Overwhelm
Take home message
IT’S OK TO BE EXCITED BY OPPORTUNITY - BUT REMAIN FOCUSED.
For Coaches
We see opportunity for improvement everywhere, but time is limited. Is the new task a priority? If so, replace something. You cannot do it all.
For Athletes
Put down your phone (after reading this) and aim to complete one very important, essential thing - today.
I have a problem. I like to be busy. I don’t like sleep-ins and try not to watch TV. No sooner did I complete my PhD last year that I launched this site (and tried to write a few e-books, some training plans and a conference!). I am lucky to love my job and the opportunities that come with it.
Like most S&C coaches, I am always thinking, always trying to find ways to improve something - a movement, exercise, drill or procedure. Watching an athlete complete a set in the gym last night, they put the bar down, turned to me, paused and said, “Ok, what? You’ve that look again. What are you thinking?”. He can recognise the vague, away with the stars look that I get sometimes when the gym starts to get a bit quiet and I get time to think. It does not happen often. Not the quiet gym, the thinking bit.
I’m not sure if it is me, the team, elite sport or what, but it’s busy. There’s the task list of items that need to get done today, this week, this month. The loading for the session, GPS reports, or gym programs this week. Planning for the next phase, the progression of agility and conditioning at training. Checking in with athletes, reviewing some match or training footage, or testing data. Then there is the list of items that I’d like to get done. Review the last phase. Upgrade my Sports Code use. Have a look at those GPS metrics and see how they can influence training. And on and on. Oh, and then the coach or a colleague will ask a really good question. Great, there’s another thing for the list!
But there’s a problem. Like many people, I can only do one thing at a time. And I only have so much time. So deciding what not to do can be just as important as what to do. Clearly, some decisions are made to not do something more often than a decision to do something. A few strategies I have and have to constantly remember and work on:
what’s the most important thing I can do right now that by doing it will save me having to do something else later?
is it an essential task?
and what resources do I need to get it done?
Currently, there is a lot on. It is a good problem - I am not complaining. I’d rather be busy than with nothing to do. In order to decide, I require a good understanding of what the players and coaches think is important. I need a clear discussion on what that takes to get done AND what won’t get done as a result. If they are happy with what won’t get done, then I have clarity and a target. For example, the rehab program now is the most important thing so the GPS report will get done later. Historically, the hard part was actually taking a moment to stop, write down all the potential tasks, prioritize and execute. I’d just work harder and longer - not sustainable. This is not supposed to be a recommended reading list, but there are some very good books that I frequently return to for this process: Essentialism by Greg McKeown, The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan and Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin.
Once I have decided what tasks/projects stay and what goes, it is about how the new task might fit into my practice. I am a big fan of systems, education and routines. These can save a lot of time. My resistance training programs border on mundane. I am sure many of the players think so. But it is an efficient system that incorporates movement quality, injury risk reduction, strength and agility. And it works. It is a system that we have used for years. I have given it several face lifts over time to make it look different, but essentially, it is the same thing (don’t tell the players).
Taking time to educate the players now actually saves more time later. Players who understand why they are doing something engage more. Or (and just as important), they counter and what results is a great discussion and I become more educated. I don’t have all the answers.
And we all know the importance of routines in our daily life and routines in our training plans are no less important. From warm-ups, to cool down and recovery, for match day preparation, routines help players be on autopilot saving attention for more important tasks. The routine of producing GPS or monitoring reports is a way I save time and effort to focus on the interpretation of the data and not the collation of the information. Not changing exercises every program is a way to save time and effort working out what loading profile a player needs.
So when I get overwhelmed with opportunity, I think about these processes: is it an essential, sustainable task? Is it truly important? What are the resources I need and the prioritise and execute.
I am reminded of the Hedgehog concept from Good to Great by Jim Collins (there it is - another book!). Although the fox is a cunning hunter, agile, quick, clever and more capable than the slow, methodical hedgehog, the hedgehog is brilliant at one thing - rolling up into an inedible spiky ball. As a generalist S&C coach, in the hustle and bustle to be very good at a lot of things, sometimes it is important to take a break and complete one task, the most important task, brilliantly.
Thanks for reading. If you’ve enjoyed this post (or previous ones) please consider sharing via your favourite social (a couple of links below) and signing up to my regular fortnightly email, by clicking on the “Subscribe” button below. When you subscribe, new posts will be delivered to your inbox.
Thanks again. BA.