Short course 2011 – 2012
SCS Junior Olympics ~ Far Western Championships
This playbook will help turn my ideas into action, goals into reality, and habits into results.
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1 - The Best know what they truly want.
2 – The Best want it more.
3 - The Best are always striving to get better.
4 – The Best do ordinary things better than everyone else.
5 – The Best zoom focus.
6 – The Best are mentally stronger.
7 – The Best overcome their fear.
8 – The Best seize the moment.
9 – The Best leave a legacy.
10 – The Best make everyone around them better.
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Regardless of when and how, whether by practical experience, role model, or lightening strike, the Best of the Best all had a moment where their vision became clear. Where they said, “This is what I truly want. This is what I want to strive for and I will pay the price to make it happen.” It was as if they looked through a telescope and saw their future.
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“90 percent of the game is half mental.” –Yogi Berra
You must have a vision for the road ahead, namely, SCS
Junior Olympics and Far Westerns. You must truly decide what you want. Because if you can see it then you will keep striving to achieve it. This vision is fuel for your journey through the valley of struggle and hardship. There will be times when it seems as if everything surrounding you conspires to sabotage your goals and ideas. When you feel as though you are on the final 50 of a 200 Fly and the wall is moving away from you. You must maintain your vision and focus on what you truly want. If you don’t know what you want then you won’t keep working towards it. But if you know what you want and you keep your vision alive, it will keep you alive. You will be willing to pay the price to make it happen and keep striving towards the vision you have planted in your mind and heart.
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Decide what you truly want. Write it below. Add pages to your playbook if necessary.
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What is the one thing I will do to put what I truly want into action?
How will I make what this part of this playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far
Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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The Best of the Best are willing to do what it takes to be great. The Best don’t just think about their desire for greatness, they act on it. They have a high capacity for work. They do the things that others won’t do, and they spend more time doing it. When everyone else is sleeping in, the Best are practicing and thinking and improving. The Best are willing to invest the time, energy, and commitment that greatness requires.
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How much do you want it?
You should strive to be your best. To settle for anything less is unacceptable. Not being your best is selfish, because as you continue to improve, your teammates improve and benefit as well. Action is required. To be your best you must not only want it more, you must invest everything you are to become all that you desire to be. Most people say they want to be great but their actions don’t match their words or dreams. Being your best requires that your physical actions are in alignment with your mental desire. This is our focus for week 2.
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Have you identified what you truly want from last week?
Do you want it more? How great is your desire?
Are your actions in alignment with this desire? Are you investing the time and energy that it takes to be your best? If so, what actions are you taking?
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If your actions are not in alignment with your desire, then what actions do you need to take to be your best?
Considering the reasons your actions are not in alignment with your desire is crucial. Several things to consider include:
What you think you truly want is not what you truly want. Take time on this and get re-focused on what you truly want this season.
Something is holding you back. Self-doubt, fear, etc.
This will be explored in weeks 6, 7, and 9 in this playbook.
You don’t have a clear WHY. In addition to knowing what you truly want, you must also know WHY you want it. Purpose and power flows from your WHY, and they inspire you to practice with more passion and positive energy. When you know what you truly want and WHY you want it, you want it more and are fueled with the power and passion to take action and make it happen. Write down your WHY on the next page.
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What is the one thing I will do to make what I want more than everyone else into action?
How will I make this part of the Woollett Gold playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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The Best are always learning, growing and improving.
We all have hundreds of things we need to do to get better, and the Best are always looking for the one idea, technique, missing ingredient and/or new strategy that will make them even better. Even when people call them the Best or say they are great, the Best know they can do it even better and greater as they strive for perfection.
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To be the Best you should stay humble and hungry.
Humble in that you are a lifelong learner who strives to learn, grow and improve everyday. Humble in that you know you don’t have all the answers and you see everyone surrounding you including your teammates as teachers. You should be receptive to new ideas and strategies to take your life and practices to the next level. Humble to know that one of the goals in life is to be better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than you are today.
