Happy Easter! It’s about more than colored hard-boiled eggs, pineapple upside-down cake, and Easter baskets. It’s about rebirth, renewal and hope. No matter what your religious faith, you can relate to these themes. I recently heard from an old friend who has been on the difficult road of alcoholism. He now attends Alcoholic Anonymous meetings […]
Consider the challenge that NFL teams face on draft day. They get only a few shots to select just the right player. They must wait their turn as other clubs snap up talent. And then, having made their picks, teams must shell out lots of cash to sign them. Under these circumstances, no one wants […]
Yesterday we talked about the biggest addiction, namely, the addiction to comfort. There’s no question that comfort feels good. The trouble is that everything you want in terms of skill and achievement lies outside of this zone. To become better at anything, you must leave the comfort zone. And to become the best at what […]
When you look at what Albert Pujols has accomplished in the big leagues — things no player has ever done — you wonder how teams could have passed over him on draft day. Yet it happened. Through 12 rounds of the 1999 draft, every single franchise looked at Pujols and decided there was someone better […]
This quote popped up on a Web site and made me wince. It took me back to practices I’ve run. Bad ones. It’s from Phyllis Hunter, a Houston-based consultant. “Teachers do not have a right to do whatever they think best in the classroom. It’s not about teachers or what the teachers need or the […]
Feb. 22 marks 31 years since the U.S. Olympic hockey team upset the Soviet Union en route to the gold medal. Those of us old enough to remember saw the jubilation and the celebration on the ice. But no one saw the hard work behind the feat. Except the players. They will never forget. After […]
Jordan McCabe is a young basketball player featured in this video. He has practiced and performed with enough skill to draw the eyes of local media in the Pacific Northwest. His drills certainly get your attention. But — here is the jackpot question for anyone who wants to acquire skill — do they help him […]
Yesterday I spent a pleasant hour helping two athletes work on their free throws. We used the model for deliberate practice: Conscious effort to improve. Task is just outside your area of competence. Many repetitions, with feedback. I encouraged them to use their own feedback, namely, look where the ball went and make adjustments. And […]
Yesterday I worked with a high school basketball team, and began by asking the players to rate, on a scale of one to 10, how hard they had been working so far this season. Not one of them rated herself as more than an eight on the effort scale. One of them gave herself a […]
Perhaps you’ve never heard of K. Anders Ericsson. Whether you have or not, he is one of the most important people in your gym every day. Ericsson is a professor who has done extensive research into the field of skill: How to build it, keep it and deepen it. As this article points out, you […]