If I told you that you needed to get 300% better, could you make that change?
How the heck am I going to do that?
Whether you are a competitive athlete or a stay at home parent (political correctness has gotten to me…) you should strive to make yourself more than the person you were yesterday.
I was asked a question while playing pro baseball one time: could the guy from last year’s baseball card kick your ass? If the answer is yes, you failed. You failed to improve and get better from last year to now.
Ask yourself that question, could the version of you from a year or two ago kick your ass today? If the answer is yes, it is time to make a change.
If you want or need to make a big change, how do you go about it?
Like most difficult tasks, breaking it into small, achievable steps is the best way to go.
Here is where I like to talk about a philosophy introduced to me by famed strength coach Charles Poliquin: the Kaizen principle.
Kaizen means improvement in Japanese, whether one time or continuous, but in our conversation, we will focus on the continuous. (very popular in business circles)
Back at the beginning, I talked about getting 300% better; that’s a huge change and can seem very intimidating.
But if we break it down to really small units over a long time, the huge change becomes much more manageable.
Ask yourself, can I get 1% better today?
If you say no, you’re a liar, something can be improved each day, you can make a change today.
You can get stronger (obviously my cup of tea…), you can become more efficient in your habits (or start breaking bad ones…), you can learn or refine a skill; something can always be done, something can always be improved, something can be changed.
Athletes, small adjustments are the name of the game. The athletes who can make adjustments the quickest tend to be the ones who come out on top. Every time you grab a ball and start to throw, work on getting more mastery of your stride length, direction, controlling your front side or arm path.
Daily goals help achieve our larger long-term goals.
In sports and life as in the weight room, there is no maintenance, only stronger or weaker. Don’t let today’s version of you be weaker than the day before!
If you want to read more about making a change and the Kaizen principle, check this out here.
