This article was provided by Coaches Network

As a coach, you strive to find the words that will help your athletes reach their full potential—not only as athletes, but as young adults.  In an article in Psychology Today, Meg Selig—author of Changepower! 37 Secrets to Habit Change Success—provides a few brief motivational messages that coaches have used in motivating their athletes to get the most out of their athletic experience.

Do it for love. Selig remembers when well-know figure skating coach Frank Carroll told nervous 18-year-old U.S. skater Gracie Gold the following message when she took the ice for a key performance: “Think about how much you love skating!” And she references a quote from legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson in his book, Eleven Rings: “Focus on something greater than yourself that you love and value, such as your sport or your team.”

Next play. This philosophy is emphasized by Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who prevents players from dwelling on their mistakes.  Selig cites a description by LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, who has adopted the “next play” philosophy, based on Coach K’s beliefs: “(Coach K) yells out ‘next play,’ because he doesn’t want the team lingering too long on what just took place. He doesn’t want them celebrating that incredible alley-oop dunk, and he doesn’t want them lamenting the fact that the opposing team just stole the ball and had a fast break that led to an easy layup. You can take a moment to reflect on what just happened, and you probably should, but you shouldn’t linger too long on it, and then move on to the next play.”

Aim for excellence, not perfection. Selig says this is a great motto for an athlete who gets bogged down by never being able to achieve total perfection. Accepting failures and glitches in one’s program is simply part of the process.

Why not you? Why not us? According to Selig, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson always remembered his father’s question to him, “Why not you?” When he encouraged his Seahawks teammates, he transformed the saying into, “Why not us?”

Create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome. Selig quotes this statement from Phil Jackson’s Eleven Rings: “I’ve heard echoes of this statement in interviews by Olympians and other successful athletes. Once you’ve prepared mentally and physically for your game, then you are ready to do your best–and your best is the best you can do.”

Cultivate a learning mindset instead of a fixed mindset. Many young athletes believe that it’s talent that counts, says Selig, and as a result, they don’t put in the hard work needed to overcome deficiencies, hone a skill to excellence, or develop the mental strength and flexibility to bounce back from failure.  For these athletes, Selig encourages that the coach rewards effort rather than talent and reframe failure as an opportunity to learn.

Use setbacks as motivation. Can athletes use their failures as a springboard to success? Selig writes, “If you read the sports page, you’ll find that almost every sports team uses a significant loss to motivate themselves to improve in the coming year.”

Keep your self-talk encouraging. Selig emphasizes that positive self-talk must be geared to the athlete’s own and she offers these phrases as mantras for athletes to say to themselves: “I’ve done it before; I can do it again, “or “I’m going to trust myself,” or “Whatever happens, I’ll do my best.”

Joe Tauer, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at the University of St. Thomas, has a doctorate in psychology and teaches the subject as a tenured professor at the school. So it’s not surprising that he’s regularly asked how he uses that to motivates his players. What is unexpected, however, is his response.

“The short answer is, I don’t,” says Tauer, who became Head Coach at St. Thomas in 2010 after 11 years as an assistant there. “I say that half tongue-in-cheek, but a big part of my approach is to bring in players who are intrinsically motivated, which means they have a built-in desire to take part in an activity for its own sake. My assistants and I tell our players, ‘We’re not going to try to convince you every day to work hard. You either decide to work hard, and we will push you and help you improve, or we’re going to put our efforts into somebody who wants to get better.”

“That doesn’t mean we don’t talk about motivation,” he continues. “But if I have a bunch of players who are only externally motivated, we’re going to struggle, regardless of the degree I have.”

St. Thomas has obviously found those intrinsically motivated players. The team has posted a 98-19 record in Tauer’s four seasons as head coach, winning four conference titles, and reaching the NCAA Division III semifinals in 2013.

So what is the long answer to how he motivates his players? “One of the greatest motivators is hope,” he explains. “Whenever someone feels hopeful, they’re optimistic, energized, and inspired. That’s when you see people do things beyond what they’ve ever done before. With our team, we try to create a vision for what players can be, both individually and collectively, that will give each of them something to strive for.”

