This video caused a big problem
Feb 15, 2024 11:00 am
Hi ,
Sometimes trying to communicate a big idea in less than 60 seconds can cause an issue.
Well, gulp, that happened to me with this one when I said"Just having a bad day isn't real."
The idea is that we often use "I just had a bad day" as an easy excuse that absolves us from responsibility. "It's not my fault I had a bad day. I did everything I could. These things just happen. I'll be fine next time."
This protects our ego. We hate to fail. And when we do fail we want to blame others or explain it away.
And that's a shame. It's a missed opportunity to see where we were responsible for the disappointment. We need to hold ourselves more accountable.
So I ended the video with a challenge to find out what you did wrong and fix it.
And that didn't go over great with some:
O.M.G.
Timing of this video couldn't have been worse for this person! I replied with empathy and prayer for s/he and his family, and a brief explanation that I will elaborate on here for you.
I push hard on accepting responsibility because for 99% of my athletes there is more that they can be responsible for. Few are giving a true 100% despite the hard work they are in fact putting in. There is a reason we lose, and most often it is because we didn't prepare or do enough to win.
No judgement. It's just a fact. We need to hold ourselves to a high standard of preparation if we want to succeed.
To rickard767's point, there are things that happen that are out of our control that hurt our performance. His situation for sure. Missed blatant holding calls by the refs that helped KC win the SuperBowl (no, I'm not mad ... wait, that's a lie. I am mad but that's a rant for another time).
I tried to make that point clear in my video. I had a bad day because I was sick and just coming back. I can't control getting sick and how it hurts my body.
But was I doing everything to heal? Did I maximize my sleep every night over the last three weeks? Did I have ideal nutrition and hydration?
No. There was room for improvement.
So my sub-par performance was a combination of things I could control and things I couldn't.
There is no benefit in focusing on the things I can't control like my illness ... but attention and effort is best placed on the things I can control to make the best of it.
That's what I wanted to get across ...
... and if you'd like some help improving your preparation so you can win this season, reply to this e-mail and let's have a conversation.
( ... I hope that came out better in text than the video. )
Best,
Dr E
***
Dr. Eddie O’Connor
