Category Archives: Body-Image

This past week I listened to The Tom Farris Show podcast that a mentor of mine recommended. The particular episode was with Seth Godin on How to Say “No,” Market Like a Professional, and Win at Life. There’s gold throughout the whole episode, but what stood out to me was the “Yo-Yo Union” story referring to how some companies become so successful, especially when other people can’t figure out why.

   

The podcast refers to Supreme clothing line and how popular their Supreme t-shirts are. Essentially they look like a $3.00 t-shirt, yet people stand in long lines to pay $40.00 for it.

How come?

Seth Godin explains by using what he refers to as the yo-yo union. If you work with kids or have kids of your own, you’ve definitely experienced how this plays out. Yo-yos are regularly banned and frowned upon in school, especially elementary school. It goes in phases. Every few years a kid shows up with a yo-yo. If the kid is of low status then it’s the end, nothing to worry about. What if this kid is well liked though, someone who people want to be around? If a well-liked kid brings in a yo-yo to school then the next week you can expect 2-3 more kids to bring in a yo-yo. The week after that there will be 6 more kids with a yo-yo. Every week more kids will be bringing in yoyos until it gets out of hand that it needs to be banned. The secret to the yoyo becoming popular again is that the right kid needs to bring in a yo-yo the first day.

Are you an entrepreneur who is selling something that you want others to buy? Well, maybe it’s not the product that you’re selling. It could be that you need to follow in the footsteps of Supreme and find the RIGHT kid or consumer to buy into your product.  

I know from personal experience how this phenomenon works, especially in middle school. I work at a day treatment facility for middle schoolers and we have had to ban Rubik’s cubes, fidget spinners, and other objects because the well-liked kid is the one who was first interested in it and brought one in. From there on every other kid starting purchasing and bringing them in as well.

You may be reading this and thinking, “But Jenna I’m not an entrepreneur trying to sell something, I’m a coach, a parent, or an athlete.”

Yes, this pertains to you as well.

The yo-yo analogy is an important story for you all to remember. We are all selling something. As coaches, you are selling a vision, a goal, a mission, or a set of expectations to your team. If you are a parent you are also selling expectations for your child. As an athlete, you are in theory selling your athletic abilities to your team and coaches to essentially “purchase” either a successful performance, season, or scholarship.

In order for whatever you’re selling to blow up, you have to create buy-in. To do this you need to find the “right” person to start the trend, just like the right kid for the yo-yos.

A great example of this is a coach attempting to get their team to buy into the team values. At the beginning of the season, you may have spent the time to collaborate with your team on establishing values that you want them to all live by throughout the season. How will you get your team to buy into these values and actually implement them in and out of practice? Find that athlete on your team who once they buy into the values, everyone else will follow. Every team, group, or friend circle has this person. It’s the one person who is just so well-liked and fun to be around that they start fads without even realizing it.

Find that person on your team, create a strong trusting relationship with them, get them to buy into the values and implement them. Once they do that the rest of the team will start to see the importance of the values as well and follow suit.

Tune into the podcast I mentioned here! 

The task is simple; Do Your Job.

This is what successful teams live by.

If each member on your team is doing their job, they will become successful. Sounds so simple yet so many teams struggle. Why is that?

Well for starters, not many teams take the time to discuss what each member’s role is and how each role is important and vital to the teams’ success. Whether you’re the star player, a captain, the social butterfly, the cheerleader, or the benchwarmer; you have a role on your team and your team needs you to own that role.

Below is an example of how a team functions successfully when each member understands their part on the team and owns their role.

Sophomore year in collegiate track and field, my 4×400 meter relay team was disqualified at Nationals because I stepped on the line more than three consecutive times.  We went in ranked third, which is the best we’ve been for a while and were contestants to break the school record. We fell short in the prelims and due to our disqualification had to watch the finals in the stands.

We came back with a vengeance and used that setback as a comeback and went into the next season determined to win the outdoor National Championship title. What happened though was so much bigger than that. We banded together and knew each person’s role in the relay.

We knew what each leg had to do in order to win the title and were constantly affirming each others place on our relay. Not only did we end up winning the outdoor title, but we won the indoor title and continue to win the next 4 years breaking records, re-breaking our own records, and creating a strong 4×400 meter relay for years running. This wouldn’t have been possible without our mindsets and discussing how each runner’s role was vital to our success. Each runner was exactly aware of what they had to do.

