Give 100% Today

As we learned from Part 1 of our Podcast with The Masters University Cross Country and Track Coach Zach Schroeder, it not tomorrow or a week from now that matters, but being able to give 100% of your effort and focus on what is happening today is the key to success. Zach learned this not from his experience as a runner or as a coach, but when he went to a basketball camp at a young age. It is a slogan that helps drive Zach’s life daily to this day.

This statement could not be more important in being successful not just in sport, but in life. As we have talked about extensively on this blog - it is vital that you focus on the moment in front of you, and giving everything that you have into that moment, then worrying about what happens days or months down the line. Here are some reasons why giving 100% of yourself just for today is so important:

Success is Built on Process

Every one of us has goals. It may be to be the best athlete on our team, or to be number one in our office in sales, or have the highest grade in the class. Whatever it may be, those goals cannot be achieved if you are just thinking about the outcome and ignoring what it takes to get there. What it takes to achieve your goals is a focus on the process of doing the little things right and being as prepared as possible for when tough times come along. By giving 100% of yourself today, you are not worried on the outcome – you are worried about how much better you are going to get that very day, even if the outcome is down the road. Success is built on the countless hours spent focusing on what needs to get done today. Start with being your best TODAY and the outcome will be what you want it to be.

No Moment is Bigger than the Next

I am a firm believer in the idea that there are no ‘big moments.’ That each moment is as important as the next one. If you are putting in the same amount of focus and effort into each rep at practice or task at work than you do on the day of the big game or presentation, then there should be no reason to panic – you have already been living in a space in which you focus and compete each day. We put too much pressure on our athletes now days that ‘the big game’ defines who they are. That the ‘big competition’ they need to draw on some super power in order to be at their best.  This is far from the truth if you are doing it right, and giving 100% today.

If you can get yourself, your team, or your office to start treating each part of their day is important, that it deserves 100% of their attention, then when the ‘big day’ comes, not only will the desired results come easier, but the effort will be repetitive to you and your team. You already treat everything with the utmost focus and attention to detail. So the ‘big game’ is just another moment for you to do the same.

 Start Your Journey to Becoming a High Achiever

Several weeks ago, we talked about what it takes to be a High Achiever. One of those things that makes High Achievers different from those who aren’t is their ability to be focused on the moment [to give 100% today]. Those who I would describe as low achievers are those who are so worried about the outcome that when they fail, they feel sorry for themselves, they think that they are never going to make it to their goal, and training falls apart. They are so wrapped up in the end goal that what is happening right in front of them does not matter. Also, they can’t focus in the moment. The current moment in training is something they see as ‘being in the way.’

I say all of this because I want you to ask of yourself if you do the same. What is it like for you when you train? Are you a high achiever who focuses in the moment or are you a low achiever who is just concerned with the outcome? No answer is the wrong answer. If you consider yourself a high achiever, great. If not – it’s time to start giving 100% today. Focus on the process and live in the moment.  

I hope that you will take some time from your day and listen to Zach’s podcast. His insight on working for today, having faith in yourself, and growing as a person is one that everyone should hear. We will be sharing Part II of our interview with him on Monday, along with more insights into what makes he and the people around him so successful.

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Email: Chris@achievementllc.com 

Achievement Consulting's Podcast Series - Zach Schroeder, Part 1

In his 13 years at The Masters University [formerly known as The Masters College], Coach Zach Schroeder has turned this small institution into one of the top NAIA programs in the country - with 4 National Champions and currently having both the men's and women's teams ranked in the top-4 Nationally. 

Zach discusses his incredible journey from being home schooled in a family of 9, to competing in college cross country, and how his commitment to growth not just professionally but in his faith, have helped shaped his life and his coaching philosophy.

Click Here to Listen: https://soundcloud.com/user-33832512/zach-schroeder-part-2

Are You Mentally Strong?

Yesterday, ESPN’s Steven A. Smith said that he believes that the Buffalo Bills Head Coach, Rex Ryan is Mentally Weak. Here is how he defined it:

“But then when you turn around and get ultra-sensitive when somebody brings up FACTS that contradict all the stuff you bloviated about, and you get all sensitive where that ultimately is your answer to every other question that follows, it shows me that you're mentally weak.”

Whether or not you agree with Mr. Smith is irrelevant. However, he did make some points that run hand and hand with those that are mentally strong compared to those you are, what Mr. Smith would call, Mentally Weak. So, now that he said these things, let’s take a look at a few things and see if you can consider yourself mentally strong.

Being Mentally Strong Means You Are Willing to Communicate

Mentally strong athletes talk to their teammates and coaches. They do not try to take the weight of the team on their shoulders and not work with the people around them. It does not make you mentally weak to be a good teammate or a coachable athlete. It makes your more respected and will boost your confidence. And if you are coaching or managing, there is no reason for you to think you are showing weakness by talking to your assistants or members of the team by telling them how to do things better or just talking to them in general. Don’t shut people off when it is time to be strong, bring people in.

