In his book Catalyst, Jonah Berger says “Horrible performance generates action, but average performance generates complacency.”
It is the reason why a sprained knee can be worse than blowing a knee out. A sprained knee can give the allusion that you can still do many things on the knee. So over time as you fight through the injury, you never properly take care of it. So in the end, you struggle with a bum knee for years because it was never bad enough to get it taken care of.
When you blow out a knee, you have no other option than to take immediate action, go to the Dr., and get ready for surgery. Then after surgery, you follow a strict protocol of rehab to get back to full speed.
As a leader, one of your primary roles is to recognize where improvements need to happen. However, when results are good, that makes it much easier to avoid seeking ways to get better and taking action.
Good is the enemy of great. When you are terrible, it is easy to make changes. When you are good, it becomes harder. It becomes harder because you open yourself up to criticism and second-guessing, you run the risk of things going from good to worse.
I think one simple rule is helpful. Rule: If there is a better way to do something, do it.
Don’t be fooled by results. Always ask “Can this area be better?” “Can he/she be better?” Look at things from all perspectives and constantly be on the search to get better. It doesn’t mean you are constantly making changes, although you might need to. It simply means looking for ways things can be better.
There is often pushback with this mindset. “We don’t want to be inconsistent as coaches. Too many changes can confuse them.”
No one is advocating being inconsistent. I am advocating that you are always looking for areas that can be better… and if something can be better, we’d all be fools not to make it better!
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