10 80 10

"I believe that chemistry and culture can elevate a athlete to a new level. You need to have talent, but you need chemistry and culture in order to maximize that talent" - Urban Meyer

Recently I have been researching ways in order to do just that, how to maximize the talent we have through chemistry and culture. What I have found are some basic principles that I have vaguely followed but were never clearly defined in my mind, nor to my athletes. The release of Urban Meyer's book (Ohio State Head Football Coach) has given me a tool to clearly define those beliefs, and devise a plan to elevate and implement those beliefs, thus creating the culture in my program that I believe is necessary. These principles in Meyer's book were, in part, created by Sunjay Nath, and mainly implemented into Meyer's program by Tim Kight, a master in the "physics of performance"

The basic tenet of Kight’s philosophy is E + R = O, which means that event + response = outcome. We experience events every day of our lives. But it's not those events that determine our success in life; it's our response to those events that determine success. Athletes need to have the tools in order to manage the "R" in this equation. How athletes manage the response to events are going to determine the outcomes an athlete gets. In short, an event occurs. An athlete’s response to that event equals the outcome. That outcome could be a short-term outcome, or it could be a long-term outcome.

Another component of Kights philosophy is 1) Personal Breakthroughs Drive A Program's Breakthrough. 2) Athletic Skills Rise No Higher then Life Skills. 1...A program can not become what it's people are not. For a program to raise to the next level then the athletes need to rise to the next level. A good to great journey is personal first, program second. The challenging part of this is that in being apart of a division 1 program, the easy breakthrough has already been achieved. So what's left? The hard breakthroughs. 2... it's the combination of personal excellence and natural talent that allow athletes to breakthrough to the next level. Natural talent is very important! But that natural talent rests on a foundation of life skills. Think of it this way. In the working world, one usually is hired due to their working skills, but is normally fired due to their lack of life skills.

To achieve these above philosophy's Kight presents 10 Principals To Achieve Ones Personal Best.

1. Build A Strong Foundation. Simply put an athlete needs to know their values, and then live their values. Be a person of integrity. Be somebody that other people can trust.

2. Be On A Mission And Stay Focused. This is all about the ability to set, and achieve goals. This is about the ability to navigate through and deal with the inevitability of obstacles that are apart of the pursuit of any goal. An athlete needs to know what they want to achieve, and then making it their mission.

3. Develop Self-Awareness. An athlete needs to know themselves. They need to know their habits, patterns, strengths, weaknesses. Most importantly an athlete needs to know the impact of their habits and patterns on their performance, their program, and the people around them. Is an athlete’s habit helping them to live their values and achieve their goals, or are those habits hindering them.

4. Take Responsibility And Initiative. This is the natural home of E+R=O because this is about being proactive in the response to events in life as opposed to being inactive or reactive. An athlete needs to be proactive.

5. Invest Time Wisely. Invest your time with your mission in mind. An athlete needs four disciplines. Prioritize, Organize, Maximize, and Analyze. Focus your time on achieving your mission.

6. Commit To Continuous Learning. Be a student of your mission, and be a student of yourself. Commitment yourself to continuous personal improvement. Always be improving yourself. Experience is an amazing teacher IF you reflect upon it and learn from it.

7. Be An Effective Thinker. This isn't about how smart you are; it's about how you are smart. An athlete needs to see reality clearly, learn how to process information effectively, and learn how to make decisions and solve problems wisely.

8. Manage Emotions. This is, potentially, the toughest of them all. An athlete needs to manage their emotions so that their emotions don't manage them.

9. Develop Communication Skills. Communication is key! There are Four disciplines in regard to this. Care Deeply, Listen Carefully, Communicate your Message Effectively, and Adjust your style appropriately.

10. Build Productive Relationships. This really is the application of the prior nine principals in a athletes personal and athletic relationships. Think for a moment about an ideal athlete to work with. That would be an athlete who has integrity and is trustworthy. An athlete who knows how to set and achieve goals, and overcome obstacles. An athlete who is self aware and can adjust his or her style. Someone who takes responsibility and initiative and is proactive in their response to the daily events of being an athlete. An athlete who respects their time as well as their coach and teammates. Someone who is a continuous learner and always improving and getting better. Someone who thinks, solves problems, and makes wise decisions. An athlete who manages their emotions. And someone who communicates by caring about you, listening to you, communicating clearly, and adjusting their style. One who can do all that creates a great relationship. That is a high impact person because that is somebody who practices the principals of personal best.

So what happens if the critical mass of people in the program were to consistently practice these 10 principals? The answer, the program can achieve almost anything that their natural talent will allow them to achieve.

The other major part of Meyer's philosophy Sunjay Nath's 10-80-10 principal. 10% of the team is elite, 80% is average and 10% is resistant to conformity. And by elite and average we are not speaking in terms of natural talent. We are speaking in terms of personal principals.

The top 10 % are always looking for a new way, a better way. They are Innovators, problem solvers.

The middle 80% the steady, dependable, workhorse type that our society relies on. They are willing to change if you give them enough reason to do so.

The bottom 10% are at all costs opposed to change. They would rather see the doors close than see change.

The worst mistake a leader/coach can make is to spend too much time on the bottom 10-percenters.

Here is how it works. An athlete needs to know what is the desired result is. Then the athlete needs to know what behaviors are needed to be exhibited to push you toward your desired result. This is where the 10 principals laid out by Tim Kight come into play. Once the top 10% begin to exhibit those ten principals you empower the Top 10%. You grow the behavior by spending more time, energy, and attention into the Top 10%. You will then find that as the Top 10% behaviors and people are empowered, the majority 80% will follow the lead of the Top 10%.

Next you need to define what behaviors would be considered Bottom 10% and how those behaviors pull away from the desired result. You need to neutralize the Bottom 10% percent by putting the minimum amount of time, energy, attention, and thought into them. They become ostracized.

Once you have 90% (Top 10% + majority 80%) on board that's when the Bottom 10% is most likely to be influenced. The Bottom 10% breaks apart as part of the group converts to the 80% and the rest leave.

Quite simply Urban Meyer describes his intention is to have his players "Live Above The Line". "There is a line in life, and an athlete can choose to live above the line, or below the line. Living above the line is INTENTIONAL, ON-PURPOSE-SKILLFUL. Below the line is IMPULSIVE, ON-AUTOPILOT, RESISTANT. Whether its how you handle your relationships, as a college athlete you better be very disciplined about your life and doing the right things. You are under the microscope. Above the line behavior is I'm going to work, I'm going to train, and it's not easy."

Part of that is get players to think as owners of the program; not simply renters passing through on a four-year stint. Ownership in the program breeds attention to detail and focus on becoming great both on and off the field. Finally you need to work fear into the equation, tying it to the ownership piece in an effort to breed an attitude where players are afraid to take an action that would let the program down or cast it in a negative light. My entire career I’ve told teams and athletes "Don’t do certain stuff. O.K., yeah right." I'm learning that by attacking a team or an individual for their behavior doesn’t often work. A culture needs to be created where you just simply can’t do it certain things. Bad decisions are not an option, and if you make a bad decision, that casts you as being in the wrong because you’re letting people down.”

“Your actions don’t only affect you, they affect everyone around you.” “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”