Tag Archives for " Sports Teams & Athletics "
Who Are You Becoming?
“Who are you becoming? – Raj Gavurla
In my speaking, coaching, and teaching my clients and audiences want to transform their performance to make progress. Many have had successes and some have adversity or had adversity before they became who they currently are. They need help with performance goals and situations unique to them.
Most people started in a profession and progressed within or into another profession and endeavor. To help you make progress in who you are becoming there are four areas needing development and progress:
1. Learning is the catalyst for positive change. Change is occurring and the ability to learn and its application is essential to make progress. What are you learning? What are you applying your uniqueness to?
2. Building trustworthy relationships means we have a marketplace with services and products. How are you deciding the best services and products for you and who do you need to build trustworthy relationships with to evolve?
3. Which services, products, and events will you buy and participate in? You need to spend your time and money wisely in the best places for you.
4. Create an experience for the marketplace to experience, buy, and participate in your services, products, and events.
Consistently do these four action items to transform your performance to make progress. Enjoy the process and select the best opportunities for you.
Consistent Results Are Created By Consistent Performance Improvement
“Consistent results are created by consistent performance improvement.” – Raj Gavurla
Many people make a New Year’s resolution to lose weight and stay fit (healthy). By doing so you think your appearance is more attractive and you feel fit (healthy). Therefore, you have more success and confidence in your ability to achieve your great vision, dreams, goals, and mission.
1. The Zone (It’s Mental): Mental Constructs
First and foremost you need to ask yourself how will making your appearance more attractive and being healthy make your ability to achieve your goals become easier. The results of achieving your weight loss and health goals are more than a number on a scale or a specific goal. The reason being is there are several benefits to doing so. Some you didn’t think of will occur.
An example of a benefit is you do not have as many negative thoughts. You are unconsciously able to do what you need in the area of weight and health versus subconsciously having to think about whether what you are doing is helping or not.
By responding to your negative thoughts that are derailing you from success you upgrade your unconscious mind. Examples of negative thoughts are:
1. I’ve Tried This Before and Don’t Continue Seeing The Benefits.
Respond with I’ve learned how to do it better.
2. Does This Really Work (Disbelief)?
Respond with believe it’s really this easy.
3. Just One Won’t Make A Difference.
Respond with your criteria for what is edible and what exercises are needed.
Therefore, you are enabling your success not depriving yourself. When you believe you are enabling success you need to manage it to set further goals to benefit from your successes. There isn’t an ending point. There is continuation and progression (process) towards your new dreams, goals, and mission. Ones you didn’t have when you started. You have a robust life.
2. Create The Best Environment.
You need an intrinsically motivating environment and the tools to control your time and family/social environment. Suggestions are clothing, pictures, music, telling someone who is supportive (cares more), not telling someone who isn’t supportive (doesn’t care), writing in your journal, using the Your Raise The Bar Primer: Mental Performance Tools workbook, and fitness watch.
Socially you need to celebrate your successes and debrief after each workout. Celebrating can be as easy as a smile, to jumping as high as you can, buying yourself a gift, telling someone who is supportive (cares more) etc. If you didn’t achieve your goal stick with it, it will come with consistent performance improvement. Consistent results are created by consistent performance improvement.
3. Health/Nutrition (Eat Right)
Some people currently have physical and/or mental health that need treatment. Research the best treatment(s) for you. If what you are doing or taking is working then stick with it. If it is not working, do research for another form of treatment.
Examples include talking with your family doctor, specialist, chiropractor, trainer, and/or coach. There are natural, pharmaceutical, and stretching exercises for you to try. Don’t quit by thinking there isn’t a way. People are working to find a better way.
With entrepreneurial advancements in humanness, medicine, and technology you lead a robust life. For example, a resource for chronic pain is a book, Pain Free, by Pete Egoscue. The stretching exercises are very easy and does not involve intense physical therapy.
