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The Power of Perspective

By Fred Nicklaus

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 09Jan2009 Word count: 456 Viewed: 245 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

I got an email from a good friend of mine that I wanted to pass along to you.

"If you watched any college or pro sports, you may have had the same thought that I did.

This occurred to me while watching football and seeing some guys on the sideline - ones with really clean uniforms and unscratched helmets. I saw some names on the backs of the jerseys that I remembered reading about.

Names that were highly touted and recruited - guys that were supposed to contribute early and often. Guys that were supposed to be difference makers.

But, here it had been a couple of years and many of these names had never seen the field. So what happened?

Now, I know there are a lot of reasons that some athletes don't pan out, or at least meet their high expectations, but one that I have run into a lot is this: their willingness to be coached.

Being coachable is a big factor in making average athletes good and good athletes great. Why?

It all boils down to perspective.

One of the most valuable things a coach can offer you is a different perspective. A view of your performance, your strengths, your weaknesses... a fresh view of what brings out the best in you (and what factors tend to limit you).

Now, accepting this different perspective is not easy. But it can make all the difference.

If you only use your own personal perspective, you will not get as far as when you accept someone else's constructive feedback. Getting the "cold, hard, truth" from someone else can be just the thing to push you through your limiting thoughts and bad habits. It's a matter of seeing that perspective for what it is - not a personal attack, not a focus on the negative - but a realistic view of what's really going on. As an opportunity to get better.

Being able to value a coach's perspective can turn walk-on players into All Americans and non-drafted athletes into All Pros (Priest Holmes and Willie Parker are excellent examples).

I've always coached from a "praise loudly" and "correct quietly" standpoint. But, at the same time, I know that I can't just be a "yes" man. If someone I am training is doing something wrong, it is my responsibility to let them know (and give them advice on how to fix it). Blowing sunshine up you know where, will never bring out the best in anyone.

If you want to reach all of your goals, you probably cannot do it completely alone. Find someone who values your success as much as you do and use them as a resource to get the true view of your situation.

-Coach K

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