Gym Momentum

Success Isn’t Easy

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Wouldn’t it be great if success was simple?
But it isn’t.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer for success in the gym and in life, but I will do my best to steer you in the right direction.

GET UP INSANELY EARLY
It sounds scary, but consider what would happen if instead of watching reruns of bad movies at night, you went to bed at a reasonable hour, thus allowing yourself to wake up early and super productive? Through the Gym Momentum community I get 10-15 e-mails each night and another 20-30 things on Facebook. Looking at the time stamps I know that many of you post and e-mail late at night when your time would be better spent sleeping.
Waking up before anybody else allows you to work out the logistics of the day to come , track your time, and (most importantly) UNPLUG FOR A FEW HOURS. Turn off your cell phone at night, If you wake up in the middle of the night, don’t check your e-mail or text messages. They will all still be there in the morning.
I hear people all the time say, “I just need a few more hours in the day to get everything done” . Often these are the same people who waste their mornings.

KEEP PROMISES, NO MATTER HOW SMALL
Talk is cheap and meaningful customer relationships are built on promises. Same goes for your personal life, right?
Well, Maybe.
Success is built on mutually trusting relationships with just about everybody. If you say you’re going to walk the gym dog, well, you’d best walk the gym dog.

LEARN HOW TO TELL STORIES.
You want to be successful in life, but you don’t have the job you want or your team isn’t as successful as you’d like them to be this year. The first step to nail that dream job or dream team? Learn how to tell a great story- Starting with your interview.
Sometimes you need to CREATE your history. Create YOUR story. WHY you are who you are. WHY are you destined for greatness.

LEAD, DON’T DICTATE.
There is a big difference between being a leader and being a boss. A great leader leads by example and sets the tone. You want a team of hard working individuals. Be the hardest working one out there.
DON’T BE AFRAID- OR EMBARRASSED- OF YOUR FAILURES
We all know many stories of those who have failed in order to succeed. I have posted many BLOGS on why Failure is a necessary step t success. BUT how do you fail constructively?
Not all failures lead to solutions, though. How do you fail constructively?
We’re taught to do things the right way. But if you want to discover something that other people haven’t, you may need to do things the wrong way. Initiate a failure by doing something that’s very silly, unthinkable, naughty, dangerous. Watching why that fails can take you on a completely different path. It’s exciting, actually. To me, solving problems is a bit like a drug. You’re on it, and you can’t get off
It’s also OK to QUIT something when your heart isn’t into it or when you see the writing on the wall.

ASK QUESTIONS. A LOT OF THEM
Albert Einstein, obviously a great thinker, would have been a great coach and entrepreneur.
To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advances in science.
EVERYONE needs to pause occasionally for self reflection.
What is your purpose on earth?
What should you stop doing?
What is your “lab” or “petri dish”?

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF and OTHERS
Remember when I said about asking questions ? Here is a hard one-
ARE YOU PASSIONATE or DELUSIONAL?
Delusion is a double-edged sword. When it comes to productivity, tricking yourself can be your best move, but if your career is hurting other (more important) aspects of your life it might be time to re-evaluate your priorities.

Truth be told, I think the difference between passion and delusion isn’t even very distinguishable. I suspect many a coach has fallen too far down the rabbit hole without even realizing it. It happens to me. I convince myself my gym and my team is on the right track and then I get to a big competition and we blow it. Upset parents, upset gymnasts and upset coaches.That is my reality check. I was laser-focused on the belief I had to succeed no matter what, which led me to lose sight of reality. My story has a happy ending because I was able to wake up and get back on track.

TAKE BREAKS
Go for a walk, go surfing, go camping. Get your ass out of the gym . Unplug for a few days. Spend sometime with friends. It will keep you from going insane and help you refocus when you are back.

TAKE NOTES and STAY ORGANIZED.
If you are trying to delve deeper than surface level engagement, try taking notes.
I have always been a journal keeper. It might sound silly but putting some genuine effort into it- note taking, list making and reflection- it helps me stay organized and keep my focus onto what I am after. If we want to get focused, one old and obvious hack isto first go analog. What’s nice about a notebook and a pen is that your friends and colleagues can’t assault you with cat videos and humblebrags as you organize your day, unlike anything connected to the Internet.

