In the sixth blog on deliberate practice we are going to discuss the final element that makes your practice session deliberate and effective. This element is probably what really separates elite performers from everyone else. Most people will be unwilling to add this element of practice to their practice session and it will test your true desire to perform at an elite level. This sixth element of deliberate practice is, “It isn’t much fun.”
I know, I know, baseball is supposed to be fun and it should be. However in order for you to reach the elite levels of performance your practice sessions can’t always be fun. Let me explain why. It’s never enjoyable to engage in any activity that we aren’t very good at. We are always drawn to performing activities that we are good at because it feels good and is fun to succeed. Many athletes don’t take the time to work on the things that they struggle with, it’s too hard on their ego. It’s much easier to simply ignore your weaknesses and continue to work on the things you are good at primarily because this allows us to have success during our practice session which allows us to feel good about our abilities as an athlete. Very rarely will you find an athlete that is committed to and consistently works on their weaknesses. When you do find this athlete they will be the first to tell you that spending time on their weaknesses isn’t fun at all but they realize that it is a necessity if they ever want to reach the levels of performance that they desire to reach.
In Geoff Colvin’s book “Talent is Overrated” he states, “Doing things we know how to do well is enjoyable, and that’s exactly the opposite of what deliberate practice demands.” Looking back at my own life and my experience as an athlete, coach, and instructor I know that Mr. Colvin is correct in this statement. As everyone knows baseball has been my passion (some may say obsession) my entire life. While baseball has always been number one with me there are many other sports that I have enjoyed through out my life. My willingness to work on my weakness and consistently get out and practice even when it wasn’t very much fun proves to me my love for baseball as opposed to how I approached other sports. As a result I have completely transformed myself as a baseball player while I plateaued in the other sports in which I participate. For me basketball is one of these sports. As a young athlete I was very good at basketball and I had a lot of fun playing basketball. The difference for me in basketball as opposed to baseball was I was completely unwilling to work on the things that I was weak at. For me to play basketball it always had to be fun and when it wasn’t I had no desire to play. Baseball however was completely different. I became obsessed with turning my weaknesses into my strengths, even if practice wasn’t fun I was determined to be the best player I could. To this day I will spend hours in the cage or one the field if it means I will improve. My desire to play baseball at the highest level out weighed any lack of fun I might be having. This unwillingness to apply the same deliberate practice in basketball allow other athletes to catch up to my abilities as I got older. I was no longer the stand out on the court and it wasn’t long before I wasn’t good enough to play anymore.
In many of my clients I see the reluctance to put in the work necessary to sure up their weaknesses. Many of my clients’ egos are too fragile and they limit the results they can produce because of they unwillingness to look past the lack of fun. As such many of them who were at one time performing far better than their peers become average players as they get older. Now I am not saying that practice should never be fun but what I am saying is that if you want to experience the fun of playing at an elite level then you might need to sacrifice some fun during practice sessions.
I encourage you to look into the future and focus on where you want to go as an athlete. Set aside the “fun” of your practice sessions in order to experience the fun of unlimited success. Geoff Colvin said it best when he said, “If it seems a bit depressing that the most important thing you can do to improve performance is not fun, take consolation in this fact: It must be so. If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them and they would not distinguish the best from the rest. The reality that deliberate practice is hard can even be seen as good news. It means that most people won’t do it. So your willingness to do it will distinguish you all the more.”
