Sports During COVID, MVP Lamar Jackson, 2 Different Types of Focus
“I always look at IQ and talent as representing the horsepower of the motor, but then in terms of the output, the efficiency with which the motor works, depends on rationality.” — Warren Buffett
Good morning, coaches!
Today we have articles on takeaways from early NBA & professional soccer and why you should make a list of what your rock-solid beliefs are, podcasts with Lamar Jackson on his MVP season that was stopped short in the playoffs and how your gut leads you to make both good and bad decisions, the two different types of focus, and a graduation speech from vulnerability expert Brene Brown.
If you have any feedback or content you think could be helpful for other coaches, feel free to reach out or leave a comment.
Here we go!
ARTICLES
The World’s Best Athletes Are Now Better at Shooting: Athletes are now performing in new environments - no fans. Early data shows athletes in both basketball and soccer are performing better than before, with free-throws, 3-pointers and free kicks being converted at a higher percentage. While it’s early and a small sample size, it’s still interesting to think about.
NBA players are making a higher percentage of their free throws and hitting corner 3-pointers at rates the league has never seen. Soccer players are striking dead balls more precisely than they did before the pandemic. Without the distraction of screaming fans, one part of their games seems to have improved: shooting.
Permanent Assumptions: Great read on how we have to show intellectual humility when predicting certain topics but can be pretty adamant about others. The world is constantly changing so it helps to write down what you are fairly certain about, as the author does in this article.
Realizing it’s not inconsistent to have no view about the future path of some things but unwavering views about the path of others is how you stay humble without giving up.
PODCASTS
Note: if you want to listen to one of these podcasts, click the link at the end of the description to play it on the app of your choice. You may need to scroll back within your app to the date the episode released. If you are listening on a computer, I suggest using Overcast.
The Peter King Podcast: Lamar Jackson & John Harbaugh. Listen to Lamar Jackson from 8:00–28:00 — Jackson’s mindset is incredible for a guy who just won the MVP. He brushes off all praise and any acknowledgement Peter King gives him for winning MVP and credits his teammates for everything. He constantly repeats that he isn’t satisfied because the team came up short in 2019 and that’s all that matters, and his humility, selflessness and drive to win is really impressive. He even talks about being miserable after the playoffs and so upset he couldn’t watch the Super Bowl or enjoy receiving the MVP award in his hometown. After his interview ends, Peter King interviews Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, who talks about handling the pandemic and preparing for a season with lots of distractions, hoping to rebound from their disappointing playoff performance last year. [August 5, 2020–58 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast | Google | Breaker
Peter King: You were awarded the MVP basically in your home town. How did that feel?
Lamar Jackson: It felt good but I really didn’t want to be there because I wanted to be somewhere else, preparing for the Super Bowl instead of winning the award.
Standard Deviations: Should You Trust Your Gut? Dr. Daniel Crosby looks at our intuition and whether or not it is helpful for us when making decisions. As the quote below says, models and algorithms perform better than humans do in a lot of scenarios, but the following criteria is for when we make good discretionary decisions: predictable outcomes, static stimuli, and the availability of good feedback. The takeaway is you need to be cognizant of what scenario you are analyzing and if that fits the aforementioned criteria. [August 7, 2017–18 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast | Google | Breaker | Website Link
A meta-analysis found that models equal or beat expert decision making a whopping 94.12% of the time.
MISCELLANEOUS
Two Kinds of Focus (via David Perrell):
There are two kinds of focus:
Concentrating on a problem for an afternoon.
Obsessing over something for years, and showing up every single day.
We talk a lot about concentration, but if you study the greats, they’re always obsessing over their craft. They’re focusing 24/7.
You can hear the die-hard commitment in the words of stellar performers:
Kobe Bryant: “If you really want to be great at something, you have to truly care about it. If you want to be great in a particular area, you have to obsess over it. A lot of people say they want to be great, but they’re not willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve greatness. They have other concerns, whether important or not, and they spread themselves out. That’s totally fine. After all, greatness is not for everybody.”
Tiger Woods: “His only source of stimulation came from his obsession with continually getting better, a compulsion at the root of a slow-forming rift between him and Butch Harmon. Personally, they still got along fine. But Tiger had lost interest in Harmon’s philosophy. Essentially, Harmon felt that Tiger had perfected his swing and simply needed to maintain it with subtle refinements — an opinion that was supported by the fact that Tiger was in the midst of a 264-week run as the number-one ranked golfer in the world. Maintenance, however, was a word Tiger hated. He was a man in constant search of something he couldn’t find. The difference was that Harmon had to work with Woods, and the brunt of Tiger’s obsession with perfection was felt most acutely by those who worked with him in a professional capacity. They were expected to perform at the same level of perfection that Tiger did. When that didn’t happen, he could be cold and unforgiving.”
Jim Simons: “Mathematicians who focus on theoretical questions often immerse themselves in their work — walking, sleeping, even dreaming about problems for years on end. Those with no exposure to this kind of mathematics, which can be described as abstract or pure, are liable to dismiss it as pointless. Simons wasn’t merely solving equations like a high school student, however. He was hoping to discover and codify universal principles, rules, and truths, with the goal of furthering the understanding of these mathematical objects. Albert Einstein argued that there is a natural order in the world; mathematicians like Simons can be seen as searching for evidence of that structure. There is true beauty to their work, especially when it succeeds in revealing something about the universe’s natural order. Often, such theories find practical applications, even many years later, while advancing our knowledge of the universe.”
VIDEO
Don’t Be Afraid to Fall: Brené Brown Addresses The University of Texas at Austin's 2020 Graduates [21 minutes] : Brown is a professor, podcaster, and author of multiple best-sellers about vulnerability and being our wholesome selves. She says our ability to do great in life depends on our ability to get back up after we fail. She explains her winding story in life that included being fired as a house-keeper and handling medical issues while trying to get to University of Texas. Then she explains vulnerability is the key for getting through the hard times we are destined to face in life and can only do so with courage and curiosity.
“I’ve collected 400,000 pieces of data over 20 years and I’ve never seen a single person who’s built a life, family, or career that did not have to scratch their way up from a fall and begin again 100 times.”