Effort and Identity

Tuesday, January 21

The first community call for the BETTER Community, the new and quickly growing community we’ve launched for leaders In sports, is today. All calls are recorded and archived. If you work in sports (coach, assistant, AD, compliance, marketing, strength, development, administration, etc) and want to grow in your leadership this year for less than the cost of a Netflix subscription, join the community here.

We talk a lot with our kids about sports, effort and identity. When they are playing in the game, we expect full effort and nothing less. Not perfect execution, but full effort. Because while they may be sad or frustrated or disappointed with an outcome, they should never be disappointed with their effort. We focus there because it is in their control. And it helps them remove their identity from the outcome of the game (or of their performance). We know that the second we tie their identity to performance, they will lose their joy for playing and, ultimately, how well they play. It’s a pressure that has no positive outcomes.

Full effort. Learn no matter the outcome. Then do what needs to be done to be better the next time. Repeat.

This mindset matters for you as well. Today you should give your full effort and nothing less. You don’t need to be perfect, but you need to give your best. It doesn’t matter what anybody else expects of you, you should expect it from yourself. And no matter how today goes, you are not the outcome. Win or lose, succeed or fail, outcomes are just learning opportunities. You can and should care about the outcome but never define yourself by it.

Full effort. Learn no matter the outcome of the day. Then do what needs to be done to be better the next day. Repeat. This is the path to long term high performance. Be all in today.
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Keep chopping wood. 🪵🪓

-Kevin