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The following is a listing of all posts in the category of Motivation for our site.

Click on the links to read the individual posts.

7 Ways to Fail Better

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This post was syndicated from the Inner Drive blog.

Editor’s Note from Brian: I believe that these 7 lessons apply in athletics when athletes are working to acquire new skills or improve existing ones as well as in academics.

How well do your students fail? Poet Samuel Beckett once said, “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” Turns out he was sort of right, as research by psychologists over the past two decades has found that the way you explain your failures can have a profound impact on your future behaviour.

Research from sport suggests that if athletes attribute failure to permanent causes instead of temporary ones, and if they overgeneralise instead of being specific, it can lead to them feeling less confident, more anxious and performing worse in the future.

Could this be applied in schools? Students have many highs and lows over the course of the year. Failure at some stage is inevitable.  Some students see their failures as permanent (“I will never be good at art” vs. “I am struggling in art at the moment”), and they overgeneralise (“I don’t like maths” vs. “I don’t like algebra”).

To combat this, some schools have started running a ‘failure week’ to help promote the importance of taking risks, learning from mistakes, and reducing students’ fear of failure.  Others are incorporating these principles regularly into PHSE lessons and enrichment days.

HOW TO FAIL BETTER

So how can we help students fail better? It is important to note that failing better is different from aiming to fail. The former focuses on learning and development; the latter suggests low expectations and lack of effort (which is the opposite mindset of what we promote). Students ‘fail better’ if they can answer yes to these questions…

Were they trying something new?

Being open and enthusiastic about new and challenging situations is a key characteristic of having a growth mindset. We want to help students shift away from focusing on ‘proving myself’ and more towards ‘improving myself’.

The teenage years offer a unique window of self-discovery and improving self-awareness. It can be when people discover what they are passionate about. Part of this process is trying new things, experimenting, and finding out what one’s strengths/weaknesses might be. Failures are integral to this. Helping students understand this can help aid their learning and development.

Were they still motivated after the setback?

Research on teenagers has found that those who are motivated by learning and mastering a subject, compared to those who are extrinsically motivated by rewards, display higher levels of emotional control before an exam, have higher levels of confidence, and achieve better academic performance.

Doing well at school is more akin to a marathon, rather than a sprint. Motivation needs to be robust and durable in order to aid resilience. Focusing on improvement, on learning, and on getting better should ensure that this happens.

Was it the right thing to try at the time?

It is easy for students to judge how good their decisions are based on the outcome (i.e. if it ended up well, it was a good decision; if it ended up badly, it was a bad one). This is a mistake, as sometimes the result may be down to randomness, luck, or a million other factors. This can lead to people throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Statistician Nate Silver, the only man in America who correctly predicted how each of the 50 states would vote in the 2012 Presidential election, states that instead of judging decisions based on the eventual outcome, it is far better to judge them based on the information you had at the time.

If students make the best decision possible from the information available, then perhaps the mistake was down to execution of the skill and not the thought process going into it. This is an important distinction to make, as it can help identify which part of the process to target for improvement next time.

Did they ask for feedback (and then use it)?

There is a great quote that says, “Real failure is a man who has blundered, but not cashed in on the experience.” If students are going to suffer from setbacks (and it is a certainty that they will at some stage), then there is a three-part way to ensure they learn the most from it.

First is the act of asking for feedback. This is a great behaviour to praise, as it is the behaviour you want them repeat after future failures. Second is being open to the feedback. This is a fundamental part of learning. If students feel that they are being judged or attacked, it is unlikely that they will heed the feedback, no matter how helpful. Third is getting them to action the feedback. It is not enough to have good intentions; behaviour change comes from doing, not just thinking about it.

Did they reflect on the experience and know what they would do differently?

Setbacks can aid the learning process, but only if the person experiencing it takes the time to reflect on what has happened and as a result, is clear on what they would do differently next time. Otherwise, it is likely that they will repeat the same mistakes again and again in the future. It is ok to make mistakes. To keep making the same one is criminal.

Having students ask themselves ‘what would I do differently next time?’ is a great question for two reasons. First, it stops them dwelling on the past, which can reduce student stress. Second, it gives them a sense of control over the situation, which will help boost their confidence and motivation when moving forward into the future.