Tauer says his philosophy on building that vision comes down to two key team-wide concepts. “The first is, ‘Dare to be Great,’” he says. “Second, we emphasize sustained and consistent excellence, as expressed by the quote attributed to Aristotle, ‘Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.’ Those two quotes provide a vision to our players of what we want for them every day—not only on the court, but also off the court and in their lives after they leave here.”

While establishing a shared vision is critical, Tauer says coaches also need to learn what makes each player tick. “Everybody marches to the beat of their own drum, and we have to know our players well enough to understand the beat they’re marching to,” he says. “We don’t have to agree with it. We don’t have to change it. But if we don’t understand it, we won’t know why they act the way they do.”

This is a challenge when each athlete may be motivated differently. “For example, in my first year as an assistant, I was handling the defense, and we had a talented player who never worked hard on that end of the floor,” Tauer says. “Every day I was on him, stopping practice to have him run sprints and holding him out of drills. After about two weeks, nothing had changed so I told him his effort wasn’t cutting it, and that I didn’t like getting on him every day and seeing him roll his eyes at me. He kept saying ‘I get it, Coach. I understand.’ And I said, ‘No, you don’t. Otherwise it wouldn’t be like this.’

“Finally he got frustrated and said, ‘I do get it, Coach. But what you don’t understand is that I’m lazy. I need you to yell at me and make me run sprints when I don’t play hard on defense.’ The rest of the year we had an understanding, and I didn’t feel bad about getting on him.”

Tauer explains there are three main areas of motivation: biological, psychological, and environmental. “All we have control over as coaches is the last one, and that’s only for a few hours a day,” he says. “So during practice, we have to model the behavior we want to see. If we talk about guys being good teammates, we need to ask ourselves, ‘How often do I stop practice to recognize the guy who made the extra pass, or took the charge, or dove on the floor to win a loose ball?’ Because if we reward them with praise, they’ll do more of it. If all we do is talk about our leading scorer, they will only want to score.”

While motivating in athletics can sometimes involve yelling and screaming, Tauer teaches his players it’s not that way in the real world. “The analogy I use is that most bosses aren’t going to yell and scream at their employees on a daily basis,” he says. “But they are going to expect you to do unbelievably good work. They’re going to expect you to be motivated because you recognize it’s the right thing—not because you’re scared or fearful.”

Here are three more inspirational pieces that you might consider using when you are looking for something to share with your players. The poem at the end of the post is written in the male gender, but I believe that the message can be used for ladies as well.

I Am a Winner

by William Arthur Ward

. . . because I think like a winner, prepare like a winner, and perform like a winner.

. . . because I set high, but attainable goals, work toward those goals with determination and persistence, and never stop until I reach them.

. . . because I am strong enough to say “No!” to those things that would make me less than my best, and to say “Yes!” to the challenges and opportunities that will make me grow and improve my life.

. . . because total commitment is my constant companion, and personal integrity is my lifetime mentor.

. . . because I am learning to avoid the tempting shortcuts that can lead to disappointment, and the unhealthy habits that could result in defeat.

….. because I have a well-earned confidence in myself, a high regard for my teammates and coworkers, and a healthy respect for those in authority over me.

. . . because I have learned to accept criticism, not as a threat, but as an opportunity to examine my attitudes and to improve my skills.

. . . because I persevere in the mist of obstacles and fight on in the face of defeat.

. . . because I am made in the image and likeness of my Creator, who gave me a burning desire, a measure of talent, and a strong faith to attempt the difficult and to overcome the seemingly impossible.

. . . because of my enthusiasm for life, my enjoyment of the present, and my trust in the future.

Watch

By Frank Outlaw

Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.

Equipment

By Edgar A. Guest

Figure it out for yourself, my lad,
You’ve all that the greatest of men have had,
Two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes
And a brain to use if you would be wise.
With this equipment they all began,
So start for the top and say, “I can.”

Look them over, the wise and great
They take their food from a common plate,
And similar knives and forks they use,
With similar laces they tie their shoes.
The world considers them brave and smart,
But you’ve all they had when they made their start.

You can triumph and come to skill,
You can be great if you only will.
You’re well equipped for what fight you choose,
You have legs and arms and a brain to use,
And the man who has risen great deeds to do
Began his life with no more than you.

