One of the truly great positives about getting older is that you start to realize how much time you have wasted in your life. The positive is not the wasted time, but rather the education that comes with learning from that lost time.
My three great flaws are over-thinking, over-talking and over-reacting. Those three characteristics have led to lost time I will never get back. I have a passion for justice and teaching things the "right way", so that passion often gets the best of me because I give too much information with too much enthusiasm, and often, the point of my passion and enthusiasm gets lost in translation.
Because of the ridiculous amount of time I have spent over-coaching in my career, I am slowly learning to be much more conscious of speaking and teaching with "conviction": "say what I mean, and mean what I say." For example, if I am going to teach a kid how to become a better jump shooter, I do not need to give him or her an oral history on the great shooters of all-time. That does not help anyone shoot the ball better.
I need to simply start and end with the importance of their feet. If your feet are set, and your feet are square to the basket, and you have a center-of-gravity that makes you stable (a little bump won't knock you over), you are ready to shoot the ball and will probably make more than you miss. If I can get a kid to consistently shoot the ball knowing how important their feet are on the catch, that kid will grow in confidence progressively over time. As a teacher, I want that kid to learn that simple formula for success, but it requires the kid to be focused on doing it right over and over again.
The same goes for the young people I educate on developing themselves into the "ideal recruit". If you are out of shape, I preach to them to start with a short run down to the end of the block and back without stopping. Tomorrow, do it again. If after a week or two of one trip down the block and back, it starts to get easy, now is the time to add a second lap to your run. Focus on starting small. Build your endurance, and then build on that endurance one step at a time, and you will see not only your shape improve, but your confidence will grow with it.
As Steve Jobs said, "simple can be harder than complex" because simple relies on discipline, routine and consistency. When we teach simple concepts, we allow the student to focus on small things instead of big things they may not remember or may take away from their focus.
I am in the middle of process where I am going to make a pretty scary and dramatic career change (or career evolution as I am calling it). I often find myself distracted by all the mistakes I have made in the past and all the things that could go wrong with the future. My feet get caught in quick-drying cement, and just like that I am no longer moving toward my goals. I worked hard today to create a simple daily process by focusing on what I want to do without worrying about yesterday or tomorrow. I have made my process simple, and now I am focusing on repeating the work that needs to be done each day until I have a routine. I know through experience that routine will lead to discipline...and from there, I will begin to the move the mountains I want to move.
So, whether you are teaching shooting fundamentals or trying to get into better shape or, like me, working to make a career evolution, I encourage you to focus on keeping it simple, and you will begin to move the mountains that seem so impossible today.
Matt Rogers
Twitter: @madcoachdiary
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/rogersmatt16
Blog: madcoachdiary.blogspot.com
Phone: (312) 610-6045
Matt Rogers is a 22-year high school and college coach veteran. He has led two teams to the NCAA National Tournament and one team to a High School State Championship. His teams hold numerous school and one NCAA record. He has mentored and coached players at every collegiate level while serving as an athletics administrator at the high school and NCAA levels. He currently is the Senior Recruiting Specialist for NCSA - Next College Student Athlete where he has helped thousands of young men and women from around the world achieve their dreams of playing at the college level. Coach presently lives in the Denver, CO area with his wife of 22 years and his two children.
To request Coach Rogers to speak at your school or event, you can reach him through any of his contact information above.
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