Habits of Productive Gymnastics Coaches

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This will be the first in a series of articles that I intend to write. Some will be here, hopefully some will be published in magazines that I contribute to. (But don’t worry- if they don’t get picked up- I will put them here!)

Heading to the Region 6 Development Camp last week Neil Resnick and I had a great conversation about what the most successful coaches do (possibly differently from others). What makes them a success.

The most successful coaches I know are also the most productive day in, day out. They run incredibly efficient training sessions.

photo 3“Productivity” is such a buzz word these days that hundreds of books, apps and systems have popped up hoping to teach us the magic formula.

But at the end of the day, really getting the most out of your practices comes down to the fundamentals.

Successful coaches  have known for years that to stay productive, it’s essential to build habits that organize your day and help you get the most out of your training time.

Here are 3 of the habits that I feel highly productive coaches do every day — even when they’re pressed for time. (and please- if you feel you are a successful coach and disagree or want to share your thoughts- do so. This website has always been about the sharing of information and knowledge).

1.) They’re early risers.
There was probably a period of time in your life where it was easy stay up late into the night (or early into the next morning) trying to get things done. If your anything like me, however, that period was over a long time ago.

Recently, I’ve come to realize that all eight-hour periods just aren’t created equally.

Even when we do not have morning training before school I try to stick to a schedule. Going to bed at 10 p.m. and waking up at 5 or 6 a.m. is exponentially better than going to bed at 3 a.m. and waking up at 10 or 11 a.m., even thought the time frame is the same.

Early risers really do have a distinct advantage when it comes to mental clarity, acuity and energy. Simply put: Waking up early works better than any other strategy for becoming more productive. But you have to make sure you get enough sleep to back it up. So get to bed!

2.) They start every day with an intention, focus or meditation.
Starting your day with a clear idea of what you want to do changes everything.

Have you ever had a day where as soon as you woke up, there were already missed calls, text messages and emails screaming for your attention — and you felt like you were struggling to stay afloat before breakfast? Oh, that sounds like every day, you say? That needs so stop.

If you like, you can meditate. You know, cross-legged, a candle, with some nice music playing in your ridiculously expensive Beats headphones.

I find the time I spend with a coffee before anyone else is up in the house is very centering and helps me focus for the day.

But if that’s too much, you can just “take 10.”

Take 10 quick breaths, think about your main objectives for the day, and then get moving. This seems too simple to have an effect, but it’s not. If you’re used to getting up already in battle mode, then you’ve probably forgotten how it feels to have a moment to yourself.

Take a few of those minutes back and refocus yourself. It really helps.

3.) They train their bodies.
Working out is probably the highest leverage tool in your arsenal that can make you feel predictably better and keeps you both physically and emotionally healthy year round. If you want to have the mental energy to take on an endless competitive season and countless training sessions,  you need to be physically (as well as mentally) strong.

What are your thoughts? What do you do to be more productive?

Let us know. Share your thoughts and keep the momentum going.

Failure, a prerequisite for success

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SO YOU WANT TO BE A SUCCESSFUL COACH?

You better learn to Fail

Failure is NOT an option- Failure is a prerequisite

Failure- failure |ˈfālyər|  noun
Failure (fail, phail or flop) in general refers to the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective. It may be viewed as the opposite of success.

People Who Have Failed

Pete Carroll was laughed out of Foxboro (where he coached the NE Patriots) and the NFL before he became the most dominant coach in college football. Now he is back in the NFL in Seattle.

 

Terrin Humphry made the USA National Team for the first time 1 year before making an Olympic Team.

Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their  greatest  failure…..

 

In business there is a philosophy  that he fastest way to succeed, is to double your failure rate. At my gym, we call it, “swinging at pitches.”  You are not going to get a hit every time. But if you don’t swing, you will never get a hit.

As coaches we need to learn to tolerate failure.  It is part of the learning process. If you make a correction you will probably mess something else up. THAT IS OK, I EXPECT IT. The best example I can think of is on Vault. If I ask an athlete to run faster, and they do, they will most likely mess up their steps. (and by the way- if they didn’t mess up their steps, they probably didn’t run faster!) IF I WANT THE GYMNAST TO RUN FASTER- I HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE FACT THAT THEY ARE GOING TO MESS UP THEIR STEPS. I will fix that next.
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