WHAT’S YOUR PERSPECTIVE?

The word “myopic” means short-sighted or narrow-minded. With a myopic perspective – when all you're focused on is what’s right in front of you – it can be hard to see clearly what the results of your actions will be. Is there a better word to describe the world we're currently living in? We’re conditioned these days to expect that what we want, we can get right away, and we place a high value on what comes quickly, easily, and conveniently. In many ways, of course, this focus has made our lives better. But that short-sighted perspective has complicated some things, too, including for many of us the path to success.

The problem with this “microwave society” is that it’s diminished the necessary process that building and developing anything great requires. You could be talking about building and developing a great business or a great marriage. For coaches, it may be building and developing a winning culture or a successful program. For parents, it may be working to build and develop a champion athlete and person. These days anything that takes time to build and develop is usually labeled as flawed, outdated, or unworthy. With a myopic perspective, it’s quicker, easier, and more convenient to focus on judgment – either fairly or unfairly – than it is to focus on development. It can be tough to accept the reality of the long, slow, sometimes painful journey required to make someone or something the best it can be, and to embrace the difficult work that development demands.

With a myopic perspective, it’s quicker, easier, and more convenient to focus on judgment – either fairly or unfairly – than it is to focus on development.

If you’re here today as a coach or a parent, I’d ask you to step back, see the big picture, and recognize the reality of this development process. Stop and consider those qualities that make a champion a champion – the commitment, the toughness, and the courage. The desire to improve, the coachable spirit, and the positive attitude, to name a few. Now more importantly, consider how those qualities are built and developed. Were the champion athletes who possess those characteristics just lucky enough to be born with them? Did they win some sort of random success lottery? Were those qualities purchased by a parent or coach from amazon or ebay? Of course not. If anyone is great in any of those important areas, they’re great because they’ve embraced that process of development, and – probably with the help of a champion parent or coach – done the work that greatness requires.

So what does that work look like? What is that process? For your kids, that development process includes trying and probably failing, at least initially, in some of these important areas. It includes learning and growing, struggling and gradually improving, and eventually succeeding – one small step at a time. The more you emphasize what you know is important to your child’s full potential, the more they’ll learn to value it and develop it. Of course it’d be nice if they could just win the success lottery or have what they need delivered from amazon or ebay, but it doesn’t work like that. This is the only way – the long, slow, sometimes painful way – that these important qualities get built.

For you, the parent or coach, this process includes the daily commitment you make to teaching and training your kids. It’s recognizing that every day there are opportunities available to highlight how important those qualities are and clarify their place in the life of your child. Some days it may include challenging them and holding them accountable to the high standard you set in those areas. Other days it will include supporting and encouraging them to keep working, learning, and growing in spite of their struggles. For parents and coaches, it will always include modeling those qualities we want our kids to develop. Why? Because champions breed champions. That means if we want our kids to be committed and tough and courageous, then we’ve got to be committed and tough and courageous, too. The more we develop and demonstrate a desire to improve, a coachable spirit, and a positive attitude in our lives, for instance, the more we help our kids develop and demonstrate those things in theirs.

In today’s myopic world, building and developing anything great is harder than ever. It’s quicker, easier, and more convenient to choose judgment over development, but I hope you can see that sometimes quicker, easier, and more convenient doesn’t necessarily mean better. I hope you’ll recognize that there’s an awful lot the kids in your care need in order to become champions, and there’s only one way they can get it. There may also be only one person – you! – who can really make it happen. I hope in this short-sighted world you’ll see clearly the path to success for you and your child, and that today and every day you'll do the work it takes to build something great...that lasts.