Jun 20 2019

Quality Time Alone

So much emphasis today is placed on coaching. There’s a coach for this and a coach for that. There are hitting coaches, strength coaches, and life coaches. You’re coached up and coached down. Did you ever think about the ME coach? I’m talking about the coach that monitors your every move. This is the coach that knows how you feel every changing minute, the one you see in the mirror. The one you don’t have to pay an hourly rate. Most importantly the coach that knows your B.S. meter!

Being alone (including cell phone use) limits distractions. You can be yourself, stay loose and even act overconfident for the moment (which is often healthy for less confident individuals). This becomes a quality time to instill a sense of self- discipline and the perfect moment to ask oneself many motivating questions. Who am I? How can I make myself better? What is today’s agenda? What are my weaknesses and strengths? How do I feel at this very moment and in this environment? Am I challenging my present limits? Am I being honest? Is my coach going to notice the improvements that are linked to this extra effort? If someone were watching, what would they see? What motivates me? And my all-time favorite question (even though I stress to my clients to first compete with themselves): What is the other guy (competition) doing right now?

As a child growing up, I lived on a farm. Most of my friends lived many miles away and my dad, a hard-working blue-collar man had other priorities so, it wasn’t uncommon that many days would pass without “hanging” with a single person. I lived for sports but wasn’t always able to get together with friends to practice because I didn’t live in a neighborhood. I was forced to use alternative resources to pass the time and also improve my performance. When baseball season arrived, I used the brick porch wall and a tennis ball to work both throwing and fielding drills. I performed “mock” 9 inning baseball games. Heck, I even had fifty-thousand screaming fans there (yes, I had an imagination). I paid attention to the finest of details, everything from the wind up, staring down the runner and even shaking off the signs from the catcher.

When I began boxing in high school, I envisioned walking into the boxing gym (just as Rocky did) and then being greeted immediately by a trainer that was going to help me become the next Heavyweight champ of the world. I learned quickly of the reality that it takes months before anyone in the gym even asked my name. I spent the first few months teaching myself how to hit the heavy bag along with the shadow boxing and foot work, jump rope etc. This was the beginning of a great lesson for me. Others in my situation may have either looked for alternative gyms to train, or completely exited the sport. What I learned in retrospect was that the trainers weren’t ignoring me at all. They had their eyes on me the entire time. These trainers were not looking primarily for talent. They were checking to see if the dedication, consistency and self-motivating desire were all intact.

Through my amateur boxing career and into Professional status I continued with the same thought process. What I do on my own is truly what matters most. I began with the heavy bag that hung on my back porch, and the home-made boxing ring I made with my mother’s clothes line rope in the side yard. I set up a video camera (I think it was still VHS back then), and would record all of my moves for entire work outs. This was followed by film sessions and weightlifting in my basement.

I am not devaluing the role of a coach, as I am one myself. A coach has the critical role of conveying and reinforcing the correct techniques, tactics, discipline, etc. What I am saying is that there is no coach who spends as much time with you as the ME coach. Take the instructions that your coach has prescribed and put in some extra time…..ALONE to work on the necessary skills to become better at your craft.

Above, I have used a couple of inexpensive and priceless examples that I used to improve skills and qualities as a person and an athlete. Do it your own way. There are no rules. You will discover things about yourself that only this type of training can do. Talk to yourself, get emotional with yourself, and become obsessed with your discipline. Believe me, your coaches and many others will recognize your improvements as you become better at your craft and they will appreciate it. Most importantly you will have become more self-sufficient with added self- worth.