This goal also requires you to be hungry. Hungry with a passion to continuously improve and set new goals and milestones. Hungry to seek out new ideas, new strategies and new innovations. Hungry with a desire to strive for excellence. Hungry with a commitment to pay the price that greatness requires. Ask yourself right now, “Are you humble enough and hungry enough to be your best?”
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As you strive to be your best at swimming and in life, what skills and talents do you need to improve upon? If you don’t know, ask a close friend, teammate, or me.
Who are the people that can help you improve? Seek them out and ask them for advice. Learn from them and model them.
Commit to reading one or two books a month in the area(s) that interest you. It was my goal last year that every NOVA swimmer would have a book in hand on the flight to Far Westerns, reading something that interested them. We did not quite achieve that last year.
We will this this year.
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What is the one thing I will do to strive to get better into action?
How will I make this part of the Woollett Gold playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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There is no such thing as an overnight success. Too many believe in the fantasy that superstar athletes, actors, doctors, Olympians and others were born that way or simply stumbled on their success overnight. The
Best of the Best make what they do look so easy that people either think anyone can do or that a select few are chosen to do it. When we watch sports on tv, namely Pan-Pacs and the Olympics. We see the end result – the outcome. Television does not show us the countless hours of practice, dedication and preparation that lead to greatness. Jason Lezak spent thousands of hours, millions of strokes before saving the USA Men’s
400 Free Relay in 2008. The idea of overnight success is
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a myth. Just as Jason trained for years for one defining swim and race, you must wake up each day and practice, prepare and train to be your best. Don’t settle for mediocrity, but strive each day for excellence. It requires hard work, preparation and hours of effort, but it’s worth it.
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1.7 Hits A Week:
The difference between a MLB player with a .250 BA and a batter with a .350 average is more than the 100 points. It’s the difference between a Hall of Famer and an average player. If you take 162 games a season with
5 at bats per game the difference between .250 and .350 is 1.7 hits per week. The .350 hitter does the ordinary things better. The key to success is to practice, practice, practice, and get a little bit better each day.
Compounding these little improvements each day will lead to big results. Become better on every turn you make in the pool.
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Identify the little ordinary skills and habits that are fundamental to your success. For example, as a Junior
Olympic swimmer, I need to master my breakout stroke coming off my turns.
Next week in Play #5 we will come up with a play to help you zoom focus and take actions on doing ordinary tasks in swimming better than everyone else.
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What is the one thing I will do to make ordinary things in swimming better than everyone else into action?
How will I make this part of the Woollett Gold playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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The Microscope is all about execution, and to execute with excellence you must take zoom-focused actions.
Zoom focus means that you are not just working hard but working hard on the right things. This means that you must identify the key little ordinary things that are fundamental to your success, and then you must focus on them, practice them and strive to execute them to perfection.
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Master The Fundamentals
Success is all about the fundamentals. And the fundamentals are little and ordinary and often boring.
But to be the best you must master them. You must become a master of the ordinary. In every act of greatness, whether in swimming, business, or school, the Best of the Best accomplish extraordinary feats by doing ordinary things with extraordinary consistency, commitment and focus. Last Thursday we identified the ordinary skills and fundamentals that require your zoom focus. Now you must zoom focus with your thoughts and actions.
Zoom Focus
Everything in life features fundamentals that can be mastered, and if master them you will become the best at what you do. This does not happen overnight. Some call it the 10 - year rule, which says that it takes 10 years of practice to become great at something. Others call it the 10,000 hour rule, which says you must practice something for 10,000 hours to master it. In either case this should be called the practice till you master the fundamentals rule. When you zoom focus on
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the process, the outcome takes care of itself. Great coaches, great teams, and great swimmers who are the best at what they do are able to zoom focus, to create an environment and process to master the fundamentals.
This environment drives the way thy think, how they practice and prepare and how they approach each day..
