involves college baseball players home for Winter Break. They have spent the last four months building a team and individual foundation for the upcoming spring that can either be enhanced or undone by the next month. I've heard multiple coaches say it's the scariest month of the year for that exact reason. Players have been handed a packet with the prescribed workouts, but there is nobody there to hold their hand throughout. Attitude about the workouts will have a major impact on what the players get from them. The athlete who approaches workouts with enthusiasm and an attitude of knowing they will help him improve will have a completely different experience than the player who completes the workouts just to get them done. I'd argue that is absolutely within the realm of control of the athlete.
One area I think we give up way too much control over our attitude as human beings is when we allow the day of the week to dictate our attitude. If you're a teacher, do me a favor and ask five people how they are doing tomorrow. My nonexistent research says that at least two of the five people will say something akin to, "It's Monday" or "Five more days (until Winter Break)." These poor souls are readily admitting they are allowing the day of the week or the number of days until a holiday to dictate their attitude. In my opinion, we give ourselves a greater chance of consistency if we approach every day equally. Win today, or "Win Now." So much of performance centers around the concept of being fully engaged in the present moment. Well, working on this outside of competition will allow a greater chance for athletes to be able to do so in competition. Taking a day-by-day, moment-by-moment approach to attitude is a start.
What would your "A" be for the ABC's of Sport Psyc? Do you have a good story about a time your attitude had an impact on your experience? I'd love to hear from you.