Here were our roles coming back that next year after being disqualified.

Jenna (myself): As the starter, my job is to get out HARD. I needed to ensure that my team was in a good spot by beating others through the first corner, striding the backstretch, and then digging down as deep as I can to run the last 200 meters to the best of my ability. Although I am in my lane the whole way I needed to make sure I hand off near the front to make sure the next runner could get to the cut in a good place.

Becky: As the second runner, Becky knew she needed to get that baton and charge the corner. After the first corner is the cut and she knew she had to have enough space to cut smoothly without getting boxed in or stuck behind another runner. On the backstretch, she had to continue fighting for the place we were in and make sure she held strong near the front pack (if there was one). As she ran down the home stretch she would give it everything she had left to hand off to the next runner. The more space she could give the next runner, the better.

Shannon: Now Shannon had a very stressful leg on our relay. No matter WHAT place we were in, it was up to HER to move us forward into first or second place. If it wasn’t first she would make damn sure that we were as close to first as possible for our anchor. This way our anchor wouldn’t have to make up so much ground. We depended on Shannon to do the unthinkable pretty often, and she never let us down. Once she got the baton her focus was on whoever was in front of her and MOW THEM DOWN. If we were already in first then she made sure she put us in the lead even further. When she handed off to the anchor, she would put us in a place where we knew we were contenders to win.

Claire: As our anchor, a lot holds in the balance for Claire. This is what it comes down to. We trusted Claire to carry us through, to keep up the hard work we have put forth so far, and then some more. She had to run against some of the fastest 400 runners in Division III and she did it with a feisty confidence that was beyond fun to watch. Her competitiveness drive was on her side as she would run her leg as fast as humanly possible, running not for herself, but for God and her teammates. We knew it if came down to the home stretch that Claire would always find a way to cross that finish line first.

When everyone on the team understands their role and how they contribute to the team, the whole team works together and functions like a well-oiled machine. Each person doing their part and all working towards a common goal.

We trusted each other to perform our role and own it to the best of our abilities. When we were not running our leg we were cheering each other on. At practice, we raced together side by side, as sisters in sweat. This relay team was so much more than a relay. It was a relay of sisters who encouraged each other, supported each other, and most importantly trusted in each other’s roles and OWNED THEM.

Is anyone else getting giddy over watching the championship series?

I know I am!

Especially living in Wisconsin when the Milwaukee Brewers are tied 2-2 against the Los Angeles Dodgers. This past week is probably the most I have ever watched baseball. Here are some mental tips I’ve picked up from these games that we can apply to our performances.

1) One pitch at a time.

– There are a lot of pitches in baseball. The best way to get over a previous pitch that went well or didn’t go your way is to find a way to get over it. Focus on the current pitch that is happening, instead of the previous or future pitch. We can all work on being in the present more often.

2) Keep your eye on the ball.

– There have been some amazing saves throughout the past games. This only is possible by having a disciplined practice of keeping your eye on the ball, no matter what’s going on around you. In life, we become distracted by what is going on around us that we miss the ball that is coming at our face and miss the opportunity to do something great. Focus on your ball, whatever it may be and make an amazing catch like Yelich did last night when he went up and over the wall while still holding onto the baseball.

3) Control your controllables.

– Baseball has a lot of moving parts. Only a select few of these things are actually in your control. What is it that you direct your energy on? If it’s things outside of your control, you’ll end up feeling powerless, frustrated, and hopeless. Maybe you made a great hit that you thought for sure was a home run, but then someone catches it when you least expect it making you head back to the bench. Do you hang your head? I hope not. Instead of becoming upset and down on yourself that someone else did their job well, focus on the effort, energy, and attitude that you put in and go out and do it even better next time.

4) Whatever you do, do it with passion and heart.

– What I love about the games building up to the World Series is that each and every player is playing with heart. They are passionate about the game of baseball and it shows through their celebrations, frustrations, base runs, swings, and catches. Are we doing the same? Find something at work, your sport, or just throughout your day that you can become passionate about and do it with heart. It makes the long hours worth it, just like the long hours of a baseball game.

I’m excited to continue watching, learning, and growing from this series. Hope you enjoy the rest of the games,  I know I will.

Goals + Plan = Success.

