Calgary, AB – May 5, 2020. Have you ever wondered what goes on inside our huddles to wrap up our weekly practice sessions? We review plays and performance. We talk strategy. We discuss training routines.
After each on-field or on-floor session at ELEV8 Lacrosse, we bring the student-athletes into a “huddle” and discuss topics relative to not only athletics and sports but life. Navigating challenges throughout practice and training are no different than tackling those same challenges each day. It’s the reason why we value sports and athletics so much; they teach us the intangibles that sometimes everyday life seems to miss. Periodically, we will share with student-athletes and their families pieces on adversity, growth, leadership and mindset, and working through the day to day challenges that life can throw at us.
FALL IN LOVE WITH The PROCESS
We have all heard the expression “Success is a journey, not a destination”. This reminds us to not only focus on the outcome but also pay attention to the path and enjoy the ride along the way. We share the same philosophy with ELEV8 student-athletes and the term we use is called “the process”. Athletes spend the majority of their time preparing by training and practicing to improve their skill sets, more so than actually performing in competition. Practice and training are the environments that an athlete becomes encompassed in, and in turn, spends the most time and energy focused on during their athletic career. If you don’t fall in love with practice and training (i.e. “the process”), it will be a challenge to see the results you wish to attain in the end.
Looking at our day to day lives, we can apply this principle to most, if not all tasks. Whether it’s reaching a higher grade in a school subject, completing that online course, or hitting that new 5 km run time, these results take focus and a process to attain them.
If you don’t fall in love with the process it takes to achieve these results, the results may never come. The grind is what’s valuable. The blood, sweat and tears are what make things worthwhile. Whether that is studying an additional hour a day, reading an extra 20 pages a night, or getting up before the sun rises to train with that 6 am fitness group, you have to fall in love with the process behind the desired outcome.
What’s your goal this week? This month? Does it seem like a stretch? Take things day by day and fall in love with the challenges and the victories along the way. It will be worth it in the end.