Eat Right (Nutrition)
Eating right is an individualized approach. For example, some people need carbs in the morning and some need protein instead. Create a criteria for the foods you can eat and you’ll be amazed with so many advancements in food products and cooking what is available for you to eat and enjoy. Get out of the rut of eating the same foods, add variety and flavor to the foods you eat.
For example, my individualized eating plan is protein and raw organic vegetables in the morning, water, and tea. This is the first quarter of the day. A couple of hours before lunch I eat organic fruit. Lunch starts the second quarter. Between two and four I eat organic vegetables and organic fruits. Have water, tea, or another beverage of choice. Drink slowly. Dinner starts the third quarter. For dinner I eat more carbs. After dinner starts the fourth quarter. I drink water, tea, or a beverage of my choice. I drink eight slow glasses of water a day.
My Criteria for Eating Right:
Eat 1/2 of what I use to eat for each meal, no refined sugar, limit the bread, limit the caffeine, limit the cheese, no alcohol, eating right also makes you healthy
Learn how to exercise. By doing repetitive exercise your body becomes bored and there is overuse of the muscles. This is why the gains stop. Add variety and set records for you to achieve.
My Criteria for Exercising:
Variety, warm up, cardio on some days (walk, run, jazzercise), lift weights (weight bearing exercises) on some days (lift slowly), sports on some days (several to choose from). Exercising also makes you healthy. I exercise for strength, quickness, and speed. Stretch everyday.
The world’s best exercise is a four mile walk. I’ve known several people with and without health challenges implement a four mile walk to succeed.
during different times of the day and in different positions (standing, sitting, lying, etc.)
There is paid work, volunteer work, and hobbies to keep you engaged. Find/create work that is important to you and you can do well. Working will keep your mind off your health and eating. It gives you the opportunity to be a performing/productive citizen making a living, helping, and doing for your family, friends, and others.
6. Meditate
I meditate to clear my mind, therefore, making it function better and for balance. For me an hour is perfect. Pick the amount of time right for you. It also helps me with my timing.
7. Have Something To Look Forward To In The Evening
It’s nice to have something relaxing and fun in the evening. Invite someone to spend time with family, friends, watch a game, watch tv, listen to music, read, or attend an event.
8. Pray
There is spiritual growth. It brings wellness, good deeds, and peace.
9. Rest
To rejuvenate you need to rest specific activities. This can be in your work and in exercise. Give your mind and body the break it needs to renew these activities. That doesn’t mean to stop working or exercising or eating right completely. It means to work on a different activity, take a month or three off from weights, or tune in to another activity. I sleep at the same time on the weekdays.
Daily do something for your health/nutrition, exercise, work, meditate, have something to look forward to in the evening, pray, and rest. Be sure to inform the people who need to know about your whereabouts to coordinate with them so they don’t worry and things get done.
Continue to learn to get more skilled in each of the above steps to make living a robust life easier.
10. My Consistent Performance Improvement (Better) Exercise:
- Run/jog on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday for at least 2 miles (takes mental prep work and performance routine (“thezone”), stretching, calisthenics, and a shower). It takes an hour. Walk on days I don’t run/jog.
- Playing a sport when needed instead of running/jogging or walking
- Calisthenics (natural weight bearing exercises) and some weights when needed
- Do the mental prep work
11. What’s Yours?
You deserve to live a robust life.
Work As A Team
ENABLE OTHERS GREAT DREAMS, GOALS, AND MISSION” – RAJ GAVURLA
The past couple of months I was a part of two new teams. On the first one we weren’t guided by instruction, however, having been a part of several teams we had to come to agreement on how we would work, what we value as a team, what are goals, and how do we achieve them.
On the second team we were given guidance/instruction on creating a team charter. Both teams are high performing and it’s amazing how much there is to learn from teammates and build relationships. For example, discussing how to approach a project versus just diving in really makes a huge difference in quality, efficiency, and fun.
