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Well, that sucked. That is a phrase we hear a lot in the coaching (and athletics) world. Sadly, that was my thought right after I hit publish on the last newsletter. A very good friend of mine (she will probably choke when she reads that description) called me out on it. She said it lacked my personal touch, my essence, and my soul (ok, maybe not in those words exactly). In a world of unlimited research materials, AI, and experts at our fingertips, we can lose sight of who we really are and what makes us stand out. That is what I did. I was so focused on making points and “nerding out” that I made the last newsletter almost unreadable. I just wanted to make sure I showed the science of what I wanted to talk about (goals) and lost the human touch. To be blunt, I read instructions on how to operate a microwave that were more entertaining. Now this edition may seem like one been apology, but it is more than that, I promise you.

This happens to us as coaches, players, and even parents when it comes to the sports world. We get so concerned about proving we deserve to be where we are, that we lose the individuality that got us there. Maybe that is how greatness actually works. LeBron James most likely did not set out to be the next Michael Jordan, he set out to be the best LeBron James he could be. Mike Tyson didn’t set out to be the next Muhammad Ali, he set out to be the next Mike Tyson. So, what does any of this have to do with the Coachable Newsletter? I stopped doing what I was good at and tried to be something more than I am. My writing suffered. I know I have beaten that topic down but stick with me here. This happens almost every day in our gyms, our fields, our pools, our tracks and wherever we all may be coaching and competing. So how do we stop it? It is my personal belief that there is one mental performance skill/task that has the most direct power. Journal writing. It is a powerful tool that can help keep all of us (coaches, athletes, performers, and even parents) on track to help create the best version of ourselves AND those who we are stakeholders for. Let me see if I can break it down to make a little bit more sense.

For Athletes/Performers

Keeping a journal of our training is the best way to keep on track with the goals we have set. Journal writing serves as the roadmap to your success. It will show you the process of your growth and help you stay focused when you may have a setback. It is also a great way to work through problems before you have to address them in reality. Maybe you are having problems with a coach or a teammate. A journal entry is a great way to have that debate before you need to do it for real. Work out your thoughts and emotions. My favorite part of keeping a journal is it can give you a real sense of where you and your abilities are at. Let’s say on a scale of 1-10, with ten being the best version of yourself say at the end of the season, and you are currently at a 6 mid-season. You know in your next competition that you cannot perform as a 10. You need to perform as the best 6/6.5 you can. This goes back to the LeBron/Jordan comparison. You do not need to go out and be something you are not. You need to be the best of what you can be in that moment. The journal is the way to do that. It will help you find that pathway. So, if you are serious about being an elite/next-level athlete, start to journal. There are a ton of resources online about it, books that can help, and podcasts to get you started. There is a reason that my Mental Performance Training – Level 1 course starts with journal writing. It really is the bedrock of elite performance.

For Coaches

Coaches, you have two parts to this. One is the benefit of journal keeping as a coach, and the other is the benefits of having your team journal. Let’s start with the second one, the team. If all the reasons above do not convince you, then maybe this will. It will help you get buy-in from your team. If your team is constantly journaling about practice and competition, then will more than likely see the process and vision you have laid out. We can’t have buy-in without clarity, and having a team journal and work out conflict on paper is a great well to develop it. Also, an athlete keeping a journal will be more likely to hold themselves accountable for their training and performance. That will help your coaching job. Now, as to the first part. Just like an athlete, coaches can start to change it to something they are not. Trying new schemes and ideas. While mixing it up and changing things is not always a bad thing, when we lose sight of our vision and where we truly came from, it can be disastrous. A coach keeping a personal journal is a great way to track the progress of the team (without being buried in stats) and making sure things are on track. Also, just like the players, it is a great way to work through conflict alone before you actually have to put action in motion. Work through those tough calls and decisions before they have to be made. How do you know what you are doing is working if you never reflect on it.

For Parents

Being a sports parent can be tough. You can often be under-appreciated by your athlete. You can feel ignored by the coaches. You sometimes don’t understand decisions or what the master vision is. The journal is a great place to work on all that. Hash out those problems and questions on paper before you approach your athlete or the coaches. Reflect on how you are feeling about things (practices, competition, your players growth). You may be surprised at what trends you end up finding when you start to reflect on things. You may find things that you would have never noticed if you were just relying on your memory, which often works really hard to trick us. You may be surprised what answers you will find by starting your own journal as a parent.

So how does this all come full circle? I did not follow my plan. I am a person who journals probably 4 times a day. I failed to walk through last week’s post in my journals. I just wanted to start the newsletter and make it full of facts and science, and I lost my personal touch. There is a great practice that a lot of people have been doing in the last few years. You pick a word for the year. A word that means something to you, and you live up to it for the whole year. I finally decided to try it this year. The word I chose this year was authentic. I want everything I do to be authentic to me. That doesn’t mean I won’t use the help of AI or other people’s research. It just means I need to make things mine. I didn’t do that last week. I made it bland, boring, and if it was on paper, the lining for the bird cage. I hope you will stick with me on this journey, and I hope you learned a little something either as a coach, player, or parent this week.

One last note. All journals should be private. It is up to the writer to decide what to share. It is really hard to work out conflict if we know someone else is looking over our shoulders. So please respect that of each other. After all, what good is a team…No..A family, if we can’t trust?

Until next time, remember #OneDayOne. It is either One Day or Day One.

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Coachable Newsletter by Dan Mickle and 717 Soul, LLC | 185 Newberry Commons #298, Etters PA 17070 USA