Golden State of Mind

Source: Simon Sinek, 2010

Since reading the book, “Start with Why,” by New York Times Best Selling Author, Simon Sinek, I have challenged myself to consider why I do the things I do, say the things I say, or believe what I believe. Sinek references the stories of how visionaries like the Wright Brothers, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and Dr. King changed the world because they started with why. Later in his book, Sinek elaborates on the concept of the “Golden Circle.” Essentially, the “Golden Circle” illustrates that people can easily explain “what,” or “how” they may do, say, or feel something yet articulating the why, or the mission behind it can be difficult at times.1 With this being my first post, I would rather tell you why I have chosen to create this blog before I tell you what this blog is about.

The inspiration for this blog comes from the Bible verse: Proverbs 27:17. It reads, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” In my short 24 years of life, I have been blessed to learn many valuable lessons that are largely due to my successes and failures as an athlete. Coaches along the way have imparted their wisdom and mentored me in both sport and life. My high school football coach always said, “Old guys teach young guys, young guys grow up.”  The lessons I learned from teammates and coaches through discipline, empathy, pride, defeat, and more compelled me to become a coach for the purpose of imparting that same wisdom to those who come across my path.

I have lived a blessed life full of amazing people and unforgettable experiences. I’ve also been blessed to have persevered through broken relationships and struggled through hardship because all of those experiences have strengthened me and inspired me to share them publicly. I believe very strongly in the power of empathy2 and its ability to change lives by offering a new lens to look at life.

I am confident most athletes and coaches would agree with me when I say that coaches (athletic performance or otherwise) have so much more knowledge and wisdom to offer than most people on the outside realize. No other profession requires you to establish trust with other people on the level that coaching does. Building that trust takes copious amounts of time, intentional effort, and understanding how to interact healthily with a spectrum of personalities and situations. When a coach has that level of trust with his or her athletes, he or she can effect change in ways that even family may not be able to. Coaches like Brett Bartholomew and Ron McKeefery are consistently producing content that address how coaches can best interact with their athletes, however the principles they discuss can be applied to people in any profession. Inspired by people like coaches Bartholomew, McKeefery, and many more, I hope to contribute much more than simply providing my opinions on training techniques and posting my daily workout video...although there will be some of that to a degree. Stay tuned!

“They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

~Anonymous

References:

1. Sinek, S. (2009). Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. New York, New York. The Penguin Group.
2. Jowett et al. (2006). Perceptions of empathic accuracy and assumed similarity in the coach-athlete relationship. British Journal of Psychology, 45, 617-637.