Being Mentally Strong Means You Are Looking at the Facts and Finding Ways to Improve

There is nothing wrong with admitting that things are not going well. In fact, it’s the best thing that you can do for you, your team, and the people closest to you. The worst thing an athlete, coach, or manager could do is ignore hard data and just work off assumptions that things are actually going ‘ok’ or that they will ‘get better eventually.’ Smart, Mentally Strong, and Tough leaders don’t ignore the facts – in fact the data makes them better. It allows them to make better decisions not just focus on what they are doing, but how they are doing it.

Mentally Strong People Don’t Care if People Like Them or Not

When we do testing of athletes and managers, one of the things that we try to pay attention to is if they are considered ‘pleasers.’ Being a pleaser means that rather than making the right decisions, you are more concerned with the outcome being one that others may like then making the best decision for you and the team. Making the right decision may make you unpopular at times, but in the long run, popularity does not matter to those who are mentally strong. What matters to them is doing what is right and seeing the results of those decisions. Being popular is a result of making good decisions, because they were the best for the team.

Although this is a simple list, if you can have all three of these traits, then you are on the path to being mentally strong. If you don’t, remember, when in doubt – to communicate, live by the facts, and don’t worry about what people think of you. Do what is best for you and your team. If you can start to walk that path, then you will find the results will be what you want them to be.

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Mo Farah & Lessons in Confidence

As if there were any doubts previously, this summer Mo Farah solidified himself as the primer 5k/10k runner in the world with his double victories in Rio, which followed victories in the same events at the London Olympic Games. Much writing has been done about his training that takes place in 3 continents over more than half the year and how dedicated he has been over the past decade in dedication to his craft. However, very little has been discussed about his ability to be possibly the most mentally tough athlete in the world.

I believe that there are few athletes in on the planet that have the mental toughness and confidence that Farah possesses. He focuses on the process rather than the outcome, he believes in the training that he has done, and most importantly he knows that his confidence acts as a weapon that can take down anyone around him. As many coaches search for the training that Farah has done as a way to make their athletes faster, I would argue that the lessons he teaches in confidence could be of greater value to young and experienced runners. Here is what he teaches:

Don’t Focus On Outcome

Outcomes of performances are not given, then are earned. And in that space of earning a certain time comes a process that must takes place. If you are trying to run a certain time or obtain a certain place, you need to achieve certain splits, or come specific parts of the race specific places. In other words, there is a process that must take place. The outcome will be a result of the things that you have achieved in the process along the way.

Furthermore, sitting on the line and worrying about the other people in the race should not affect your outcome. They are not people in the race to hinder your performance. They are there to bring the best performance out of you. In the case of Mo Farah, during his early days of competing, he said that going out and focusing on his opponent was ‘like picking up glass,’ and that he was ‘focused on the outcome before the race even began (1).’ This not only negatively affected his performance, but allowed the race to already have an outcome before a single step had even been ran. 

So don’t worry about the outcome, don’t worry about who is in the race, focus on the process and your effort. That’s a great place to start.

Trust Your Training

It is very hard to do anything without a trust or a belief in something. In the case of athletics and business much of that trust stems from a belief in your team and yourself. And That belief is not just based on a fallacy that you think you can succeed in certain situations. It is rooted in the fact that you have prepared for this moment over and over again in training. Just like we discussed yesterday, this is not easy, as it takes courage sometimes to trust in yourself and do what is best for you. However when you make that decision – you can become pretty hard to beat.

After Farah began to believe in himself, and his confidence began to rise, when competitors would begin to make moves during races, he would not panic or focus on them – because he believed in his training. “I feel positive; I know I’ve trained well (1).” And not only is that trust in himself invaluable, also is his ability to communicate positively with himself. He is not beating himself up, he is not downgrading his performance. His is trusting and believing in the work he has done. That is a valuable tool to have.

 Know Your Confidence Is a Weapon

Now that we have established Farah as someone who focuses on the process rather than the outcome, and is confident and trusts on the work that he has put in, let’s examine how he uses those tools – weapons. Just as he works in the weight room, the track, and the roads while in training, and being able to call upon those things during a race, so equally important is his ability to use his confidence to win races. Farah claims that this confidence “allows (him) to dictate the race…you are in control (1) ,” compared to times that we spoke about earlier, in which he would give up control of the race before it even started by examining who was in the competition and thinking that they had the race already won.

Confidence is just as powerful weapon as a good kick, or the ability to maintain a pace for a long duration. What matters is not just thinking that you are confident, but basing it off of the work that you have done while focusing on the process right in front of you. When confidence is based off of the process and facts, then it becomes the weapon that you need in order to take down the competition.

