December is here, and we can all look forward to winter break as well as those New Year’s resolutions! So how can we have fun and improve?
I’m going to give you a couple of ideas that will help you gain new skills and further refine your existing skills. We all understand that it’s easy to get lost in the process of learning new skills. We could use a road map. Sometimes on the learning journey, we get tired, distracted, etc.
So I want to challenge you to the following:
- Choose 2 skills that you will practice over the next two weeks
- 2 Skills – 2 Weeks – 20 minutes per day
- 3x per week
There are my suggestions for improvement. Let’s break it down a little further, but keep it very simple.
2 Skills: We want to choose a specific skill that we’re going to work on, not just a wide variety of skills without a clear focus. We’ll keep it simple with only 2 skills.
2 Weeks: Tell yourself that you’re committing your training to a small set timeframe, you can take a break after, but you have a goal, a 2 week time period to commit.
20 Minutes per day: Training should be fun, and sometimes we try to put too much time into it, and we burn out on day 1. Pace yourself, leave yourself wanting to train more, and be eager to come back and improve those skills you know you can do better on. Think, “I only have 20 minutes; I better make the most of it.”
3x Per week: Make that commitment that you will get in at least 3 days of training. We are not always at our peak level of motivation, but that separates the good players from the great players. We get in the work because we know our body will still improve from experience, even if our mind is not 100% excited. We’re firing off signals to those neural pathways that will help you gain the skills you’re aiming for.
And for parents and coaches, if you’re looking for an enjoyable and beneficial book to read over the holidays, I highly recommend The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle.
