"They haven't found their identity." Coaches shape the identity of players and teams.
Identity relates to our "real selves." It's our character not others' perception of us. But we talk about teams finding their identity, their 'raison d'etre' as the French say. It's neither all good nor bad. One could be a brilliant teacher and an egotistical jerk at the same time. Or a coach could be a wonderful person and lack skills to succeed in teaching and coaching. Or have an exceptional (A Beautiful Mind) intellect trapped in a shell of severe mental illness.
In Ten-Minute Toughness, Jason Selk encourages us to develop both a brief "identity statement" and a "performance statement." That partly separates "this is who I am" and "this is how I play/coach."
Identity can present complexity and chaos. Bruce Wayne or Batman? Businessman Herb Baumeister founded the successful "Sav-A-Lot" chain store and was simultaneously a serial killer.
Habits shape our identity. Whom do we want to become? Putting in the time, the effort and the behaviors necessary to succeed at the highest level requires exceptional commitment and consistency. It would be hard to become an elite athlete and eat at fast food restaurants three times a day. A Patriots executive asked why the lights were still on in the facility at 7:30 at night. The custodian explained there was a lowly drafted rookie studying film. His name? Tom Brady.
Consciously or not, we become transactional or transformational as coaches. Most of us are a blend of both. The term "transactional coach" usually connotes a less well-rounded coach but the transactional coach could have a defined time to work with the athlete on a defined domain (e.g. strength and conditioning). The "transformational" coach changes the athlete's life. The paradigm might be Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid.
Skill will not magically appear. If we seek an identity as a cleaner, an end-of-game finisher, that requires special skills and training. If an athlete's identity means "making the team" that is a different level of commitment.
I encourage everyone to watch James Clear's video below. He explains how and why habits matter and the relevance of making desired habits easier to perform. His book Atomic Habits is excellent in informing habits in depth.
Lagniappe. Shaping up. 10 minutes won't reshape our lives, but it might start.
The 8 Characteristics of Flow
Csikszentmihalyi describes eight characteristics of flow:
- Complete concentration on the task;
- Clarity of goals and reward in mind and immediate feedback;
- Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down);
- The experience is intrinsically rewarding;
- Effortlessness and ease;
- There is a balance between challenge and skills;
- Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination;
- There is a feeling of control over the task.