As I hopefully have been able to lay out in this piece, it is very clear hat Mo Farah is not just the World’s best distance runner, but one of the most confident and mentally strong athletes on the planet. And the skills that he teaches should not just be used by you, but passed on and implemented by our athletes as soon as you can. Running as fast as Mo maybe a challenging goal, however becoming as mentally strong is something that all of us can do, it all comes down to effort.

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(1)    Kessel, Anna. “Mo Farah: Confidence feels like a weapon. You’re in control.” The Guardian. 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/jul/26/mo-farah-london-2012-olympics

3 Ways To Begin to Play [and Act] with Courage

Anyone who ever competes in any type of sport – from individual sports like golf, tennis, or track and field, to team sports like football, basketball or volleyball – gets to a point where they have to make a decision that involves this question:

When things are not going well, do I tense up and fight myself? Or do I trust my training, go for it, and just by myself?

You would be surprised how many people I work  with both in the business and sports world ask themselves that question and choose the ‘tension and fight myself’ option. Rather than do what is best for themselves, their team, or their business, they choose the route that seems easier, faster, and that avoids conflict with the person that they really are. However, when we make the best choice that is the decision that lines up best with who we are and the values that are instilled in us, although it may be a tough decision to make that moment – it shows courage. And that courage, especially when shown around a team, can inspire hope and act as an incredibly powerful motivational tool to others that may be going through something similar.

So, the question is this: when in this critical transition period of having to choose between self-commitment and tension [aka being someone you are not], what can you do to help gain confidence and trust yourself and your skills in that moment? Here are three things that you can focus on to help build that trust:

Remember that you have trained for tough situations

One of the goals of practice is not just to learn a skill, but it is to become confident in your ability to do the skill. Just as when you start learning to ride a bike, you not only learn how to do it, but each time you get on the bike, you feel more confident about your ability to do it right and your fear of falling down eventually disappears. The same goes for any skill in any sport that you have practiced.

The hours and hours of work you have put in have prepared you for this moment. And if you have a good coach, not only have they taught you the skill you are looking to achieve, but they prepared you for the MOMENT in which the you are in. You discussed it, you practiced it, you visualized it. Those three things, right there, are such incredible courage builders that once you reflect on them in a completion, you will begin to trust yourself extremely fast.

 Remember your affirmations [aka your behavior traits]

When I start working with either businesses or teams, before we even build a personal philosophy, is to identify the values and behavior traits that define who they are and that matter to them. I believe that this is the first step in your journey of not just self-discovery, but finding your most courageous self. Once you have identified what those 5-10 values and traits are, and learn to use them effectively [which we are going to discuss in just a second], then I believe that your will not just become courageous, but not matter what the outcome of a performance, you will know whether you were true to yourself – which as we said earlier – could not be more important.

How you use these words are at the root of confidence and positive self-talk. You don’t become braver by telling yourself that you suck. You don’t gain courage by doing something that is out of character [click here to read last week’s article on why training character is so important]. You gain confidence and courageousness by reminding yourself of the affirmations of who you are. You are strong, tough, smart – you are a bad-ass. And they are not just words, they are who you are. That is a pretty strong weapon to have in competition.

 Take a deep breath and relax.

It is pretty hard to make good, rational decisions when you are tense and not enough air is getting to your body. When we are not getting enough oxygen not only can we not do the things that we have trained to do effectively, but we don’t think clearly and we begin to panic. When we start to panic, unless you have trained to do the opposite – we start to thing negatively.

One of the strongest weapons that athletes fail to use is their breath [and not because of its odor]. Being able to just take a deep breath and relax, even for two seconds, can make an enormous difference in your ability to make courageous decisions. Reason being is that this breath not only will help slow your heart rate and get more oxygen to the body, but it gives you a moment to come back to center – to the center of who you are as a person, reminding yourself of your past work so you can trust yourself, and back to the center of focusing in on the moment.

One more note about courage: Athletes right now are showing courage all across the country for standing up for their beliefs. Whether you agree or disagree [I would love to hear your thoughts on this too, email me at chris@achievementllc.com], but what they are doing is courageous. And they can make these decisions to stat up for what they feel is right – because they know who they are and what they believe in. And that in itself, it a powerful thing. Don’t be afraid to be different. Don’t be afraid to be who you are. Just believe in yourself.

I would love to hear how you deal with tough situations that require courage, so email me at chris@achievementllc.com and share your ideas! It’s not easy to be courageous. But if you can just slow down, take breath, and remember your training and who you are – you will be off to a great start.

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4 Solutions for Pitchers Anxiety

Finally, fall baseball & softball is underway at Colleges and Universities across the country and its time to start training for the spring. And with that preparation, comes anxiety of desiring to perform will in front of your coaches and peers. Very few sports allow for anxiety to be more apparent than baseball, especially pitching. It is one of the few sports where the starter has a win and loss record, where the attention is so much on them, and where the ability to deal with stress is so vital from effort to effort [also known as pitch to pitch].

