To have sustained success and impact, it’s not the details of what you do that count. It comes from a place much more deep-rooted. Your core beliefs and philosophy are the foundation in a hierarchy of success.
I am a firm believer that it’s not the methods, specific exercises, therapy techniques, or any of those details that lead to success.
To get results, those things all matter. I’ve spent a lot of years and effort to master my craft — any professional needs to do that.
However, as the saying goes, there is more than one road that leads to Rome. So, while mastering your chosen craft and skills are essential, you might want to consider that other ones could also be successful. Other details in the different ways another professional might execute your craft.
This idea is where a lot of people get hung up. They are stuck in the mindset that their way is the best way or even the only way. That’s only natural.
If we are good at what we do, and we get results, we should have a belief in what we are doing. After all, I don’t think much of someone who changes their methods with every new trend on social media.
At the same time, if I look at someone who is doing the same thing down to the details that they did 30 years ago, I’m going to question why they haven’t evolved.
So the critical question is actually about how you build your philosophy and methods to be successful over time.
Differences In Methods
I can think back to years ago when working with athletes in an elite MMA gym. This was a time when UFC events were still numbered in the low double digits. This gym was definitely a little rough around the edges, and the only entrance into this place was an unmarked door in the alley.
Still, we saw many of the very best in the world come to train there, and our fighters were competing around the globe in UFC, Pride, K1, and a host of other small shows.
There were a few other strength coaches and fitness trainers and me operating in the gym. One of those was a former pro athlete, and his training methods were very different from me and the others. Let’s just call him Craig.
In fact, I would argue that some of the things Craig did were probably not the most effective or efficient training methods. I personally wouldn’t do it that way.
He’d probably also tell you the same thing about what I was doing with athletes.
Here’s the thing; he was a good coach. I got along with him and had no animosity toward what he did.
A World of Outrage
I know in today’s culture of constant outrage that may seem strange. We see many people who seem to think that if they disagree with someone, that person is the enemy. They have to make the world right and demonize that other person.
That is the way that people in the sports performance world operate all too often. Some people take the approach that if you aren’t doing it their way, then you are entirely wrong and need to be attacked.
Just look at the non-stop twitter arguments and forums where the argument and attacks rage. And most are over trivial things, like endless debates such as whether squats are better than single leg lifts. Or whether Olympic lift variations are better than other lifts, or too hard to teach.
Go to any conference, and you’ll quickly learn that this profession spends a lot of time and energy debating details — small, relatively trivial things.
Commonality Of Coaching Values
One of the other strength coaches at the gym almost took offense at times to Craig’s training. He expected me to feel the same. After all, our methods were different. I can remember explaining to him why that trainer’s methods didn’t bother me.
You see, first and foremost, Craig cared about his athletes. Then he worked to serve their needs and truly connect with them as people. He coached them well. He approached his craft with an effort to improve and find ways to make his athletes better.
I wasn’t bothered by the differences due to his core values for his athletes aligning with mine.
Yes, his programming was different, and I thought mine was more effective. However, since I could respect the core values he displayed, they were just a small aside in the bigger picture.
A Hierarchy of Success For Coaches
Some years later, I read a blog by author and marketer Seth Godin. It struck home and helped me clarify why I didn’t have to go to war with everyone who did something different.
He talked about a “hierarchy of success” and why so many people made mistakes by being focused on the wrong things. They were getting caught up in the details, instead of building the right foundation.
That’s when I defined my hierarchy of success for coaching.
Beliefs
Beliefs are your coaching philosophy. What do you fundamentally believe about people and coaching?
You can also relate this to author Simon Sinek’s concept of WHY. Why are you coaching?
If you answer that by saying things like; “to make athletes stronger” or “to keep athletes injury-free so they can compete,” you’re not going deep enough. Those are approaches.
Your philosophical beliefs are about why you bother to have an approach. Why are you in sport, medicine, or fitness? Where do these things fit in your life, your community, the world, or humanity?
Craig; he displayed actions that showed me he cared about the people. I knew for him, sport held a place that expressed the human potential to compete and excel. I could understand and respect his beliefs.
Approach
How you go about living your philosophy and applying it in your profession is your approach. These are the goals that align with your Why.
For instance, within the sports performance field, your approach may be defined by whether your goals are to help athletes get stronger or move better. That’s what you do.
When it came to looking at what Craig was doing with athletes, I could see a lot of similarities. He was also trying to get them stronger like I was. He was trying to implement things that improved their resilience to injury. I was too.
