We now have a pretty good idea what those key habits of mind are. We also know something about how we can encourage young people to develop them. Over the next few posts we will outline these key habits of mind.
Learning to be Persistent
Powerful learners are determined enough to put in the long hours of training to reach a standard of excellence. Some research has estimated that it takes up to 10,000 hours of quality learning to get really good at any skilled activity.
Champions are people who have put in the work, and who did it intelligently. By praising effort and resilience, rather than talent, or even ‘success’, coaches can train young people to have pride in their own commitment.
It is in small ‘asides’ that express appreciation and respect that youngsters pick up the values of a coach and make them their own. It also helps if coaches model persistence and resilience in their own work with young people, and create a team spirit of mutual appreciation and respect for effort and intent. Not wanting to ‘let the others down’ is a powerful motivator, as is a degree of healthy competition.
What elite coaches call ‘mental toughness’ is especially important in the face of difficulty or disappointment. Resilience is the eagerness and enthusiasm to stay engaged despite confusion, uncertainty or lack of control.
Without mental toughness, players easily feel threatened by setbacks, and, like all of us, when they feel threatened, young sports people tend to retreat to their comfort zone and fall back into doing things they already know well and can do reliably. This attitude protects their self-esteem, but fails to increase their mastery of the new skills, knowledge and know how which may be required for long term success.
Youngsters have to learn to become more resilient if they are to give themselves the chance to become better performers. That means their coaches will have to be open and matter-of-fact about the feelings of frustration, disappointment, inadequacy and anxiety.
It helps if they tell stories from their own experience about their own career downs, as well as the ups, and about the self-doubt experienced by even the most illustrious performers past and present. Self-doubt feels much worse if you think you are the only person in your sport, who has ever felt that way.
Coaches can help their youngsters learn the kinds of positive self-talk that helps to overcome – rather than wallow in – setbacks. We all have a critical voice in our heads that threatens to undermine us when we make mistakes; but coaches can easily model a different voice, one that is more supportive and which renews determination rather than saps it.
Good learners know about their emotional habits, and how to deal with them. In football, a player, for example, may have a tendency to turn frustration into aggression, which may result in a red card.
A good coach will help them develop that self-awareness, and a range of counter-habits they can employ, such as counting to ten, removing themselves from the situation or taking a few deep breaths before reacting.
It is also useful to develop the habit of not letting your attention collapse inwards when things are going wrong, but staying focused on the job in hand. It is from realisations like these that the next generation of coaching strategies has to begin.
John Allpress and Guy Claxton
Sporting Futures 