Because of the amount of pressure pitchers put on themselves [especially young ones], anxiety will naturally arise in the fall training program in pitchers more than it will any other position on you team. Having said this, let’s look at how we can solve anxiety in pitchers early in the fall so they can deliver in the spring.

Observing Over Judging

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When your anxiety is high, so is the chance that you are judging your performance rather than observing it. Let me explain: When you judge something, the majority of the time you are criticizing your performance, rather than making an observation of your performance. When you are observing, you are paying attention to what is or is not working, and allowing yourself to make effective observations and solutions to your issues.

So, begin to look at your performance not from a critical standpoint, but from a safe place that allows you to observe your performance, rather than judge it. Just because you are anxious and the results are not what you want them to be, it does not mean that you are a terrible pitcher. It does not mean that you are always going to be a terrible pitcher. It means that you are judging your performance in a negative fashion. Observe what you are doing, and make adjustments accordingly. Until you get the thought in your head that you are not always going to be the way you are, then you will not be able to relieve yourself of your anxiety.  

Effective Breathing

There is a big difference between breathing and effective breathing. If you are anxious during a game, more than likely your breathing is shallow, with inhalations beginning in the upper part of your lungs and exhalations being either very minimal or extremely aggressive. So if you have very shallow breaths and with very strong exhalations, how can you get through 9 innings of baseball or 7 innings of softball where you are going to have to do that routine over 115 times? Well, the answer is that you really can’t do this and expect to be successful.

So, how can you breathe effectively during your performance in a way that decreases your anxiety? First, your breath should start through your nose and as the air enters your body, you should be filling your stomach up with that air, allowing your ribs to expand and the deepest breath possible to take place. A good way to learn this is to lay flat on your stomach with your hands at your side. As you breath in from your nose, allow the air in your stomach to lift you off the ground. If you don’t feel a rise in your body position, focus on filling that stomach up as much as possible and feel the lift that it gives your mid-section. If that happens, then you know you are doing it right.

Second, breathe out through your mouth in a controlled, relaxing manner. This exhalation should allow the muscles in your upper body and lower back to relax and put you in the proper physical and emotional place to attack the strike zone. This maybe uncomfortable to learn at first since so many pitchers are into doing a very aggressive exhalation. So, this is something that you can practice continually, just by doing it while walking around in your daily life.

Once you have taken a good relaxing breath, now you are ready to give yourself a check and be ready to attach the strike zone properly.

Use a Check

The utilization of a check in your routine to relieve your anxiety can not be stressed enough. This is how you should use a check in your routine:

Once you have taken your exhalation, your best bet is to give yourself and check and determine if you are both mentally and physically ready to pitch. If you are not focused, if you are not relaxed, if your self-talk is negative in nature – THEN STEP OFF THE RUBBER and refocus. Why would you ever do anything that is not at your max ability? If you get to the point where you are ready to go into your throwing motion and you are thinking, “I’m still tight. I’m feel like shit. I’m not ready to throw this, but I’m just gonna do it anyway,” then why on earth would you throw it?

Remember that you usually have 20 seconds to gather yourself, take your breath, and get ready to attack the strike zone. If you need more time, take more time. If you are ready, then pitch the ball. But don’t feel like you need to be ‘tough’ and throw the ball when you are not ready. Pitch when you are ready to have the most success and feel ‘ready’ both mentally and physically.

Positive Self Talk

Lastly, something that you can be doing throughout the pitching process is moving your self-talk from negative to positive. If your anxiety is high, then there is a good chance that you are saying things to yourself that would be considered negative [again, judging rather than observing]. Especially if you have been experiencing anxiety for over 2 weeks. That negative talk has created a new groove in your mental frame work that now feels comfortable and safe.

Your job as a pitcher is to get back to the groove of saying positive things to yourself based on the past work, building up your confidence from things that you have done successfully before. THIS IS NOT ‘hyping yourself up’ based on something that you cannot do or have not done. This is talking to yourself in a way that is positive and reassuring in the work that you have done previously. "I know how to do this, I have done this in practice, I got this." 

These are all skills that you can practice both on and off the field. By observing rather than judging, breathing and checking your body and mind, and communicating with yourself in a positive manner, not only will you see your anxiety decrease, but your performance will begin to be what you have prepared and desired it to be.  

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3 Reasons Why Athletes Should Never Want to Be Like Jay Cutler

I don’t like to use this blog as a way to bash people, but more of a way to teach lessons to athletes and coaches in the emotional and mental game of sport. However, I do think that when it is clear that an athlete just flat out does not give a damn, that we also learn lessons from this to make sure that we are teaching our teams not to have the same attitude or outlook as them.