Over time, by committing to this type of training environment the best develop their skills and enhance their performance as they strive for excellence and perfect execution.
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Decide to zoom focus on the skills you have identified last week in Play #4.
As you strive to be your best, what actions do you need to take to master these skills? Do you need to practice more? What habits do you need to incorporate into your swimming and life to help you improve each day?
Write these actions here and commit to them. For example, as a Junior Olympic swimmer, I will make it a habit of getting my time from the pace clock consistently in practice.
Create a monthly practice schedule and identify the day and times you will commit to practice. Post it somewhere where you can see it each day.
A crucial part of zoom focusing is identifying timewasters and distractions. Identify the things that distract you from being the best.
Decide how you will eliminate these time wasters and distractions. One strategy is to allow yourself to
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partake in a distraction or time waster only after you have taken your zoom-focused actions.
To help you zoom focus, when you wake up each day ask yourself the following question, “What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?” Then, each day, take action on those three things.
To Zoom Focus you must also tune out the mental distractions. Below are a few strategies.
-Don’t listen to what others say about you.
-Do your talking through your actions.
-Don’t compare yourself to others.
-Don’t focus on the competition; focus on being the best you can be.
-Don’t listen to the naysayers.
-Every day stay focused on continuous improvement and getting better.
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What is the one thing I will do to make my zoomfocused actions in swimming better than everyone else into action?
How will I make this part of the Woollett Gold playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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Each day you think of your mind as a garden and you pay attention to your thoughts. If you don’t weed out the negative thoughts, they will take over your mind. If you continuously plant positive thoughts, eventually the weeds of negativity will have nowhere to breed and grow. Just as you practice starts, turns and finishes, you must practice positive thoughts and eliminate negative thoughts. Being positive or negative is a habit. Choose the positive.
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Mental Toughness
As you strive to be the Best of the Best you’ll face many distractions and pressure from the outside world.
Swimming is a series of sprints and long distance events combined with a boxing match. You are not just swimming you are getting hit along the way. You’re getting hit by the critics and doubters. The best are able to respond and overcome all of this with mental and emotional toughness. You have to be able to tune out the negative noise and from the outside and turn off the negative thoughts on the inside. You have to be mentally stronger than your challenges, your detractors, and your opponents.
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20 Ways To Get Mentally Tough
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When you face a setback, think of it as a defining moment that will lead to a future accomplishment.
2.
When you encounter adversity, remember, the best don’t just face adversity; they embrace it, knowing it’s not a dead end but a detour to something greater and better.
3.
When you face negative people, know that the key to life is to stay positive in the face of negativity, not in the absence of it. Everyone has to overcome negativity to define themselves and create their success.
4.
When you face the naysayers, remember the people who believed in you and spoke positive words to you.
5.
When you face critics, remember to tune them out and focus only on being the best you can be.
6.
Walk your dog each day. It will get your mind ready for success.
7.
When you fear, trust. Let your faith be greater than your doubt.
8.
When you fail, find the lesson in it, and then remember a time when you have succeeded.
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When you head into a swim meet, visualize success.
10.
When you are thinking about the past or worrying about the future, focus your
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energy on the present. Right now is where you have the greatest power.
11. Instead of complaining, identify a solution.
12. When self doubt crowds you mental garden replace it with positive thoughts.
13. When you get distracted, observe your surroundings and “reset it.”
14. Treat yourself to Cold Stone
® every so often.
15. When you feel alone, think of all of those who support you.
16. When you feel lost ask a teammate, coach or someone influential to you for guidance.
17. When you are tired, do not give up. Finish strong in everything you do.
18. Toss a football at a tree, backstop, or friend when your mind needs clearing.
19. Focus on what you can control and let go of what you can’t.
20. When you are in a high pressure situation such as
Junior Olympics or Far Westerns. And everything is on the line and everyone is watching you, remember to smile, have fun and enjoy the moment. You have nothing to lose. Seize the moment.