As you can imagine, each team is protective of each other. One more so than the other. For a team to gain more and each individual to gain more identity must evolve. By evolving identity each person and the team accomplishes so much more and there is a sense of togetherness and value that is indescribable. Each person believes they are a part of something special no one can take away!
Usually during our discussions and conversations as we wrap up to achieve our next goal(s) and mission we wrap up with one question. “What are the next steps?” After discussions and conversations on your team(s) in accomplishing an assignment, goal, finding resolution, or coming to agreement, is someone asking a well timed “what are the next steps?“.
Value of Learning
Take a few minutes to reflect on your achievements or a problem and think of one skill that helped you. I’ve been on the platform sharing my expertise and research with diverse groups (business groups, corporate, non-profit, government, schools, athletic, and community) and each time one question I ask as part of my preparation is: What does this group want to learn?
For example, you were in third grade and you wanted to learn so you could go to the fourth grade, then middle school, high school, and college. You had to learn new skills to achieve more. This applies to your job and to sports. The learning you have now only allows you to be at your current level of achievement, however, by learning new skills you can achieve the next level and beyond. Marshall Goldsmith succinctly puts it as the title of his book, What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There. That’s the value of learning.
One technique to really advance your learning is watching a video of yourself performing what you want to achieve. How about watching a video of your team or business performing what you want to achieve? Would this motivate and inspire performance?
In my presentation skills coaching, working with athletes, interview coaching, working with a business, and working with a team, I video clients so they can gain the full learning experience along with my coaching feedback for them to study. Of course, there are several other techniques we can use to develop a skill until we master it.
So take a look at your skills. How many have you mastered? How many need skill development? Take credit for the ones you mastered and find skill development techniques to help you master the others.
Your goals make your dreams a reality. What do you need to learn to achieve your great dreams and goals?
I’ve Been True to the Game of Basketball: 15 Habits of a Happier You and I
Many people exercise by playing sports, or know someone who does. Having played sports almost my entire life, I have a few pearls of wisdom about this form of exercise:
1. To gain an advantage, focus on a full-body workout. In sports, your base (waist down) is more important than your upper body except the mind, eyes, and heart. A full-body workout will bring more life to your conversations and rejuvenate your outlook.
I met a 74-year-old man playing full-court basketball at the Run-N-Shoot. He was a teammate of Oscar Robertson (The Big O) on the Cincinnati Royals. He’s a joy to watch because of his subtle technique and confidence. He has a team called Man Up. If you would like to read the definitive book on basketball, I encourage you to check out The Big O’s book, The Art of Basketball. I’m sure there is a book for those who play other sports as well. Whatever book you read on your sport, be sure to interpret the words on the pages correctly and add your touch.
2. Use your imagination to visually practice the techniques. Try blocking 30 minutes of time, identify the skill(s), count the number of mental repetitions and sets. Then try it on the field. I think you will like the results.
3. Listen to your body and check with your physician before starting an exercise program.
4. Do a variety of exercises.
5. If a body part hurts, don’t aggravate it and seek medical attention.
6. During the exercise, mentally focus on the body part you’re exercising.
7. Smile at least two genuine smiles while resting during an hour workout.
8. Vary cardio routines, including length of time, day, and speed.
9. Have at least one brief conversation before or during workout.
10. Compete with a subgoal in mind (repetition required before going to the next level) and reaching a goal.
11. Remember less is more if done correctly.
12. Drink eight glasses of water a day. Start the day with one glass and drink less with meals. Don’t drink it all at once!
13. Eat a variety of nourishing foods (including some fruit on an empty stomach).
14. Drink no more than 1.5 cups of your favorite sport drink after exercise.
15. Don’t eat within four hours of exercising for optimal stomach strength.
Here’s wishing you a life of swishes and assists!
Are you planning a meeting for this year or a kickoff meeting for early next year? Book Raj to speak to energize and inspire your team, organizaton or corporation to consistently perform at the top of our game! Call him at 864.569.2315 or contact him at raj@rajgavurla.com with your date, time and location to book your date today!