That is why today I am writing this article on why it is vital that your athletes not be like Chicago Bears Quarterback Jay Cutler. They need to care. Cutler sadly, has put on a Master’s Degree Course on what it is like to not give a damn about being talented, working hard, or being a good teammate. If athletes are going to be role models [and like it or not, they are] then their effort is something that people should be telling their kids about. Hence, no parent should ever tell their son or daughter to play or present themselves like Cutler.

His effort is non-existent at best. His attitude is flippant, not just negative. His ability to be a teammate is nowhere to be found. It is a shame that someone with that much talent,  does so little with so much. So, having said all of this, let’s get into 3 specific reasons why you, your athletes, and your children should never be like Jay Cutler:

His Effort

Whether it is a pick-up basketball game, a U-10 soccer game, or a College Baseball Tournament, you at least, at an absolute minimum, want your team to care. If they care, they will put in an effort. Pat Summit used to say that the one thing you can control is your effort. If your team does not try, then they should go find something that they really enjoy and do that. Cutlers continuous and routine ability to not care about how hard he throws, the accuracy of his attempts, or winning in general is nothing that you would want passed on to your team. I guarantee you that if you have a team that puts in a good effort, that is at or close to the best of their ability, then win, lose, or draw, you can walk away at peace with yourself knowing that they did they best they could. Remember, just like we spoke about a few weeks ago – it is not what you do, but how you do it that matters.

How He Presents Himself

When was the last time you saw Cutler in a press conference, either before or after the game, exude confidence or the attitude of someone who gives a damn? Don’t worry, I’ll wait…can’t think of one yet? Because it doesn't happen. How you communicate is not just how you talk, it is your body language. I tell people I work with all the time to walk into a room, on the mound, onto a course, with the body language of a winner. Shoulders back, head up, proud of who you are. This is the opposite of Jay Cutler. Cutler walks into press conferences at a nearly comatose pace, with his head down, upset that he has to even breathe the same air as the press core. Is it because he doesn’t like the media? Probably. But at the same time, when you get paid as much money as he does, he should at least respect himself and his team in a way that shows he is proud to be a Chicago Bear – one of the most respected organizations in all of sports [well, that was until Cutler showed up]. The next time you meet with your team, tell them to present themselves with pride and with confidence. Even if they are not confident, you don’t have to show it. You just need to act like it. Then you are half-way there.

His Ability to Be a Good Teammate

There are two different types of teammates – those who want to lead by example, and those who want to be vocal. Cutler is neither. He has publicly blamed teammates. His teammates have got in his face after bad decisions and he does not seem to care. That is unacceptable. As coaches, I think that you would be OK with either type of teammate. But someone who is not either of those things is nothing but a problem. Part of the lessons you learn from athletics is how to work well with others. You learn to encourage, challenge, and engage with people on a deep level. When was the last time we saw Cutler do any of the 3 things that was just mentioned? I can’t remember either. Even if an athlete has zero talent, the least that they could do is be a good teammate. That’s something that we can always remember and it will not just teach that person valuable lessons beyond sport, but will make your team better.

You may have just read this and concluded that I hate Jay Cutler. I don’t. My family’s roots are in Chicago. I am a Chicago Bears fan. I don’t hate Cutler. I do think however that he can do better. And if he does not want to put in the effort, communicate, or be a good teammate, then I hope that the Bears do the right thing for the organization and their fans. Whatever they think that is. And as far as your team goes, remember – don’t have your athletes be like Jay Cutler.

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The 3 Core Principals of Learning How to Focus Correctly

One of the misconceptions about focus is that it is simple and it just means to pay attention. In actuality, it is much deeper than that. Learning how to focus involves self-awareness, full engagement, and the ability to re-focus. If someone says, ‘hey, you are not focused, you are not paying attention.’ They do not understand they full breadth of what focusing means. So let’s break it down in what it means to focus:

First, You Can’t Focus without Being Self-Aware

So if self-awareness is so important, then what is it exactly and how can someone become self-aware? FIRST – It is living in the present moment. This is paramount to being successful. If you can be present in a moment, then you have the best chance to be successful right then. You are not concerned about what the outcome will be because you are too obsessed with the process of getting things done right then and there. SECOND – It is understanding who you are. Knowing who you are is not only powerful in itself, but effective in getting you deeply engaged. If you know who you are, then you know you have the ability to be more confident, understand that certain situations may increase their anxiety and hence, have routines that are meant to keep them calm in times of stress.

You cannot and will not be successful unless you have the ability to be in the present and understand who you are. You may have talent, excel at the technical aspect of the sport, but until you can learn to be in the moment and be connected to it [which we will get into shortly], then you are only going to get so far.