FINAL THOUGHT

We all want the students we work with to be successful; however, it would be foolish to think that they will never fail. We don’t want students to fail more, but if (and when) some of them do fail, we want them to fail better. Helping them fail better isn’t negative; if anything, it may be one of the most positive skills we could teach them.

About Inner Drive

InnerDrive is a mental skills training company coveing the traditional areas of sports psychology and mindset training.

Their work covers the traditional areas of performance psychology, sports psychology and neuroscience. They work with over 120 schools in England and last year worked with over 25,000 students, teachers and parents.

The company is led by Edward Watson, a retired Army major and Bradley Busch, a HCPC registered psychologist.


Filed Under: Motivation

Five Things to Avoid Saying to Your Athletes

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This article is courtesy of Coaches Network

Coaches can often walk a fine line when trying to motivate their young athletes. Choosing the right words to get the most out of your players can be challenging when also trying to instill lessons that go beyond winning and losing. Janis Meredith of CouchUp.com outlines various ways that coaches can inspire their team without creating tension or emotional harm. Specifically, Meredith identifies five phrases that can put undue pressure on young athletes and should therefore be avoided.

1. “This is a MUST win!”

Even if your team is about to compete in a playoff or tournament game, it does not usually help to emphasize that winning is all that matters. Players already understand that it’s an important game that needs to be one if they want to keep playing, reiterating this probably wont help them. There is so much more to be gained from such a competitive game that focusing only on winning can keep your athletes from getting the most out of the experience. “They will play another season, other games, and reminding them that this is a “must-win” will not help them play any better; it will only help them worry all the more about messing up,” writes Meredith.

2. “Watch how (insert name here) does it! You can do it too!”

It makes sense to occasionally use players on your team as examples when trying to teach a certain skill or technique. Yet this type of tactic can also have a negative psychological effect on the other players. Though coaching tactics like this usually come from good intentions, they can easily do more harm than good. Try to avoid comparing players to each other, or singling out a certain person. Instead, motivate the entire team to get better together.

3. “You’re the best player out there! Go show them how it’s done!”

Even if the athlete is the best player on the team, telling them that they need to prove this can put provide unnecessary pressure. Meredith writes, “That mindset may work for older athletes, but for young athletes it is an unnecessary burden to bear.” Keep in mind that it is easy for young athletes to feel overburdened by pressure from their coaches, making it important to avoid singling out specific players. Provide this type of encouragement to the entire team and they will likely share the responsibility together instead of one person feeling like they have to do it all themselves.

4. “Remember what happened last game?”

Most of the time, players remember their mistakes and therefore coaches don’t need to provide constant reminders. Mistakes should be addressed in a way that athletes can learn from them, and one of the main responsibilities of coaches is to help in the learning process. Don’t let your players dwell on their mistakes by reminding them what happened. Instead, give them the knowledge and confidence needed to avoid those mistakes in the future.

5. “Destroy the other team!”

This puts the focus on the opponent instead of the actual performance of your own team. It may just seem like a classic way to motivate your players and get them fired up, but it does nothing to help them visualize succeeding. Encourage your team to play their best, regardless of the opponent. “The object of the game is to win (with integrity) and not to intentionally hurt opponents,” writes Meredith.

Instead of focusing energy towards these last minute motivational speeches, try to just encourage your young athletes to play their best and enjoy the game.


Filed Under: Motivation

Messages to Motivate Athletes

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This article was provided by Coaches Network

As a coach, you strive to find the words that will help your athletes reach their full potential—not only as athletes, but as young adults.  In an article in Psychology Today, Meg Selig—author of Changepower! 37 Secrets to Habit Change Success—provides a few brief motivational messages that coaches have used in motivating their athletes to get the most out of their athletic experience.

Do it for love. Selig remembers when well-know figure skating coach Frank Carroll told nervous 18-year-old U.S. skater Gracie Gold the following message when she took the ice for a key performance: “Think about how much you love skating!” And she references a quote from legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson in his book, Eleven Rings: “Focus on something greater than yourself that you love and value, such as your sport or your team.”

