Knee jerk
There's an old saying, "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it." I think that needs to be expanded to include, "be careful what you say, people may hold you to it."
Something that I have tried hard to implement in my coaching career is what I call a "24 hour cooling off period" which is exactly what it sounds like. When something happens with one of my teams or an athlete, I try to wait 24 hours before making a decision. This allows me to cool off and gather up facts or get in contact with people regarding the situation so that when I do make a decision or say something I can come across as informed and without making an emotional decision that may not be the best decision I could make.
Clearly there are times that there are exceptions to this rule, notably if it involves the safety of an individual, equipment or the program in general but this is the rule of thumb that I try and follow.
The reason that I try and hold to this rule carries similar reasoning to why I try not to yell unless it's absolutely necessary. Because I'm not a yeller, when I do raise my voice, my athletes listen and that's what I am hoping for. If I were to yell constantly, there'd be no difference between when I'm angry or just being me. Things need to have an impact. The same goes for my rule of cooling off. There needs to be an impact. Were I to constantly make a judgement that in hindsight wasn't a good idea and I had to go back and rectify my decision, I start to undermine myself. It comes across as though I don't have the stones to stick to my guns and it creates loop holes and sets a bad precedent for future problems or issues. When I make a decision I want my athletes to understand that it's been thought over and calculated, not "shoot from the hip."
It's a hard rule to follow. There are times that I feel people expect coaches to be super human, containing emotional outbursts and displaying 100% calm when things are going badly. It's difficult because there are times as a coach that I've wanted to jump up and down screaming, reacting in the moment on what I see or hear. I want immediate action or reaction and it can be very hard to breathe in a few times, swallow and stick to your plan. A couple incidents come to mind already where I "lost it" with my team over an issue, where when I went home I wished that I had been able to hold it together a little more than I did.
I believe that what it comes down to is how you want your team to view you and how you run the program. I know coaches who yell constantly and get results and I know coaches who stay an even keel and don't and it goes vice versa. My feeling is that you do what works best with you. However, temperance and avoiding the knee jerk reaction even when it feels right, is a good rule to try and follow.
Something that I have tried hard to implement in my coaching career is what I call a "24 hour cooling off period" which is exactly what it sounds like. When something happens with one of my teams or an athlete, I try to wait 24 hours before making a decision. This allows me to cool off and gather up facts or get in contact with people regarding the situation so that when I do make a decision or say something I can come across as informed and without making an emotional decision that may not be the best decision I could make.
Clearly there are times that there are exceptions to this rule, notably if it involves the safety of an individual, equipment or the program in general but this is the rule of thumb that I try and follow.
The reason that I try and hold to this rule carries similar reasoning to why I try not to yell unless it's absolutely necessary. Because I'm not a yeller, when I do raise my voice, my athletes listen and that's what I am hoping for. If I were to yell constantly, there'd be no difference between when I'm angry or just being me. Things need to have an impact. The same goes for my rule of cooling off. There needs to be an impact. Were I to constantly make a judgement that in hindsight wasn't a good idea and I had to go back and rectify my decision, I start to undermine myself. It comes across as though I don't have the stones to stick to my guns and it creates loop holes and sets a bad precedent for future problems or issues. When I make a decision I want my athletes to understand that it's been thought over and calculated, not "shoot from the hip."
It's a hard rule to follow. There are times that I feel people expect coaches to be super human, containing emotional outbursts and displaying 100% calm when things are going badly. It's difficult because there are times as a coach that I've wanted to jump up and down screaming, reacting in the moment on what I see or hear. I want immediate action or reaction and it can be very hard to breathe in a few times, swallow and stick to your plan. A couple incidents come to mind already where I "lost it" with my team over an issue, where when I went home I wished that I had been able to hold it together a little more than I did.
I believe that what it comes down to is how you want your team to view you and how you run the program. I know coaches who yell constantly and get results and I know coaches who stay an even keel and don't and it goes vice versa. My feeling is that you do what works best with you. However, temperance and avoiding the knee jerk reaction even when it feels right, is a good rule to try and follow.
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