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Visualize Success
Spend ten minutes each day visualizing yourself swimming at your highest potential. Jason Lezak,
Aaron Peirsol, John Mykkanen, Jessica Hardy do this to create amazing results and so can you.
Schedule 10 minutes to do this at the same time each day make this a ritual through Junior Olympics and
Far Westerns.
-Day__________________ -Time_______________
Take a Daily Thank You Walk with your dog or cat.
Identify three things you are thankful for and write them down each day.
Expand this playbook starting today and make it a
Success Journal.
After practice, think about it. What mistakes did you make? What do you wish you did differently? Ask yourself what you can learn from these mistakes.
How can you improve?
Then, think about what you did well in practice.
What were your successes for the day? Did you inspire any of your teammates? What were you
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proud of? End your day on a successful note and you will look forward to creating more success tomorrow at practice.
What is the one thing I will do to make my mental and emotional strength better into action?
How will I make this part of this playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far
Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over
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time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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Everyone has fears. Everyone is scared of something.
The Best of the Best all have fear, but they overcome it. They conquer it. They succeed in spite of it.
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Conquering Your Fear
To overcome your fear, you have to know what you are up against. To beat your competitors you must know your competitors. Average people shy away from their fears. They either ignore them or hide from them. The Best of the Best seek them out and face them with the intent of conquering them. Facing your fears goes to the heart of greatness. It’s the ultimate battle and why you spend so many countless hours in the pool. To many swimmers retreat from this battle and fail to achieve their dreams. But those who succeed, those who reach the highest point of greatness are able to face this battle and win. The key is to know the fears you are up against. Not just a single fear. Not just the smallest fear, but the biggest fear as well. You must identify them, face them and overcome all of them.
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Spend some quiet time, be honest with your self and identify all of your fears (big and small.) List them below add pages if necessary.
Just by identifying your fears and shining a spotlight on them, you will begin to diminish the power those fears have over you. Awareness is the first step of this battle.
Go back to last week and re-read the 20 Ways to get
Mentally tough and identify which strategies are most relevant to your fears. Which strategies do you feel will best help you overcome the fears you have listed.
Write down those strategies below, create your own new strategies and add paper to your playbook if necessary.
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What is the one thing I will do to conquer my fears into action?
How will I make this part of the Woollett Gold playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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The best seize the moment because they don’t allow their fear of failure to define them. They know their fear exists, and they overcome it. Even if they fail, they are one step closer to the perfection they seek.
Ironically, even though the best have a dream and vision within their sights, it is the journey, not the destination, that matters most to them. The moment is more important than any success or failure. The moment is the success. The moment is the reward.
When the best are in the midst of a defining race, they are not thinking “What if I win?” or “What if I lose?”
They are not thinking “What if I make a mistake or miss the wall?” They are not interested in what the moment produces but are only concerned with with what they produce in the moment. When all eyes are
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watching, they know this is the moment they have spent their lifetime preparing and waiting for.
Rather that hid from the pressures, they rise to the moment. As a result, the best define the moment rather than let the moment define them. To seize the moment, don’t let your failure define you; let it fuel you. Don’t run from your fears; face them and embrace them. Don’t let fear rob you of your love and joy of swimming; let it push you into the moment and beyond yourself.
Don’t let the moment define you. You must define the moment. Define it by knowing that your practice and preparation have prepared you well. Define it with your mental strength and confidence. Define it by knowing that regardless of the outcome, you have given your best.
Everyone talks about destiny. Everyone searches for it, not realizing that each and every moment is your destiny. Make every moment in your life count.
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Define Your Moments
The Best of the Best perform their best in the face of pressure, not in the absence of it. Anyone can perform great when there are no expectations, no pressure, no consequences and no spotlight. But to be the best means swimming at your highest level when the spotlight is on you and everything is on the line. This requires you to define the moment rather than letting the moment define you. You do this by integrating all the previous plays in this playbook into your life. You do it by preparing, practicing, building confidence and developing mental strength. You define the moment by not letting your fear of failure define you. That’s why defining your fears last week in Play #7 was so important. Once you identify them, you can overcome them. Overcoming those fears helps you seize the moment, and seizing the moment also helps you overcome your fears. The key is to stop thinking about the consequences of your performance and just focus on the moment. You need to focus on the now and seize the moment.
