I am very excited to share this with you! Great insight this week from our NHSSCA_MI COY Rich Kirby who is the Head Strength and Conditioning at Ludington High School (MI). This is a great read. Coach Kirby, thanks so much for sharing this with us!
Failure is often a product of one’s values not being in alignment with their dreams. Columnist Harvey Mackey wrote an article titled “The 7 Reasons We Fail” in Success Magazine. He states some people lack persistence and conviction. Others rationalize and dismiss past mistakes. Some lack discipline and lack self esteem. Maybe, your lack of success is as simple as upgrading your values? Every rep matters inside the weight room as well as outside the weight room. Your nutrition reps matter. Your sleep reps matter. Well defined goals matter. Interpersonal interaction reps matter. Athletes, how might you upgrade your values for more success?
Character is what you have when no one is looking. So what type of character do you exhibit in the weight room? Every rep must be performed correctly. Do you rush through your sets near the end of the workout simply to get done sooner. Do you skip some parts because you feel they are not of value or you simply do not like the exercise. Do you show up consistently? You need to upgrade your values to match your dreams. Show up to every lift. Be compelled and bring others with you. Realign your values by giving strong consistent effort and follow your prescribed plan. Too many athletes are over-skilled and understrengthed. I know that is not a word but I think you get what I mean. Be a multi sport athlete, enjoy your season, and get stronger.
Athlete, is it time to pay attention to your protein intake? I use the myfitnesspal app with my strength classes to track food intake. You might be surprised by how many of your athletes do not meet their protein needs. Athletes, Stop eating the 100 calorie snack packets of nothing that taste like sugary cardboard. Consume snacks that have vitamins/minerals and protein that nears a daily value (DV) of 20% like apples, oranges, bananas, nuts, yogurt, etc…. Stop grabbing highly caffeinated energy drinks and nutrient poor, sugar laden snacks for your lunch everyday. Upgrade that with a 100% whole grain turkey sandwich and a large portion of fresh vegetables that takes up half your plate. Top it off with low fat chocolate milk to add more protein, vitamins/minerals. Value your fluid needs. That low fat chocolate milk is a great recovery drink. Do you consume half your body weight in ounces of water regularly? If not, it’s time to upgrade your values to align with your dreams. Disclaimer, I am not a registered dietitian. Wendy Irlbeck R.D. is worth a follow on Instagram. She shares an incredible amount of reliable referenced based information on her site.
Shut down that device and get some sleep. You ask so much of yourself physically, training daily, competing multiple times a week, and some participating in a second training session trying to improve skills in an out of season sport. You refuse to turn off that phone, get off the X Box and get the appropriate amount of sleep. Your values are not matching your dreams. A study done at Stanford University with the women’s tennis team showed improved accuracy with their shots as well as faster sprint times when they averaged 10 hours of sleep per night. Sounds crazy when you have been surviving on 5-6 hours of sleep. Maybe it’s time to start thriving instead of surviving?
An athlete establishes a S.M.A.R.T. goal (specific, measurable, achievable, RELEVANT, timebound) to earn good grades for the trimester. Yet he/she is not willing to put in the extra work or push through a difficult class to make sure it happens. What they value does not match with what they want! If you establish a S.M.A.R.T. goal make sure it is relevant! Goals that you value or that are important to you are goals that you are more likely to make a reality. What you value must match your dreams.
When it comes to relationships, what do you do to build them? You say you want to be looked up to by all your teammates, yet you allow teammates to be excluded from unofficial team activities. You see a teammate that needs a ride home, yet you do not want to be bothered with it. You are too busy. You need to upgrade your values if you want to have strong relationships. Good team leaders look out for all teammates.
Success does not come from dreams and wishes. It comes from grit while chasing those dreams. Winners persevere and display a relentless passion and overcome numerous hurdles in order to reach their long term goals and dreams. Through that journey I believe wise individuals will admit they have experienced their fair share of failure. I believe failure is a necessary and sometimes unpreventable outcome. More times than not though, we fail because our values are not in alignment with our dreams.