Know Your Purpose For Coaching

Know what your purpose is, know what is most important to you, and know what you will emphasize and prioritize, and then focus your energy to aligning who you are and what you do with your purpose.

It is not easy to prioritize character and winning, because the more success that you have, the harder it is to maintain your same moral compass.  But if you consistently emphasize the person over the athlete and character over winning, your athletes will do more of what it takes to win, they will find success, and their character will shine like a beacon in the center of the ring of performance.

It's very important to know the reason behind what you are doing at any moment.  It's important to look at sports through the correct lens and get the purpose behind it right.  It's important to know your purpose for coaching, to know who you are as a person and as a coach, and to make sure that you rally your energy so that your energy is aligned to what is most important in your life.

Dr. Jim Loehr makes these statements in the video above.  He encourages you to focus more on character growth and developing better people and to make that character development your identity instead of your win-loss record.  He encourages you to focus and prioritize the person over the player because when you can leverage all of the tremendous stresses and demands of competitive athletics to help people become stronger, more character-based human beings, the strength of character shines like a beacon in the center of the circle in terms of performance.  

Better character leads to becoming more focused, more resilient, grittier, tougher, better, harder working, and overall better athletes.

What you focus on is going to make a real difference in how you operate, lead and coach.  If you frame the purpose of sports to build stronger, healthier character, no one loses because they also become healthier, stronger people and athletes in the process.  The healthier that you are at the character level, the better you will be able to perform because the better that you are able to understand what life is all about, and the better you are at integrating failure because it will come at some point, the better off that you will be in and out of sports.

Sports do not teach character by itself.  The more successful that you get in sports and the higher the competitive profile that you build, the harder it is to stay humble and to stick to your moral ground.  The pressures to win become greater and greater the better that you get and the normal rules of ethics and behavior become less and less important than the need to win or keep your spot.

The only way that sports teach character is when coaches make it the number 1 issue.  If you want to make sports a character-building experience, you can.  But you are going to have to fight, go against the grain and set a different path because it is not the norm in today's world.  You will have to walk differently than a majority of others and you will have to risk a lot because you may not win in the beginning.  You are going to have to have a pretty deep commitment in the beginning to sticking to who you are and what you care about, and if you maintain that commitment to your purpose, you will have an impact on the lives of others.

The Goldman Dilemma

Dr. Goldman ran an experiment for 10 years among to some of the best athletes in the world.  He gave them a survey.  The dilemma addressed in the survey was that you could take a pill that could give you all the success in the world in your sport and to enjoy everything that comes with it.   The catch was that you would die in 5 years.

More than 1/2 of the athletes surveyed over the 10-year span said that they would take the pill.  A majority of the high-level athletes valued sports greatness so much that they were willing to die for it.

On one hand, you could say that this level of commitment is what it takes to be the best at something.  On the other hand, it shows how important it is to reframe sports in a healthier way.

If you want to use sport to teach and develop character, you have to be intentional.

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What was your original motivation for becoming a coach?  If it was to make a real difference in the lives of other people, don't forget it.  

Know what your identity is.  We all have an identity, and if your identity is solely based on your win-loss record, then you are in trouble.  We only have so much control over our win-loss record.  When an athlete begins to base their identity and who they are on their ranking and how they are performing, they don't have control over that.  Bet on things that you know that if you work hard, you can earn.  Convert your arrogance to humility.  Build the muscle of humility; it will help you anywhere you go.  Arrogance won't get you anywhere because when you are too full of yourself, no one wants you to succeed no matter how talented you are.  

You are so much more than your win-loss record.

The way that you treat others is under your control, regardless of the storms going on around you.

You can leverage all of the tremendous stresses and demands of competitive athletics to help people become stronger, more character-based human beings, and when you do that, the strength of character shines like a beacon in the center of the circle in terms of performance.  But there must be a prioritization that must happen.  The person first, the athlete second.  How did you get to the goal?  What is the real inside story?  That is the one that is going to matter.

Who have you become as a consequence of the chase?  Who are your players becoming as a result of the chase?  

You don't just hope that it happens.  You make THIS the game.  This is how you measure success and the game is just one of the tools.

Where Are You Going?  What Is The Purpose?  Why Are You A Coach?  Why Drives You?  What Should You Be Driving Above All Else?

Rally your energy so that your energy is aligned with what is most important in life.   Help them find their purpose, help them face their truth, and help them align their energy.