Folks,As promised, here is the link to a workshop I’m looking forward to hosting with Mike Coulter, Creative Director of the Do Lectures. It comes in the week in which the Scottish FA published their manifesto that argues that football can be a deliv...

Folks,In the book The Coaching Habit, author Michael Bungay Stanier has a question he calls the opportunity cost question: “If you say yes to this, what are you saying no to?” It's a great question. The reverse is also true.Howard Luks reminds u...

Folks,If you want to be a speaker, book a stage. If you want to be fit and healthy in your old age, don't think about what you used to do — start doing what you want to do. There is usually one thing that unlocks the thing you want to do. It might no...

Folks,You can work on the system, or more commonly, you can work in the system. Same for businesses and coaching, too.There is knowledge of the game and knowledge about the game.The green lumber fallacy, popularised by Nassim Taleb, reminds us that w...

Folks,“Stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself the truth.” That’s not advice for the faint-hearted, is it? It is, though, a great place to write from. If you can. Because the truth is always more interesting than you might think.Ther...

Bernstein’s hammer reminds us that our starting point is not as important as the work we do to get to our end point. Prepared but… The post Course correction first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

Gone on a bit of a mad one this week, looking at risk, precision, and recall.  Not my area of expertise by any stretch. I… The post One way or the other? first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

What are the chances that a grassroots coach will know what to teach a group of youth players who are at various stages of development?… The post What are the chances? first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

Maybe what’s on the test. Or what is age-appropriate. Perhaps principles of play? We organize around the content, and then figure out ways to deliver… The post What should we teach? first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

Conservative: “I’ll only say yes when I’m really sure” (high precision, low recall) Risky: “I’d rather catch all the real cases, even if I’m wrong… The post The cost of being wrong first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

We’ve come this far. A rallying call of the foolish, or the final step for the committed. How do we know which one we are?… The post We’ve come this far? first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

It’s tempting to think that the reason coaches are reluctant to adopt an “open book” approach to their coaching philosophy is that it’s the hard… The post It’s not change if it doesn’t happen first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

My eldest is entering the business end of her school life. Whether I have any anxiety, stress, or ambition, it’s my job not to pass… The post Making it count first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” Most of us take this to mean getting a leg up—being offered a chance that wouldn’t… The post Who you know first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.

One of the great opportunities that the world of physical fitness offers us is the opportunity to design for, embrace, and work with failure. Not… The post Fun and failure first appeared on SimonHarlingBlog.