Stockdale Paradox, Andy Reid Interview, Michael Phelps' Focus, & Willpower Doesn't Work
“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” — Thomas Monson
Good morning, coaches!
Today we have articles on how high school coaches have impacted the NFL and what the stockdale paradox is, podcasts with Andy Reid and the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck on the mindset you need to succeed in life, how Michael Phelps’ focus won him a gold medal, and why Willpower Doesn’t Work.
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 Trailblazing Coaches Who Went From Friday Night Lights to the NFL: Great read on how high school coaches have joined the NFL and brought some innovation. They talk about the focus on fundamentals, requirement to adapt your schemes to whatever players you have, and emphasis on teaching.
The same muscle that forces high school coaches to adapt to their talent changing every single year comes in handy at the pro level now more than ever. Belichick is famous for changing his game plan every week based on his opponents. In high school, coaches are forced to adjust their entire game plans if their receiver gets a cold.
Stockdale Paradox: Why confronting reality is vital to success: The Stockdale Paradox was coined in the book, Good To Great by Jim Collins, and says you have to balance both realism and optimism at the same time. It reminds me of emotional flexibility, because it’s not about being an optimist or a realist, or only allowing yourself to hold one emotion at a time. It’s about embracing all emotions at once and realize that although they may be different, they are both necessary and interconnected.
"You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end — which you can never afford to lose — with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be."
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 Daily Stoic: Ask Daily Stoic: Ryan and Mark Manson Discuss What You Should Actually Give a F*** About. Mark Manson is the author of the best-seller The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and he and Holiday have a great conversation about keeping the right mindset throughout life. They cover the importance of not being driven to impress others in life, why you have to avoid the hedonic treadmill, and why you have to focus on living a life that makes you happy. [August 29, 2020–49 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast | Google | Breaker | Website Link
The recognition, the validation actually isn’t what makes me feel happy.
The Peter King Podcast: Andy Reid & Jason Wright. The Andy Reid interview goes from 8:00–30:40. After Coach Reid explains how it’s been to work during COVID, he talks a lot about the greatness of Patrick Mahomes as both a leader and worker and offers the story of him calling a ‘quick’ players-only meeting when Kareem Hunt was cut to address the team and ensure they were remaining focused. [August 26, 2020–1 hour, 9 minutes] iTunes Podcast | Spotify | Overcast | Google | Breaker
Peter King: Has your life changed since you’ve won a Super Bowl?
Andy Reid: Not much, not much. I still love cheeseburgers, Peter. I mean, how great are those? How great is a good cheeseburger?
MISCELLANEOUS
Enjoying the Journey (via The Golden Rules):
“A Super Bowl is a great goal, but it can’t be why you play this game. It has to be for your love of the game and for the guy lined up next to you. In the end, it’s about the competitiveness, the work you put in and because you love it.”- Marshal Yanda, Baltimore Ravens Guard After Winning the 2012 Super Bowl
“It’s just a trinket. When I look back, the medal means nothing to me, but the experiences and how they changed me as a person are rewarding. It is one of those things that you hear all the time where the journey is more important than the destination.” - Matt McLean, Gold Medal Winner at the 2012 Olympics
Stay In Your Lane (via 2016 Olympics):
For those who don’t remember, Chad Le Clos talked a lot of sh*t before the 2016 Olympics about how he would beat Michael Phelps. And what led him to a second, not first, place finish? Instead of focusing on himself, he looked over to see where Phelps was. Phelps won by 0.01 seconds. Literally.
BOOK
Willpower Doesn't Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success by Benjamin Hardy: The book argues for you to create systems to set your self up for success instead of having to rely wholly on your willpower, which is finite, to succeed. He says that our environment shapes us and what we do way more than we realize, so by structuring our environment for success, we increase the probability of doing the actions we want. talks about removing barriers to success in your life, using visualization
“(Historian, Will) Durant concluded that history was not shaped by great men, but rather by demanding situations. Necessity, he found, is the single most important ingredient in the formula for greatness - not a particular individual’s brilliance or a lone leader’s vision.”
“Lots of research has found that your best ideas won’t happen while you’re sitting at your desk working. Your brain operates best in a rested and relaxed state…your deepest insights will rarely happen in routine.”
“You can create enriched environments through the use of forcing functions. The most powerful forcing functions are:
high investment
social pressure
high consequence for poor performance
high difficulty
novelty”