Athletes Must Do This Once They Define a “Purpose” After Losing
Yesterday I wrote that the day after a loss the first step athletes must take is to define a “purpose” if they want to learn from that loss. Today, I want to share my suggestion for the next step.
A purpose is the desire to achieve multiple interconnected goals that at the end will have a significant impact. As a result, once an athlete defines their purpose the next step is to work backwards. In other words, begin with the end in mind then reverse engineer a plan that will get the athlete to that end using a progression.
A progressive process is a process that starts where you are currently, and then gradually layers on small improvements to progress towards where you want to be. This requires a four-step process.
The Four-step Process to Follow After an Athlete Defines a Purpose
- Break down the skills required to progress towards your purpose into 3 or 4 essentials. An essential is a skill that is absolutely necessary or extremely important to the process of making progress. You must use the strategic mindset to develop these essentials to be sure you are on the right track.
- Identify the meta skills you need for each of the essential skills. Meta skills are the skills you need to build a skill. For example, to run faster you need stronger legs. So, one of the meta skills for running faster is squats.
- Organize each of the meta-skills in the logical order of progression. This means you must be able to do the first meta skill before you can do the second meta skill, and so on and so forth. For example, the order for the meta skills of a handstand push-up are: a) A normal push-up, b) a pike push-up, c) a pike push-up with feet on a box, d) a wall supported isometric handstand, e) a wall supported handstand push-up, f) then finally a handstand push-up.
- Execute a plan of mastering each meta skill. The plan at a minimum should include a daily practice schedule in the logical progression order and target dates for the progression advancement milestones. Doing something every single day (no exceptions) is the key to success. Athletes must still have rest and recovery days, but it’s active rest with a specific intention that continues the progression.