TAKE THE PROACTIVE APPROACH

If you’re responsible for teaching and training young people in any way – as a coach, a teacher, or a parent – then there are two approaches you can take to this most important work. You can choose to do what champions do...and take the proactive approach. Or you can choose to accept the easier, lazier, more convenient route – the reactive approach – and in doing so, choose to settle for something less.

The proactive approach to teaching and training is focused on preparing our young people for the tests we recognize are to come. If you look closely at the beliefs and philosophies of great coaches, in any sport or era throughout history, preparation is always a priority. Bear Bryant said, “It’s not the will to win that matters – everyone has that. It’s the will to prepare to win that matters.” Branch Rickey called success “that place in the road where preparation meets opportunity,” and John Wooden – very plainly and profoundly – said that “failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” Great coaches, teachers, and parents see clearly that the proactive approach is the most productive approach.

They understand that they are responsible for preparing the kids in their care for what they recognize is coming in the future, even if their kids don’t recognize it yet. A proactive approach requires the foresight to anticipate challenges in the road ahead and equip your kids (or students or players) to handle the twists and turns they’ll find when they get there. The bright lights of the big stage have a tendency to reveal how a performer has prepared in the dark. If you’ve taken a proactive approach that’s prepared your kids for success, then in their big moments both of you will more likely be proud of the performance.

A reactive approach, on the other hand, is what Coach Wooden was challenging each of us to guard against. With a short-sighted perspective, it's easy to focus only on what’s right in front of us, and in turn to neglect that preparation that’s so important. Instead of constantly searching for ways to prepare our kids for the road ahead, a reactive approach seduces us into naively assuming that everything’s just fine, for us and for them, just as it currently is. Unfortunately, the bright lights of the big stage also have a tendency to expose all those areas where our kids aren’t as prepared as they need to be. If we’ve taken a reactive approach, we'll more likely regret in those big moments some of the work that we chose to leave undone.

Of course, learning and developing what it takes to become a champion is a long process that can’t happen overnight. You can do all the proactive teaching and training you want, but there will still be plenty of struggles, challenges, and even failures for your child to go through along the way. After all, despite even extensive preparation, some things can only be learned through experience. That's all a part of the journey. If you’re disappointed by what the bright lights of the big stage have revealed in your kids, then let it fuel your proactive approach moving forward. There’s great value in using whatever happens today – even if it was hard or disappointing – to help your kids take another step forward tomorrow.

Finally, as part of your proactive approach, make sure that besides just teaching and training, you are committed to supporting and encouraging. If you've developed the foresight to anticipate those challenges in the road ahead, then you should also recognize the important role you play in being your child’s biggest cheerleader. By enjoying the journey yourself – even the difficult moments along the way – you help your young athlete learn to enjoy it, too. It’s also likely that by choosing to take this proactive approach, you’ll help them find that place in the road where preparation ends up meeting opportunity – that place Branch Rickey called success.