Athletes, coaches, and parents of athletes can easily fall into a pattern of a results based focus. Are we fast enough? Are we strong enough? Are we finishing first each time? Before any results of podium finishes or 1RM personal best a realised, a lot of work is put into the basics. Technique evolves into skill, and cardio sessions evolve into fitness.
Most importantly, athletes don't need to have the best score, best stats, or the most wins to be successful. Typically, the most successful athletes are process focused rather than outcome focused. These athletes know that getting the small things right make a huge difference. I can credit the list below to professional coach Dave Mannion from Galway. While coaching with Dave he used the list below to expand the perspective of his rowers.
Some athletes can get caught up on how poor their scores are to the point that it becomes a distraction. Other athletes can think they are so good that it holds teammates back from wanting to have their back and put everything on the line. The list provides perspective to show that even before we show up to training as athletes or coaches, we can work on the simple things to help us achieve our goals. For any parents of athletes reading this, this list can be encourage and reinforced by you, which will give your son or daughter an extra edge over the competition.
No doubt we could likely make the list longer but this is certainly a good starting point. Let me know what you think and if this has been effective for you!