You Need to Be Connected to What You Are Doing

Anyone can pay attention. However, in order for you to really understand and then be able to retain the information that is being thrown at you or succeed in a situation that is challenging, you need to be connected to the moment. Connection would be defined as being linked to something. Once you are told something, when something happens, or when it is about to happen, it is one thing to be able to hear it or anticipate it, but it is another thing to being able to connect an instruction or a moment that makes you fully engaged and connected.

Much of being connected has to do with dealing with how you breathe. You can’t be fully engaged in a moment if you are not breathing properly. If you are nervous, your breath will be short. If you are not attentive, your breath will be shallow. But if you are engaged, then you are breathing through your nose, filling your stomach with air, allowing as much oxygen to get into your body as possible, slowing your heart rate, and allowing yourself to focus. And your exhalation is no longer aggressive. It is slow and relaxing, soothing then tension and in your muscles, and allows you to totally be alert and connect to the moment. It is much deeper than just paying attention to someone or some moment. It is about putting your body and mind in the right place to be successful.

You need to know what it means and how to re-focus

Being able to re-focus is truly at the center of being able to focus. When you can re-focus effectively, it also means that you are aware of the situation, the environment, and how you are reacting to it. We are all going to lose focus throughout the day, and in stressful situations the chances for this to happen increase greatly. However if you are aware of what is happening around you and how you are reacting, then you have all the opportunity in the work to re-focus and get back on track.

Here is a good example: If you are in a situation in which things are not going your way, you more than likely will be start to drift your focus to how negative things for you in that moment. You being to judge your ability, and rather than observe and make corrections you begin to tense up and try to force yourself to do something that is not effective. What you should be doing is observe how you are doing and feeling, recognize it anything that is negatively effecting your performance, and re-focus on doing things the proper way. Look at this chart as a good example:

Judging does nothing to help you. But observing and then re-focusing is the best technique that you can use to allow yourself to utilize your awareness and your connectivity to the task in front of you.

The next time that you are instructing someone, don’t go down the “pay attention…listen to me…look at me and pay attention damn it” road. Go down your check list and make sure that your team is ready to learn and in moments where they compete, understand what it means to be fully engaged. And as a player, know who you are, be connected to that moment, and have the courage re-focus when things start to get away from you. If you can do all of this, you will be focused, perform at the level that you want, and the outcome will be even better than what you hoped.

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5 Reasons Why Your Team Should Be Built On Having The Right Character

Far too often, when examining the success of our teams, the only thing that we look at are the results. Whether they are a nightmare to deal with or not, as long as they are winning, we tend to 'deal with it.' They may break team rules, school rules, and break the law – but as long as your team is doing well in the standings, you put up with it.

That’s nuts.

If you are a High School or College Coach, you will get to work with an athlete for anywhere between 4-6 years, if they even stick around the whole time. If your athlete goes on to live to be 80, then after he or she leaves your tutelage, they will then have nearly 60 years of NOT being on your team. If that is the case, then why are you only focused on making he or she a better athlete? Shouldn’t the things that we teach them be skills that they need to have for the rest of their lives? I know that you may be thinking, ‘Well, my particular sport teaches them lessons about life, so why do I need to do anything character specific?’

Well, it has everything to do with it. YOU need to be the teacher. YOU need to implement the skills that will not just make them better athletes, but people of character. That should be the center of your program. If you are building better people first and foremost, I guarantee you that your team is going to be better off.

Here are 5 reasons why focusing on character is important:

Reducing of Anxiety for Both the Coach & Athlete

When you have an athlete, or sometimes a group of athletes that are not doing what they are supposed to be doing either on or off the field, it is natural that your anxiety as a coach will increase. For the athlete – I would bet that 9 times out of 10, they know what they are doing is wrong. And if that is the case, then each time they come out to practice or a game, the focus is not where it should be. It is on the thought of, ‘Oh I hope coach doesn’t talk to me about what happened last night.’

If you are focused on the character of your team first, then you as a coach will be able to focus on making them a better player because their mind and emotions will be in the right place. And as the athlete, there will be no reason to avoid conversation and contact with coach at practices and at games. Making better decisions is going to make you a better player, and most importantly a better person.

More than Sport Specific Coaching, Character Building will be with them for the rest of their lives

As we said earlier in this piece, if an athlete lives to be 80 years old, then they have another 50-60 years to live AFTER they are done being coached by you. The skills that you teach them from a technical point of view are important – because in the long run, that is vital in order to win games. These skills will be able to passed on to their children, other players that they may coach, and depending on the sport, used to help them stay in shape and disciplined for the rest of their lives.

However, they are not skills that they are going to use every day. Not every day are they going to teach people to run, jump, or throw. They are however going to take the things that you teach them that will build their character every day of their lives. Character is not something that you take a day off of. It is the daily grind of making the right decisions, even when they may not be popular. It is about being a better person for your children and people around you. Lessons about character are forever. So why not teach them about the next 50 years rather than just 4?

