16 Sep The Big 4
I always enjoy reflecting on our summer’s at Bold. I sit at my desk sipping my Arctic, alkaline, glacier water, with organic Peruvian lime juice and take note of specific lessons I learned, or pivotal moments from the previous months. This year, my big question was, why do some athletes seem to reach a higher level while others have good-but-not-great summers? My first instinct was to blame myself and our program, but when I look back on the Summer of 2019 I know that’s not true.
Here’s what I’ve got for you. 4 common denominators, prevalent in successful athletes. And, for the record I define success in the terms of quantifiable results and the ability to make others better. In order:
#1 Love what you do
Passion is everything. If you don’t have love for what you do you will never reach your true potential. The athletes that see rapid progress have unbelievable energy each day and a constant pursuit to be better than the day before.
Coaching passionate athletes feels different. They want to be coached, they’re excited to learn versus taking feedback as criticism, and they want to know the WHY behind everything they do.
#2 Growth vs Fixed Mindset
Recently, there have been numerous books and articles written about this topic, but that doesn’t mean it’s new. It’s amazing to me how adopting a Growth Mindset can be so impactful. If you’re not following, read Mindset by Carol Dweck, it illustrates this theory with great detail.
Long story short, Fixed Mindset people believe that they are who they are and there is nothing that can change that. Common lines I hear are, “I’m so weak”, “I can’t do that!”. Conversely, a Growth Mindset individual says, “let’s F*!@*# goooo!!“, “you kiddin me?? Put more on the bar” etc.
A small shift in language and self-talk will make a massive difference. People who naturally, or continuously work on having a Growth Mindset will always have a better chance at being successful long-term.
#3 Consistency
With so many distractions for athletes these days it is vey easy to slack on consistency. Lacking consistency in daily routines will make it hard to be successful long-term. Showing up when you say you will, putting in the work day after day, week after week goes a long way.
Here’s the perfect example (I have used this example multiple times with our athletes, but rarely am I taken seriously). Matthew Phillips, one of our first clients and who’s now playing for the AHL Stockton Heat (Calgary Flames) is the definition of consistency. We started training Matthew when he was 13, and in the 5 summers we worked with him guess how many sessions he missed? I usually get answers between 5 – 10 workouts. Guess again. He missed zero workouts, not one day. As a rule of thumb, for every missed workout, you can almost guaruntee another missed workout shortly after and so on and so forth. Why? Because you have subconsciously given yourself permission to miss.
This summer the athletes that had noticeably better results never missed a workout. I understand that life happens and should point out that some successful athletes did miss workouts due to illness or travel but they always found a way to make up for missed time in the gym. When you are consistent you gain respect (from your peers, coaches and yourself). You become someone people want to be around and can count on, you make others around you better.
#4 Hard Work
This point is painfully simple and easy, but often gets undervalued. It is easy to be jacked up for the first week of the off-season or the week before training camp, however all the weeks in-between matter just as much.
We specifically design workouts to take from 60 – 90 minutes because we don’t think athletes need to, or should spend more time than that training. It has been proven that the human brain can only focus on something for so long. Rest periods, tempo, sets and reps are all included in programs for a reason. How do I know this? Because I test every programs myself. Why is this relevant to hard work? Sometimes I see these workouts take 2 hours, if your rest says 20s, but you spend 120s talking about the Bachelor, you are not working hard enough. If your phone is on you throughout the workout, you are not working hard enough. If your workout took you 45 minutes and you didn’t sweat, you are not working hard enough.
I could go on, but I think you get my point.
If you can confidently say you practice all of these, you should be proud of yourself. If not, I hope this resinates with you and is the jolt you need to get on track.
Our goal is to see you succeed and make longterm positive changes in your life. As my best friend and business partner Simon says, “how you do anything, is how you do everything”. Take control of your growth and Trust The Process.
Alex Allan