The 3 Most Important Questions
Fergus Connolly PhD
Elite Performance Director | Helping Leaders Master Performance - w/ Methods Developed in over 20yrs coaching the World's Best Professional Sport Teams, SOF & Business Leaders
The 3 most important questions in Performance Science
If you are involved high performance in modern sport today, 80% of your time is spent deciding what not to use, or investigating things you won’t use. Despite this, we all have access to multiple types of technology or measuring equipment and metrics.
Over the past 7 years many teams have gathered store rooms of technologies and tools, some gathering dust. There is often periods where teams will reevaluate their approach.
The following are 3 simple questions I always use when I re-evaluate or audit a teams performance system or sports science approach - as I explain in 'Game Changer'.
Does what they assess or does what it provide fall into 3 simple categories … Useful, Interesting or Useless?
Useful, Interesting or Useless?
The word kazien ( Japanese word for "continual improvement") is thrown around in business and manufacturing circles far too easily, but these are the 3 question of the ruthless cyclical self improvement in sports science, or as I call it - winning science.
I have grown to dislike the term sports science, because of what it now means - the majority of which is simply activity for the sake of it.
We’re not in the business of sports science.
I’m the business of winning science. There’s a big difference.
We’re not in the business of sports science, I’m the business of winning science. There’s a difference.
Winning science focuses on the useful technologies and data that impacts results and actions. It feeds agile and reactive programming of experiences. It does have things that are interesting and that helps form instinct (more on this later) and the decision making cycle. There is no time wasted on useless things - because in the best programs there is no time. Life comes at you fast in pro sport.
Ask yourself - is what your investing time in useful, interesting or useless.
Be brutally honest. Eliminate the useless, be cautious with things you find ‘interesting’ or entertaining. Focus on the useful, and develop it. No one got fired for focusing on what matters.
What are you doing?
#GameChanger https://goo.gl/WkaXvK
Advocate for Marginalized Communities | Empowering Voices & Creating Change
7 年Great article! Looking forward to reading more in Game Changer!
Helping talented people do what they do best
7 年"We’re not in the business of sports science, I’m the business of winning science. There’s a difference." Love it, so true.
President @ Firefly Recovery | Founder/President at Athletic Recovery & Performance
7 年Great article Fergus. I wish you well with the book.
Sports Performance Coach/Consultant
7 年As a former major college coach, now private business owner with a much more modest budget and limited human capital and resources, only tech that is Useful AND to some degree intuitive has proven beneficial to my organization. Cost certainly limits my options, but wonderful tech that paralyses me from a productivity standpoint loses its usefulness quite quickly. Great advice Fergus! Thanks for sharing, JC Moreau
Injury Prevention and Management
7 年Although brutal with the 'useless', 'interesting' is my secret vice!! Thank you for sharing Fergus.