Athletes will invest more in you, the coach

I am a firm believer that an athlete will try more if they see that you care about their growth as a person. Athletes are not ‘stupid.’ They know when you are lying to them and when you are trying to be up-front with them. Also, athletes [especially in high school and in college] are always looking for their coach as someone to lean on, talk to, and act as an example of someone they can become. If you are teaching your players the right life skills, they will be more invested in you and in turn, play harder for you.

Let’s take that idea one more step further…if you have a team of athletes that all are trying to work on their character, they will want to play harder not just for you, but for each other. When you are a young person trying to become a person of character or even a person who is trying to find their way in the world, the more you are around people that are just like you, the greater you will try to improve yourself. Just like the soccer team that is working on technical skills during practice, a team trying to build their character will push each other to be better and make better decisions. This unification process will increase the investment in your team, in you, and in each other. And when you play for something or someone bigger than yourself, you have a team that is going to be hard to beat.

 Creates a better team environment

Ask yourself this question: Isn’t the team environment in practice or games better when you have a bunch of athletes that are making the right decisions instead of a bunch of people that are acting as selfish individuals making the wrong decisions? I think we both know the answer to the question. If you make the center of your program character first, and then worry about their performance, then you are going to have a better team environment.

While you are building character, you are also focusing on making people better listeners, better communicators, and building a culture of accountability, perseverance, and comradery.  When you focus on performance, you are more likely to have a group of individuals so focused on their own performance that the opportunity to build cohesion lessens. And as that opportunity shrinks, so does the opportunity to have a team environment that you desire.

It gets at the heart of sport, which is building better people  

At the heart of all of this, is the at one of the intentions of sport is to create better people. People who can work well with others, who can communicate effectively, and how leave your team not just with better skills from a technical perspective, but with positive character traits that they can take with them for the rest of their lives. It is not just about winning, or how can outperform another, but what can you do as a coach to build the best all-around person that you can during your time with them. If you do that, then you are on the right track to being successful.

I hope that after reading this that you will take a look at your program and determine what is at its core. Maybe it is not any of the characteristics that we discussed today. But whatever it is, it is our suggestion that the center of your program has people leaving with a better understanding of how to live a life that is rooted in building the best person you can. Once you do that, I think that you and your team is going to be better for it.

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Nick Arciniaga & Finding New Ways to Challenge Yourself

In Part II of our Podcast with Under Amour’s Nick Arciniaga, Nick, who has competed in the last 3 Olympic Trials in the Marathon, discussed how he finds different ways to challenge himself:

"As I go along whether I am in a race or in training is it always important to me that I am finding different ways to challenge myself. It makes the entire experience more enjoyable. That's really important to me. I think that when you run as many miles as I do [140 a week at times] then if you can't find different ways to challenge yourself, its going to be more challenging to get through it."

There is a saying that goes ‘variety is the spice of life.’ And if you are going to have long term goals, it is vital that in order for you to have success in the long run, you are going to need to find different ways to challenge yourself. Here is not only why it is important, but different ways in which you can challenge yourself:

Create Short Term Goals to Help Boost Your Confidence Along the Way

If you have a goal that you are looking to accomplish that is several months away, odds are you are going to get board at some point. It’s not that you don’t want to reach your goal, more so, day after day of trying to achieve something gets exhausting without testing yourself and giving yourself other challenges along the way. Just like Nick, who is doing test efforts to not only test his fitness, but to give him another way to challenge himself, pick specific points along the way in where you will test yourself. That could be test in the weight room, in the batting cage, or on the track. Whatever it is, doing this will give you something to shoot for in the short term, when your long term goal still may be months away.

Do Something That is Not Specifically Related to Your Goal, But Still Challenges You

Running a 5k on the road [for example] encompasses lots of skills that are not just aerobic training. In requires building your strength, concentration, coordination, and [at the end of the race at least] anaerobic fitness. So why would you challenge yourself to just run distances at specific times if there are so many things that you will need in order to race at your best? As you heard in both parts of Nick’s interview, there are many different things that he goes through in training other than running that he needs in order to race at his best. So, having said all of that, set goals for yourself in your supplementary training.  I guarantee you that if you hit benchmarks in the weight room, increasing your ability to focus, and bettering your coordination [just for example] you will not only have a greater chance to race faster, but more confidence going into your competition.

Remember That How You Do Something is More Important Than What You Are Doing

As we spoke about last week, another way to challenge yourself is by focusing not just one the actual work that you are doing, but the quality in which you are doing something. Nick, who is not just training for several elite marathons throughout the year, but looking at make the greatest Olympic Team in the world every four years, even though he is running 140 miles per week, is much more about how is he doing his work than he is when It comes to what he is doing. There are no days that are just ‘junk’ days. There are days that are throw-away days. The quality in which he is doing it is much more important that just going out and making sure he just goes and ‘gets it in.’ So my question for you is, are you more concerned with what you are doing rather than how you are doing it? Is the quality of the work important to you? If not, what are you going to do to change it?