Since my recent blog post discussed process goals over outcome goals with a fun activity, I wanted to stick to the topic of goals again and expand further.  How else can we explain what process goals are and how valuable they are to get us to our outcome goal?

I think of process and outcome goals similar to taking a road trip. Let’s say we are about to embark on a road trip from Florida to Minnesota, just like my friend Cassie and I did after working at IMG Academy a couple summers ago.

Imagine that we have everything packed ready to hit the road. What’s the first thing we do once we are in the car? (Besides stopping for snacks; Twizzlers anyone?)

We start up our GPS! Unless you use an actual map, then props to you.

What if though, we tried to get to Minnesota without any sense of direction or GPS? How efficient would that trip be? We might eventually get to our destination, but it might take a lot longer.

That’s what living life, working your job, participating in a sport, or coaching is like without a goal. You lose your sense of direction!

It’s important that you know where you are going.

In this scenario, Minnesota is our outcome goals since that’s our final destination. But, how are we going to get there? Process goals build you towards your outcome goal, just like each turn your GPS tells you to take. They are milestones that keep you moving forward. Instead of focusing on the outcome or the destination we need to focus on one thing or one turn at a time and figure out what we need to do in order to reach our outcome goal.

The road trip to Minnesota will be much smoother if we follow the GPS and take it one turn at a time. The journey to your outcome goal will also be much smoother and appear more simple if you focus on the process and take it one process goal at a time.

Remember, Goals + Plan = Success

Get ready to start up your GPS!

I recently worked with a team regarding goal-setting. I know, discussing goals isn’t fun and sometimes may seem like a chore for many athletes and teams.

How can we add some fun in teaching goal-setting though?

What I like to do is lead an activity with cups and pennies to differentiate process vs. outcome goals.
What is the difference between the two? An outcome goal is the end result that you want to achieve, while process goals are regarding the process needed to meet the end result. In the world of sports, a lot of pressure and attention is focused on the end result. Maybe your goal is simply to win, run a certain time, score a number of goals, etc. These are all outcome goals. Process goals are what you want to achieve throughout the process of getting to your outcome goal.

For example, say your outcome goal is to win your upcoming game. Well, how are you going to win? Process goals break it down further and have you focus on what you need to do in order to win and reach that outcome goal. If you’re a forward in soccer your process goals may be to put in your best effort, call out who your mark is, set up your teammates with strong passes, win the ball as often as possible, and to hydrate properly. The awesome thing about process goals is that if you place more attention and focus on meeting them you are more likely to meet your outcome goals.

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Goal-Setting Cup Activity: See the video clip above

Materials: 3 red solo cups & a handful of pennies per group

Directions: Place one cup a few feet away from the group. Each person attempts to toss three pennies into the cup. After everyone has gone, see who has made one, two, or three pennies. For round two keep the cup in the same place but place the other two cups in a line towards the person throwing. Now each person attempts to toss the three pennies, but the first one is aimed at the first cup. Once they make it in the first cup they can then aim for the second cup, and then the final cup.

Debrief: Ask who made the first cup, second cup, and all 3. How was the second round different than the first? Who found it easier? What made the second round easier?

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Every time I do this activity most of the athletes find it easier to make the final cup in the second round compared to the first round.

Why is that? Well…

1) You’re building confidence:

Each time you make a cup your confidence grows and your belief that you can make the next cup increases. This happens each time we meet a goal, no matter how small! After we make a goal we are more confident that we can reach the next one.

2) It seems easier and less stressful:

After moving the cups closer they seem easier and less stressful to make. After you make them the last cup doesn’t seem as far away anymore. This is how we feel about our goals! If we focus on the outcome it can feel so far away and impossible. If we focus on process goals that don’t seem as stressful we can build up to our final goal and it’ll seem easier to reach.

3) You’re building momentum:

After you’ve met a process goal, the next process goal doesn’t seem as far away as mentioned earlier. With each goal you reach, you increase your motivation and build momentum to reach the next goal. Similar to the cup activity; once you’ve made the first cup, your confidence increases and you are more determined to reach the next one. Once you’ve made the second cup you have more momentum to make the last cup. This momentum pushes you to continue chasing after your goals and to not give up.

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Whether you’re a coach, sport psychology professional, teacher, athlete, student, or an everyday exerciser focusing on meeting your process goals will make your outcome goals more manageable.

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