Best Practice - being the best version of yourself

Best Practice - being the best version of yourself. ?

I am grateful to have had an opportunity to share some of my journey on best practice and a framework and strategy that I have devleoped for my live and work.

Below is a summary what I shared with the Academic Leadership Team at Northholm Grammar School and a personal example I experienced today.?

I identified some of my personal experiences, suggested some generic examples and then outlined?a framework I have developed over the years.?

Some my personal?lessons I included?were as follows: to back myself and share, have something I am passionate about (geography and running), see what my options are, join professional , community and sporting groups, understand my context, nail the basics, be prepared to connect the personal and professional, develop my own strategy, understand the mechanisms of exceptional performance (knowledge, skills, processes and mindset) and have a philosophical foundation.?

My approach involves three steps which involves embracing my journey (awareness, knowledge and understanding), establish a framework for best practice ( performance in context and nailing the basics) and implement?my?best practice strategy (Think, Do and Thrive). There is a lot of this I can unpack but the time is not now.

This has also raised statements for me to think about. Best practice is not necessarily the same as high performance. We thrive and?flourish when we personalise. You don’t have to always throw out the old for the new. Starting with the end in mind is less important than engaging in the process. Best practice is not about what is right and wrong but rather what works and does not work. The relationship between performance and pressure is closely connected to monitoring stress. ?

I found myself applying some of these best practice principles?when I went for my swim today.

I have been enjoying my swimming through winter kn Hornsby, Sydney, but I have been struggling with?my mindset in relation to my 1500m times and the plateau I am on.?Today I made a mental shift and it improved my performance by observing best practice. ?

When I finish my swim I watch other swimmers.?I time laps, count strokes per minute and strokes per lap and try and see how their swiming compares to my laps.?Not that I can see my swimming.??

I arrived at pool today and two swimmers were evenly paced at different sections of the pool and counted their stokes like a metronome - one two, one two …I kept the rhythm in my head and started swimming (1500m in 33:52)and it worked, though I am tired now. ?

This was 45-60 seconds faster than my 1500m swims over the past few weeks.?I did have a brief break of 20 second between each 500m (11:15, 11:16 and 11:20). Conscious increase stroke rate per minute and went from lowest of 25spm?last week to 28spm and 32 stokes per lap. Definitely more taxing on my breathing and muscles.

Amazing what a change in strategy and less than a minute improvement can do to my mindset later in the day. It was a good application of my Think, Do and Thrive Strategy.

Take care,

Martin