#3 - Is Growth Linear?
I was talking to someone who recently asked the question, “is growth linear?” I think most people tend to assume that it is. Popular belief is that you get better at something the longer you stick with it which is likely true, but do you think that it’s directly related to time? As an athlete, you have ups and downs—what causes them and what can you do to make sure there’s more ups than downs?
What types of things will make you perform better? Time spent practicing is certainly necessary but other things like our teammates, health, focus, attitude, strategy, patience, etc. have a big impact too. Here’s a picture showing that result.
There are ups and downs. This makes sense; at different times we can be improving, staying the same, or falling behind. It simply doesn’t make sense that people would become continuously better with only showing up to practice and going through the motions.
The part of the graph circled in red represents the time in our lives when everything is going right and we’re improving rapidly. This can be the result of (PPPMG):
Physical improvement (stronger, bigger, taller, faster, etc.)
People that push us to improve
Process that is working (learning from mistakes, having good goals, being disciplined, etc.)
Mental Game that’s on point (positive attitude, committed, low stress, etc.)
Now the red circle highlights the time in our life when we are stagnated—stuck doing about the same. This could be a result of (PPPMG):
Physically not challenged
People that aren’t challenging you to be better (coaches, teammates, friends, parents, etc.)
Process that isn’t working (distracted, going through the motions, procrastination, etc.)
Mental Game that is lacking (don’t really care, tired, bored, etc.)
Finally, we have a part of the graph where we actually get worse. This is the most important to be aware of and could be the result of (PPPMG):
Physically unfit (sick, tired, injured, etc.)
People that are poor role models
Process that is working against you (too much training, frustrated, fear of failing, etc.)
Mental Game that is bad (stressed, poor attitude, etc.)
To be a better athlete we want to stay on the increasing part of that graph as much as possible. Think of improvement as your XP—the higher it gets the more successful you are.
Babies get tons of XP when they learn to crawl, stand, walk, talk, understand, and eat—that’s a lot of growth. What steps can you take to improve as an athlete? I’ve been asking that question a lot because you need to know what you want in order to get it. As we continue through Advancing Daily these are some of the things we are going to focus on:
Physical – Important steps to be a healthy athlete so that your training has maximum affect
People – What kinds of people will help you be a better athlete and how to deal with ones that could make you worse
Process – The steps in the process that successful athletes (professional, college, and high school) use
Mental Game – Change the way your brain works to improve the results you can achieve