As you go along your own journey to achieving your goals, realize that there are many different ways that you can challenge yourself. Don’t let the monotony of training each day effect your passion for what you are doing. Find different ways to test yourself and challenge yourself each day. And if you can do that, and have do it each day effectively, then maybe one day, you can be on your way to training for your 4th Olympic Trials, just like Nick.

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Achievement Consulting's Podcast Series - Nick Arciniaga, Part II

Under Armour's Nick Arciniaga joins us again in Part II of our Achievement Podcast Series. The 3x Olympic Trials Qualifier in the Marathon discusses his trials races at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 , along with how he continually kept himself motivated through the up's and down's of being a professional runner. 

Please click on the link to here our Podcast with Nick https://soundcloud.com/user-33832512/nick-arciniga-interview-part-ii

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Nick Arciniaga Has it Right - Your Biggest Competition is Yourself

On yesterday’s Achievement Podcast [that you can find HERE], we had the opportunity to speak one of America’s Premier Distance Runners, 3x Olympic Trials Qualifier in the Marathon, Under Amour’s Nick Arciniaga. A graduate of Cal State Fullerton, Nick has had 2 top-10 finishes at the Trials, and in 2 weeks, will be competing in the Berlin Marathon, one of the world’s most prestigious and elite meets.

As you will learn in the podcast, much of Nick’s motivation comes from a constant competition not just with his teammates from in College at Fullerton, or in Flagstaff training with his training partners – but with himself.

“My Dad would always challenge us to races when I was in elementary school, asking us to race him across the school yard or the soccer field…and I just found that enjoyable to see how much I could challenge myself. See how fast I could run the mile time trial in elementary school or whatever…Its always been a personal competition for myself to see how hard I can push myself to be better, and see how much more I could improve”

 Currently, there is a large focus on the idea of dominating, such as ‘dominating your opponent’or ‘dominating the moment.’ It’s this ultra-aggressive, sometimes out of control thought process that means that if you are not constantly kicking someone’s or somethings ass, then you are failing. This is a philosophy that I am completely against [if you disagree – tell me why at chris@achievementllc.com]. I believe, just like Nick, that the biggest challenge that you will face that the one that can lead you to your best performance – is yourself. Here is why:

It Allows You to Be Fully Engaged

When you become so focused on someone or something else before or during a competition, you lose your ability to be fully engaged. Being fully engaged is something that I feel is not talked about enough in sport. There is much talk about the process, and focusing on the moment [all of which is extremely important], however there is very little written specifically about being fully engaged with yourself during competition. If you are going to play or race at a level that you consider to be your best, you must be fully engaged. What good does it do focus on something else other than being your best in that particular instance? Focusing on your opponent moves that focus away from full engagement. Focus on your own performance first and foremost, and then react to your opponent not as someone or something to dominate over, but as someone that is there to bring out the best in you.

It Allows You to Focus on The Process

When your focus is on beating the person or the course that you are competing against [this would be known as focusing on the outcome], you lose focus on the process of how you are going to be successful. Remember that in order to get somewhere, there is a 1,000-mile journey that takes place. There are thousands of steps in a cross country race, nearly 100 plays in a basketball game, and almost 300 pitches in a baseball game that need to happen before the outcome of a competition is decided. If that is the case, then why would you be focused on the outcome if so much has to happen before the game or race is over? By competing with yourself first and foremost, the focus shifts to being in the moment and focusing on the process that will lead to a better outcome. Once we are fully engaged and focusing on the process, we can then start to analyze our performance more accurately.

It Allows You to Analyze Your Performance More Accurately

How do you know how well you are really performing if you are gaging your success bases on whether or not you are dominating someone else or not? Sure, you could be winning the race or be up by 30 points, but that does not necessarily mean that you are performing your best [What if the team is significantly less talented? What if they are injured? What if they got lost on the course?]. We actually saw this recently in College Football, when Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban, after winning a game by 4 touchdowns, commented that he had never been more disappointed in a win ever, as they did not play the way that he expects his team to. When your focus is internal rather than who you are playing or running against, your awareness increases, hence giving you the ability to analyze what you are doing compared to whether or not you are beating someone. How can you fully notice the quality of your technique if your focus is on someone else? So once we are fully engaged and process focused, and you can analyze your performance better – NOW you are ready to perform at your absolute maximum.

Nick’s outlook on how he views performance is not just effective for him, but should be motivational to all of us who are looking to perform at our best. If you are focused on challenging yourself and pushing your limits, then you will find the outcome much more rewarding than you could ever have imagined.

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