Intention and Attention Part 2 - Why the strategy helps sooooo much

Flashback to the end of a previous post.

Review, plan, prepare, perform…repeat.

As I mentioned, the more often you do this the easier it will get…more on this later.

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Well, it’s later, and as we move along I am going to reference a previous blog titled…Big Events, Emotions and Impacts. Feel free to go back and refresh yourself - but the gist of it with regard to this blog is that people tend to only reflect back following big events (ie. tryouts/selections, tournaments, playoffs). While there is often a lot to learn in these moments, if it is the only time we use the development cycle, we could be missing out on A LOT of opportunities to grow.

What if you went through the cycle of review, plan, prepare, perform following every game…every practice…training session…drill…rep of a drill?

Let me give an example from our environment at Zeal Performance and why it can be so powerful:

Ex. 1 - Athlete who does no self review or reflection.

• Coach - “which rep was the best during that last set?” (of squats..because everybody must squat)

• Athlete - “I’m not sure, could you tell me? (aka, I have no clue because I was coasting through it not thinking)

At this point the conversation is basically over - I could tell them which one I liked and why, but they will have very little awareness of what I’m talking about because they weren’t paying attention to it anyway…

Ex. 2 - Athlete who has a work-on and is cognizant of it prior to the set.

• Coach - “which rep was the best during that last set?” (of squats..because everybody must squat).

• Athlete - “I really liked the 2nd and 3rd because I felt like I did a better job of creating torque at my hip and sitting into it, whereas the 1st rep I kind of just sat into it quickly.”

• Coach - “did you notice any change when you pushed up out of those 2 reps?”

• Athlete - “It felt smoother and easier to produce more power out of the bottom.”

• Coach -”Cool, do you think you could do it every time?”

• Athlete - “100%”

Way more context, understanding, and development…

To me this is an approach to how you could develop yourself faster, regardless of the environment. Why waste time developing slower than optimal? - you never know when your opportunity to shine will present itself. So you might as well be as ready as you can be and develop as much as you can at every opportunity. To some it might be too much, especially depending on age and maturity level. But if your mindset is focused on growth and development, always try to challenge yourself and look for opportunities to grow!

Now, what event you are heading into may influence the mindset you head into that event with, but we can elaborate on that another time.

Until next time, enjoy the process and keep working hard.

Doug and the Zeal Sports Performance team.