message 8

I have finished my crazy 3 weeks.  It included speaking in conferences in Scotland and Spain as well as working at academies in Belgium and various parts of England and Canada.  

From now on i will write this blog weekly and i hope you continue to enjoy it.

for this post i would like to share with you a few of the more interesting meetings/experiences i had over the last few weeks

I met Jackie Reardon, co-author of "MINDSET".  I will keep you posted as i read the book or feel free to share thoughts if you have already read it.  By talking with her it seems to be a very practical read that can be helpful and not just interesting as so many books on the subject seem to be.  I liked the concepts of action vs story thinking

I finished reading Beyond Winning by Gary Walton.  It was a very enjoyable read.  i loved the label of "philosopher coaches" and the stories of the 6 legendary coaches were moving.  It is clear that whatever the sport the "develop the person" model is key to so many coaches success.  i have heard so many coaches say that, but is it really what you do?

I sat in on an NLP session on "effective language" and goal setting.  Both were great, i was really impressed with the goal setting.  Considering how many goal setting sessions i have been part of and delivered it is great when you can still take something from it.  In this case it was the idea of "walking through your goals".  i do not normally respond to these types of sessions but i have to say it was really really good.  the idea is to write your goal out and put it on the wall at the end of the room.  then write out all the short term goals you will need to meet to successfully reach your final goal.  Take it right down to what you need to do today to get you started.  Once all your short term goals are written out and on the floor in the sequence they will happen on the way to your goal then walk over them.  Reflect on how it feels to have met that first goal, then the next.  Are there spots that seem more difficult or more inspiring.  Reflect on why that might be and how you can work through them all.  In the end I found the overwhelming feeling of "this is easy" as you don't see 50 actions to meet your goal, just the next step..... i have already walked through the first 2 steps towards my goal!!

At the Spanish conference i had a chance to watch a few of the top spanish coaches do their thing.  it is so clear that it is not about the skills they teach through their drills it is the people they create.  They teach players to push their limits, to get more out of themselves.  i loved the quote "if it is done too well it is too easy".   There is a constant pursuit to push yourself harder then the last time.  No wander they have a steady flow of champions.....

Talk to you next week