Next play. This philosophy is emphasized by Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who prevents players from dwelling on their mistakes.  Selig cites a description by LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, who has adopted the “next play” philosophy, based on Coach K’s beliefs: “(Coach K) yells out ‘next play,’ because he doesn’t want the team lingering too long on what just took place. He doesn’t want them celebrating that incredible alley-oop dunk, and he doesn’t want them lamenting the fact that the opposing team just stole the ball and had a fast break that led to an easy layup. You can take a moment to reflect on what just happened, and you probably should, but you shouldn’t linger too long on it, and then move on to the next play.”

Aim for excellence, not perfection. Selig says this is a great motto for an athlete who gets bogged down by never being able to achieve total perfection. Accepting failures and glitches in one’s program is simply part of the process.

Why not you? Why not us? According to Selig, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson always remembered his father’s question to him, “Why not you?” When he encouraged his Seahawks teammates, he transformed the saying into, “Why not us?”

Create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome. Selig quotes this statement from Phil Jackson’s Eleven Rings: “I’ve heard echoes of this statement in interviews by Olympians and other successful athletes. Once you’ve prepared mentally and physically for your game, then you are ready to do your best–and your best is the best you can do.”

Cultivate a learning mindset instead of a fixed mindset. Many young athletes believe that it’s talent that counts, says Selig, and as a result, they don’t put in the hard work needed to overcome deficiencies, hone a skill to excellence, or develop the mental strength and flexibility to bounce back from failure.  For these athletes, Selig encourages that the coach rewards effort rather than talent and reframe failure as an opportunity to learn.

Use setbacks as motivation. Can athletes use their failures as a springboard to success? Selig writes, “If you read the sports page, you’ll find that almost every sports team uses a significant loss to motivate themselves to improve in the coming year.”

Keep your self-talk encouraging. Selig emphasizes that positive self-talk must be geared to the athlete’s own and she offers these phrases as mantras for athletes to say to themselves: “I’ve done it before; I can do it again, “or “I’m going to trust myself,” or “Whatever happens, I’ll do my best.”

 

Are you tired of walking into practice and seeing lackluster effort from your players?  Have you had it with trying to get your female athletes to care about the team as much as you do??

Click here to find out more about Coach Dawn’s eBook: Motivating Female Athletes

Comes with a FREE PowerPoint presentation called Guarantee Your Success: Using John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success To Increase Your Team’s Cohesion.


Filed Under: Motivation

PhD Coach’s Approach To Motivation

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Joe Tauer, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at the University of St. Thomas, has a doctorate in psychology and teaches the subject as a tenured professor at the school. So it’s not surprising that he’s regularly asked how he uses that to motivates his players. What is unexpected, however, is his response.

“The short answer is, I don’t,” says Tauer, who became Head Coach at St. Thomas in 2010 after 11 years as an assistant there. “I say that half tongue-in-cheek, but a big part of my approach is to bring in players who are intrinsically motivated, which means they have a built-in desire to take part in an activity for its own sake. My assistants and I tell our players, ‘We’re not going to try to convince you every day to work hard. You either decide to work hard, and we will push you and help you improve, or we’re going to put our efforts into somebody who wants to get better.”

“That doesn’t mean we don’t talk about motivation,” he continues. “But if I have a bunch of players who are only externally motivated, we’re going to struggle, regardless of the degree I have.”

St. Thomas has obviously found those intrinsically motivated players. The team has posted a 98-19 record in Tauer’s four seasons as head coach, winning four conference titles, and reaching the NCAA Division III semifinals in 2013.

So what is the long answer to how he motivates his players? “One of the greatest motivators is hope,” he explains. “Whenever someone feels hopeful, they’re optimistic, energized, and inspired. That’s when you see people do things beyond what they’ve ever done before. With our team, we try to create a vision for what players can be, both individually and collectively, that will give each of them something to strive for.”

Tauer says his philosophy on building that vision comes down to two key team-wide concepts. “The first is, ‘Dare to be Great,’” he says. “Second, we emphasize sustained and consistent excellence, as expressed by the quote attributed to Aristotle, ‘Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.’ Those two quotes provide a vision to our players of what we want for them every day—not only on the court, but also off the court and in their lives after they leave here.”

