The photo above is of one of the coaches I look up to the most, Gregg Popovich, conducting a Timeout with the San Antonio Spurs. I am reminded of “Coach Pop” in two ways today.
First, I am taking a few days away following the loss of a loved one. I’ll say no more, simply point you towards a blog I wrote telling a story of when a journalist pressed Coach Pop to tell them what he had said to one of his players, to which he answered: “that’s family business“. I share ideas and experiences online but also maintain strict boundaries. I share ideas online and sometimes my own personal experiences (where there is something to share that others may learn from), but I maintain the privacy of family and friends (eg you will not see me post my life on Facebook etc).
Second, while I will see a number of people on this trip and will give each of them my full attention and enjoy being with them, I will also, over and above all of that, have one singular focus, one thing I am focussed on. Another post I wrote around Coach Pop was called “give less advice” and was a reminder of my own coaching journey. At 23 I was coaching my old University team through a “cup run” of winning one knockout (single elimination in US English) match after another. In the beginning, I used to try to cram lots of advice to multiple players into each 60-second Timeout. As things progressed and I grew as a coach, though, I gave less and less advice in each Timeout. The most effective of these Timeouts was when I focussed on one thing and one thing only.
Those are today’s thoughts to share for you, I’ll be back in a few days.