Strategy
Let’s say your approach includes improving performance by building the athlete’s physical abilities. In this field, that approach likely includes strength.
Improving strength abilities is part of your approach, but what are your strategies? Are you trying to build maximum force capacity, or maybe you focus more on power? Are you all about the eccentric strength or RFD?
Many coaches employ a strategy to build strength first as the primary goal, while others don’t want to build strength on dysfunction and take a more conservative approach.
Coaches can believe in the same goals of improving strength but use different strategies. This was the case to some degree with Craig and me. Some of our strategies aligned, such as using basic barbell exercises to strengthen athletes. Others digressed where he would only teach bigger lifts when all the “dysfunctions” were eliminated.
Tactics
For sports performance, tactics are we are the level at which we are programming or directing treatment plans. It’s where we are selecting which exercises, what type of loading and progressions, and other details.
Some arguments occur around strategy, but tactics are where we start to see so many arguments in this field creep into things.
This exercise vs. that. These types of speed drills versus that type. This loading scheme versus that one. Whether to use plyos 2 or 4 days per week. And on and on it goes.
My tactics didn’t look like Craig ‘s much of the time. There were definite differences. But, I can also say my tactics then look different than today. You see, this is one of the places that coaches can change a lot. My tactics have definitely evolved.
Execution
Execution is the nitty-gritty of what we are actually doing. How we are coaching it live in the moment, and what we are trying to have the athletes do in a training session.
Some coaches are very detailed about the technique. They want to coach up the technical details, and they don’t want to allow lousy technique.
Others are more about energy and attitude. They are focused on creating a motivating and high energy environment where athletes push their limits.
For me, I try to focus on executing with deliberate practice. I was working to make sure the athletes had a specific focus for each drill. I wanted to make sure they could connect it to the bigger picture of their training goals.
Interestingly back in that MMA gym, this was one of the things I saw I could respect in Craig as a coach. While some of the strategies and tactics were clearly different, he took his execution seriously as a coach.
Since he acted like a professional, coached with passion and detail, and helped his athletes execute deliberate practice, I saw we had a similar execution.
Room To Evolve Your Methods
In the journey from novice coach or therapist, to a master of their craft, there is a lot to learn. Your knowledge and skills must grow through this journey.
It will take a few years, but as you develop your foundation of Beliefs and Approaches, they will become your compass. Those things may evolve but rarely change drastically.
You may believe in getting athletes stronger. Or maybe you think that you need to prioritize the reduction of injury risks. These would be examples of approaches that are core to your success. They rarely change in a big way.
On the other hand, details like execution and tactics may change a lot. You will be continuously exposed to a broader realm of these as you spend time in your craft. It takes a lot of time and effort to learn all the things there are to learn.
Not only that, but technology and knowledge within the profession continue to grow. Both the art and the science don’t stop expanding, improving, and refining.
As an example, let’s take one of those common arguments in strength training; squats versus single-leg movements.
Moving from heavy back squats to Bulgarian split-squats may still keep with your approach of strengthening, and you may even use similar loading and progression strategies. You are only changing one of the small details.
However, it may be your tactics have shifted to more single leg emphasis. Plus, your execution of that is with a Bulgarian Split Squat instead of a lunge or split squat.
Those kinds of shifts are common.
My philosophy and approach have been relatively stable over time. Yes, there has been some evolution, but I haven’t had any revolutions there. But elements of my strategy have changed, and indeed, my tactics have. My execution has changed as my communication skills have. I’ve experimented with different details in coaching.
Know Your Own Hierarchy for Success In Sports Performance
While a few of the other coaches back in that MMA gym got caught up in really knocking the training of Craig, I didn’t.
Taking the time to listen and observe his beliefs and approach made the differences in tactics and execution easy to overcome. I could look for those things he was doing well and try to think about how I could incorporate them.
We don’t have to agree, but I think we often lose out professionally by focusing on the differences in the details. Putting too much importance, and expending lots of energy arguing about them provides little gain or opportunity to grow.
I’m not saying the details don’t matter. I believe they do. Its part of what any master of their craft spends time honing. However, if we elevate this above the bigger picture, then we have lost our way.
These details aren’t the things our athletes are going to remember. It’s not why they trust us or come back year after year. Details help us get results, but only when they are in service of the right Beliefs, Approaches and Strategies.
Get those wrong, and the details dont help.
Get the foundation right first; that’s what matters for long term success.