You are the handicap you must face,
You are the one who must choose your place,
You must say where you want to go,
How much you will study the truth to know.
God has equipped you for life, but He
Lets you decide what you want to be.

Courage must come from the soul within,
The man must furnish the will to win.
So figure it out for yourself, my lad.
You were born with all that the great have had,
With your equipment they all began,
Get hold of yourself and say: “I can.”

Personality Traits of Successful Athletes

You probably don’t agree with all of these and would change the wording on some of them, but my hope is that this stimulates your thinking on how you can more clearly define and list for your athletes what you feel leads to success.

We all have our own definition of success. I like John Wooden’s definition: “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”

Or, you could use some of these as ideas for your athletes in a system similar to Jon Gordon’s One Word concept from his book One Word That Will Change Your Life

A starting point for creating your own list…

DRIVE: Desire to win or be successful; sets and maintains high goals for themselves in athletics; responds positively to competition. Desires to attain athletic excellence.

AGGRESSIVENESS: Believes one must be aggressive to win; will not allow others to push them around in competition.

DETERMINATION: Willingness to practice long and hard; often works out willingly by themselves; persevering, patient, and unrelenting in work habits. Works on skills until exhausted.

GUILT-PRONENESS: Accepts responsibility for own actions; accepts blame and criticism even when not deserved; willing to endure physical and mental discomfort.

LEADERSHIP: Enjoys the role of leader and may assume it spontaneously; attempts to influence or direct others in a postiive way.

SELF-CONFIDENCE: Have unfaltering confidence in themselves and their capacity to deal with things; handles unexpected situations well; speaks up appropriately for beliefs to coaches and players.

EMOTIONAL CONTROL: Tends to be emotionally stable and realistic about athletics; will rarely allow feelings to show and performance is not affected by them; not easily frustrated by bad breaks, calls or mistakes.

MENTAL TOUGHNESS: Accepts strong criticism without feeling hurt; can bounce back quickly from adversity; does not need excessive encouragement from the coach.

COACHABILITY: Receptive to coaches’ advice; considers coaching important to becoming a good athlete; accepts the leadership and cooperates with authorities.

CONSCIENTIOUSNESS: Tends to be exacting in character, dominated by sense of duty; will not attempt to bend rules and regulations to suit own needs; places the good of the team above personal well being.

TRUST: Accepts people at face value, believes what the coaches and teammates say and does not look for ulterior motives behind their words or actions; tends to get along well with teammates.

The Way to Victory

Victories of life are won not on the fields nor in the marts where the deci­sive struggle takes place, but in the obscure and forgotten hours of prepara­tion. Success or failure lies in the hands of the individual long before the hour of final test comes.

In the higher fields of success there are no accidents; we reap precisely we they have sown and nothing else; they do well precisely what they have prepared to do and they do nothing else well.

The world puts its force into us when we put ourselves in right relation with it: Experience makes us constantly wiser if we know how to rationalize it: Time deposits all manner of treasure in our imagination and memory, if we hold the doors open.

Nothing is lost upon a person who is bent upon growth, nothing wasted on one who is constantly preparing for their work and life by keeping eyes, mind, and heart open to nature, people, books, and experience. All things that we have seen, heard, known and felt come to our aid at the critical moment to make our thought clear and keep our illustration luminous, our speech eloquent and inspiring.

212–The Extra Degree

If you haven’t seen the video below yet, I think it is worth three minutes to take a look at. It drives home the point that success is not that far away and why it is important to continue to give that little extra effort to get there!

Make sure that your speakers are on before you click on this image…

If you liked that video, we have several other similar ones in our basketball videos section. Click the link below and then click the “Inspiration” tab when you land on the videos page.

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.

Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?

Each of us has such a bank. It’s name is TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.

Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.

It carries over no balance. It allows no over draft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.

If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow.”

You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health,

happiness and success!

The clock is running!! Make the most of today.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR. ask a student who failed a grade.

To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby.

To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a train.

To realize the value of ONE SECOND. ask someone who just avoided an accident.

To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, ask the person who won a silver medal at the Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have! And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with. And remember time waits for no one.

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why its called the present.