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While you are striving to be your best, focus on enjoying the experience rather than thinking about the outcome. Ask yourself if you are giving your best efforts. If you are the outcome will take care of itself.
To help you cultivate a state of gratitude change two words. Change “Have to” to “Get to.” Don’t say “I have to got to practice this afternoon.” Instead say “I get to attend practice.” It’s not about what we have to do. It’s about what we get to do.
If negative thoughts pop in your mind, weed them out. Replace them with positive thoughts. Negative and positive thoughts can’t occupy your mind at the same time.
Understand that failures and successes are part of the process. You will experience both throughout your life. When you fail, ask yourself what you can learn from the experience. When you succeed, celebrate and build upon your success. Most importantly, focus on being the best you can be. Focus on the process, not the outcome.
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What is the one thing I will do to seize the moment into action?
How will I make this part of the Woollett Gold playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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In striving to be the best, you must ask not what your greatness means to you, but what impact it makes on others, namely your teammates. The success you create now is temporary, but the legacy you leave is eternal. Thinking about this legacy fuels you with a much larger purpose.
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Power Of Purpose
The best are driven by a bigger purpose, and this purpose fuels them. You can see it in their eyes and passion and enthusiasm for their work and life. The great ones are inspired to make a difference, and in the process they leave a legacy.
Focus On Others
No coach, teacher, or mentor can define what your purpose is or should be. You will be most energized and passionate when you are using your gifts and talents for a purpose beyond yourself. You will become an unstoppable force when you realize the greatest legacy you can leave are the people you inspire, teach, encourage, and impact with your gifts and talents. Start leaving a legacy today by making your life about more than just you. You can make your life about others and bring out the best in them.
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Identify your bigger purpose. If you are not sure what it is, that’s ok. Think about what you do. What inspires you to be your best and bring the best in others? What other purpose will inspire you to be your best? Write below.
Start by making a decision to leave a legacy. As you strive to be your best, list several ways you can utilize your successes to benefit others. How do you wish to be remembered by your teammates and friends? List below (add pages.)
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What is the one thing I will do to leave a legacy into action?
How will I make this part of this playbook a lifelong habit and implement it? (This question cannot be answered in one simple answer. Your visions for Far
Westerns and SCS Junior Olympics will evolve over time. Add pages to this playbook as you implement new ideas and strategies.)
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One swimmer in pursuit of excellence raises the standards of their teammates. The best do this in their swim and personal lives.
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Last Play
Greatness Is A Life Mission
Greatness is a life mission. Not because greatness is an out come but because it is a process. If you are one of the few to become the best in the world at what you do, it’s short lived. Someone will come along who is better.
Being the best can’t last. But the person you become and the impact you have on your teammates and others will last forever.
Create An Environment Where Excellence Is Inevitable
Becoming the best is not about being better than everyone else; it’s about striving to be the best and bringing the best out of your teammates at NOVA. As you strive for excellence you will inspire excellence with everyone associated with NOVA. You will become a model that shows your teammates what excellence represents. You will inspire your NOVA teammates to work harder, swim faster, dedicate more and raise themselves to the standards you have set for yourself.
The best way to inspire excellence is to pursue it for yourself. In the process you will make every NOVA
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teammate around you better. You will leave a legacy and make your life about others. You pursue excellence within you own life and you encourage, empower and inspire others to strive for excellence as well. This is the true path to greatness.
Be honest with yourself. Are you currently a model of excellence for your NOVA teammates? Are you striving for excellence in your swimming and Life?
By now you should know the steps you are taking into action to make yourself one of the Best of the Best. If this is not the case return to the beginning of this playbook and reread it…
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