How often do we find ourselves applying effort and time to a cause only to see us take two steps forward one step back? Sometimes the ratio can be even worse and the more we practice something, the worse you're getting, whilst other teams and athletes are leaping forward. There are days that it feels sublime, others that feel like a living hell.
I have seen this happen time and time again in sport with teams and individuals fluctuate up and down with what they are capable of delivering. One minute they would be leading the pack and top of the table, the next week it feels like it has all gone or they have lost that "magic element".
The reason this happens is that people do not look and assess what things impact their consistency. They only address things after they have become a problem. It is like waiting for the car to crash and then saying, "oh, that just happened and it feels like crap".
So think about what will be developing if you do not address what makes you fire consistently. You will be getting better at going up and down, what will happen then is an addition of frustration, lack of self-esteem and you will start to question yourself and the team.
- Think about what you are developing - Reflect - Approach challenges constructively and solution based.
Keep things very simple. Look at when "challenges" arise, deal with them early on. This is done by adapting and reflecting constructively. Also when things are going well, stand back and look at a few of the mechanisms that are contributing to the performance and capture them, repeat them and know that it will happen autonomously. You do have to sharpen these skills constantly. Only addressing the problems will deliver an under performance and complacency will see you eventually fall.
I've seen many athletes and teams self-destructive by not implementing some of these simple strategies, they are more focused on the outcome and forget about what things determine that outcome.
I've been fortunate enough to work with world class sports teams on implementing this over a long period. They were able to apply more pressure and challenge themselves at a very high level while maintaining and managing the simple ingredients used to execute the performance.
Think about what you're doing? How you're doing it. How are you feeling? What went well? What would you adjust?
Making these small mental adjustments over a long time sees a structure that is very hard to break.