I had the unique opportunity to play and coach college volleyball. As an athlete I would spend hours upon hours practicing for game day. In fact, the other day I attempted to count the number of hours I spent practicing. I started playing volleyball in sixth grade and finished playing when I was 26 years old. When I calculated the number of hours on the court and in the weight room I lost track between 8,000 and 10,000 hours.
When I finished playing and coaching I noticed something I had never seen before. Only 10% of my time was spent in actual games. That’s nuts! 90% of my time as an athlete was practicing, planning and preparing for game day.
I have found a stark contrast being in the business world. I get to work with leaders from several different industries. They are tired, stressed, have little time for themselves and they don’t make time to practice for the big game.
Leaders need to make time to stop, practice, take a time out, or even focus on what they want out of life. If you find yourself saying, “I’m too busy”, I would argue that it is an optimal time for a break.
You need a space to practice, to get out of the game and analyze your technical and tactical skills. How else will you improve your game?
If that’s all you have or are willing to put in, how do you spend that 10% of your time? How are you developing? How are you taking your leadership to the next level?
There is no better time than now to start thinking about how you could take your game to the next level. Coaching is a field that is on the rise across the country. It is not uncommon to hear about people who have hired an executive coach, or a life coach.
Let me tell you how a coach can help you improve your tactical and technical skills as a leader:
- Coaching is all about your insights
- This is a safe space for you to practice
- Your thinking improves as you start to look at life from different angles
- Coaching is solutions oriented
- Coaching allows you to put a structure to the different things that are running around in your brain.
I would challenge you to get off the court and onto the sidelines. It’s time to take your leadership to the next level.