The strategy of successful athletes that helps to win in sports and life

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The best coaches advise not to focus on the goal in general, but to give all the best at every single moment.

More often than not, we think we have to focus on something to be successful. But what if focusing on the end goals isn't the main thing? Coaches Shaka Smart and John Fox agree, advising athletes to "trust the process."

American football coach Nick Saban was one of the first to spread this idea. Lionel Rosen, a professor of psychiatry, told him about it.

Rosen's main point is that sports, especially football, are complex. No one is able to fully keep track of all possible scenarios during the season, let alone a specific game.

Over the course of the season, the sheer number of games, players, statistics and other things create an incredible load. At the same time, as Monte Burke writes in his book on Saban, Rosen found that, on average, one game in American football lasts only seven seconds.

He asked the question: What if the team only focused on those seven seconds - what they can control? What if you try to do everything gradually, step by step, without concentrating on winning?

Do not think about winning the Individual European Championship. Don't think about the national championship. Think about what you need to do during this call, during this game, at this very moment. This is a process: let's think about what we can do today, about the task ahead.

Nick Saban is an American football coach.

This idea was adopted by the players of Saban, who won 20 times in three different championships in eight years. The coach himself also received several awards.

Following the process makes it easier

Imagine you have to do something difficult. Don't focus on it - break the task down into parts. And just do what needs to be done now with maximum impact. Then move on to the next part. Follow the process, not the result.

The road to success in any area is the path you follow step by step.

You just need to do what is important now, but you need to do it confidently, without being distracted by anything. Then, over time, even the greatest difficulties will become completely surmountable.

This was clearly demonstrated by one of the pioneers in the field of meteorology, James Pollard Espy, who did not know how to write and read until the age of 18. Once he listened to the famous speaker Henry Clay, and when he finished, Aspey tried to talk to him, but could not get a word out of himself. Then one of his friends shouted: "He wants to be like you, although he cannot read!"

Clay picked up one of the posters that had his last name, CLAY, written in large letters. He looked at Espie and said, “See, boy? This is the letter A. You have only 25 other letters left to learn. This is how Espy understood the essence of the process. He entered college a year later.

Process is the opposite of disorder

A disordered mind loses the essence of what matters right now and is distracted by thoughts of the future. This may sound obvious, but we often forget about it at the right time.

If right now someone knocked you down and pinned you to the ground, how would you react? They probably would have panicked. And then they would try with all their might to throw this person off of us. But that would not help: with the weight of his body, he can effortlessly press your shoulders to the ground. And you, trying to break free, will soon run out of steam.

The process is exactly the opposite. At first, without panic, you collect all your energy. You are not doing anything stupid or wasting your energy. You focus on not getting worse. Then you raise your arms, draw air in your chest, roll over on your side and grab the villain by the hand or pinch him with your hips - in general, step by step you do everything so that the attacker begins to surrender. Until you are free.

Being trapped is just a position, not a sentence.

When you are preparing a product for release, the competition can scare you. When you dream of writing a book or making a film, you may be intimidated by a lot of work. We often give up because we think the task is impossible.

In fact, any task can be solved - just break it into pieces and just start performing, step by step. When you know what you're going to do next, the obstacles that arise no longer seem so insurmountable.

Do not hurry. Some problems are more difficult to solve than others. First, deal with those that are right in front of your nose. Then move on to the rest. You will definitely succeed.