On Saturday, while riding the exercise bike at home, I listened to an episode of Unlocking the Minds of Athletes podcast hosted by former NFL player Isaac Byrd. In this episode (#15) he was interviewing sports psychologist Stephen Walker.
While there was a lot of great information in the interview one of the things that jumped out at me what Dr. Walker’s reference to What’s Important Now? If you have heard me speak in the last 13 years, then you have heard me talk about What’s Important Now? as Life’s Most Powerful Question so I was very interested as to how he was applying the question and philosophy.
At one point Isaac asked him to talk about getting players to focus on “playing in the now”. Dr. Walker shared a story about Pat Summitt, the former coach of the Tennesse women’s basketball team and the all time winningest coach in NCAA basketball history. He said Pat used to carry two whistles at practice. One was a sterling silver one she was given as a gift in recognition of one her many milestones and the other was a plain red whistle. The red whistle however, was the What’s Important Now? whistle. During practice she would blow it at critical times and call out a player’s name. That player had to immediately explain what their assignment was, where they should be on the court and what they should be doing. Brilliant.
What’s the point? Get yourself a ‘red whistle’ and at critical times during training when people’s minds start to wander, they lose focus or are just going through the motions blow it, freeze everything and ask officers What’s Important Now? This can be in relation to what they need to be thinking, where their focus should be, or what is critical at that moment for them to get the most out of the drill or the training.
It does not have to actually be a whistle. You can simply freeze training and ask the officers What’s Important Now? That simple exercise can help them to immediately focus on the critical aspects of training and teach them to use W.I.N. As a tool to help them focus and prioritize.
Use this sparingly and intentionally or it will lose the benefit and just be “that stupid whistle again”.
Take care and always remember Life’s Most Powerful Question – What’s Important Now?
Brian Willis
Winning Mind Training – Inspiring Change through Excellence in Training.
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