While establishing a shared vision is critical, Tauer says coaches also need to learn what makes each player tick. “Everybody marches to the beat of their own drum, and we have to know our players well enough to understand the beat they’re marching to,” he says. “We don’t have to agree with it. We don’t have to change it. But if we don’t understand it, we won’t know why they act the way they do.”

This is a challenge when each athlete may be motivated differently. “For example, in my first year as an assistant, I was handling the defense, and we had a talented player who never worked hard on that end of the floor,” Tauer says. “Every day I was on him, stopping practice to have him run sprints and holding him out of drills. After about two weeks, nothing had changed so I told him his effort wasn’t cutting it, and that I didn’t like getting on him every day and seeing him roll his eyes at me. He kept saying ‘I get it, Coach. I understand.’ And I said, ‘No, you don’t. Otherwise it wouldn’t be like this.’

“Finally he got frustrated and said, ‘I do get it, Coach. But what you don’t understand is that I’m lazy. I need you to yell at me and make me run sprints when I don’t play hard on defense.’ The rest of the year we had an understanding, and I didn’t feel bad about getting on him.”

Tauer explains there are three main areas of motivation: biological, psychological, and environmental. “All we have control over as coaches is the last one, and that’s only for a few hours a day,” he says. “So during practice, we have to model the behavior we want to see. If we talk about guys being good teammates, we need to ask ourselves, ‘How often do I stop practice to recognize the guy who made the extra pass, or took the charge, or dove on the floor to win a loose ball?’ Because if we reward them with praise, they’ll do more of it. If all we do is talk about our leading scorer, they will only want to score.”

While motivating in athletics can sometimes involve yelling and screaming, Tauer teaches his players it’s not that way in the real world. “The analogy I use is that most bosses aren’t going to yell and scream at their employees on a daily basis,” he says. “But they are going to expect you to do unbelievably good work. They’re going to expect you to be motivated because you recognize it’s the right thing—not because you’re scared or fearful.”


Filed Under: Motivation

3 Pieces of Inspiration

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Here are three more inspirational pieces that you might consider using when you are looking for something to share with your players. The poem at the end of the post is written in the male gender, but I believe that the message can be used for ladies as well.

I Am a Winner

by William Arthur Ward

. . . because I think like a winner, prepare like a winner, and perform like a winner.

. . . because I set high, but attainable goals, work toward those goals with determination and persistence, and never stop until I reach them.

. . . because I am strong enough to say “No!” to those things that would make me less than my best, and to say “Yes!” to the challenges and opportunities that will make me grow and improve my life.

. . . because total commitment is my constant companion, and personal integrity is my lifetime mentor.

. . . because I am learning to avoid the tempting shortcuts that can lead to disappointment, and the unhealthy habits that could result in defeat.

….. because I have a well-earned confidence in myself, a high regard for my teammates and coworkers, and a healthy respect for those in authority over me.

. . . because I have learned to accept criticism, not as a threat, but as an opportunity to examine my attitudes and to improve my skills.

. . . because I persevere in the mist of obstacles and fight on in the face of defeat.

. . . because I am made in the image and likeness of my Creator, who gave me a burning desire, a measure of talent, and a strong faith to attempt the difficult and to overcome the seemingly impossible.

. . . because of my enthusiasm for life, my enjoyment of the present, and my trust in the future.

Watch

By Frank Outlaw

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Equipment

By Edgar A. Guest

Figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You’ve all that the greatest of men have had,
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes
And a brain to use if you would be wise.
With this equipment they all began,
So start for the top and say, “I can.”

Look them over, the wise and great
They take their food from a common plate,
And similar knives and forks they use,
With similar laces they tie their shoes.
The world considers them brave and smart,
But you’ve all they had when they made their start.

You can triumph and come to skill,
You can be great if you only will.
You’re well equipped for what fight you choose,
You have legs and arms and a brain to use,
And the man who has risen great deeds to do
Began his life with no more than you.

You are the handicap you must face,
You are the one who must choose your place,
You must say where you want to go,
How much you will study the truth to know.
God has equipped you for life, but He
Lets you decide what you want to be.

Courage must come from the soul within,
The man must furnish the will to win.
So figure it out for yourself, my lad.
You were born with all that the great have had,
With your equipment they all began,
Get hold of yourself and say: “I can.”


Filed Under: Motivation

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