Learning to Analyse Performance Positively

To develop an unshakable Black Belt Mindset and the ability to overcome failure in a mature and positive way we need three things: 

• Experience of success and failure
• A strong mentor 
• A supportive community 
• A process for analysing performance

In order to develop Black Belt Mindset and learn to analyse our performance, we first need to have the opportunity to perform and so challenging ourselves or competing is an important first step. We always start with Personal challenges in improving ourselves before we introduce public competition to our students. The foundation must be created first. 

It’s important students have a strong mentor who can see them through each phase from beginning to end. The bond between instructor and student is powerful and trust must be developed. Without this step it’s certainly hard for a student to overcome difficult times or particularly tough failures, it’s also likely a student will waste a successful experience and not analyse their performance and therefore not learn from this either. 

It’s vital there is a supportive community awaiting the student before, during, or after (if possible at all three times) to:

a) Solidify the success and publically recognise the achievement, reinforcing the positive experience.

b) To provide a friendly, nurturing environment to bounce back from in times of failure, where they do not feel judged but feel supported emotionally. 

We’ve put The Warrior Process for Analysing Performance into this great little exercise that you can use (and we have used many times with our students) for analysing your performance after a competition or challenge here.

This process will guide you through “developing from failure or success” to ensure you use it as a powerful learning experience, remembering both failure and success provide an opportunity to grow. 

By following these steps and the process we develop a strong mindset, that we refer to as the Black Belt Mindset. The Black Belt Mindset where a student is completely tuned in on their own performance and able to overcome defeat and failure and learn from every experience they encounter. As students develop more they realise that growth in mindset is not linear and while it takes some time to develop the principles, once the learning is in place there is a sharp rise in their development resulting in a Black Belt Mindset. 

We have created the four R’s to be used immediately after a student competes or performs their Challenge, typically during a significant single event. 

Step One: Reward

Regardless of the outcome, we must have a planned reward in place. It can take huge amounts of courage for a young person to compete. Having a planned reward to give them immediately after a competition or event will solidify the event as a positive experience. For this reason, a reward should be given regardless of the outcome (win or lose).

I believe there should be a hierarchy in the way awards are presented in competitions; so that students understand that there is a greater award for winning, which will drive their competition spirit, intrinsic motivation and develop their character. This element is typically structured into a competition with 1st, 2nd, 3rd place medals/trophies. The support from parents or peers should be immediately present before (in the build-up phase), during (at the event), and after the competition in the form of a planned reward - win or lose. 

Step Two: Recover

Competing is both emotionally and physically draining. The build-up to a single event can have been going on for months, all of the worries, frustrations, pressure, hopes, and dreams of the outcome all build up to an apex of emotions on the day and for a young person this can be incredibly draining. Taking time off, not to reflect on the competition at this stage, but simply to relax and recover. Enjoy a calm mind with no thoughts of upcoming competitions and a quiet sense of pride. 

Step Three: Re-group 

This is an important step. Re-grouping covers analysing your performance and technique, getting back into your community, supporting your peers, and setting new goals. So let’s dive into how we structure each aspect of re-grouping. 

Analysing Performance:

In this section we ask students to go over the whole process they faced, looking closely at their build-up, their event, and how they felt. We want them to have a deep understanding of the competition cycle. We find discussing the following questions and guiding students through them one by one helps:

*Pre Comp*

How did you feel going into the competition?

Did you have a positive Mindset leading up to the competition?

Would you change your mindset leading up to the competition?

Did you find the competition to be challenging and out of your comfort zone?

*Event*

Did you feel you performed your best in the competition?

What would you improve (even if you feel your technique was brilliant) looking back over your technique?

*Post Comp*

Looking at your community, what advice would you give to other friends/students/peers who are going to the same competition? 

How can you help others in your community prepare for a similar competition?

How did you feel after the competition, did you feel pride/relief/happy?

How can you prepare better for your next competition?

Do you have another goal you would like to achieve? 

Who do you need to thank for helping you prepare for the competition and for supporting you?

As a mentor, it’s vital, when analysing performance that it’s done in a positive way but that it is done honestly in order to get the best results. Have you noticed, we add elements of community and leadership into every aspect of analysing our own performance? We do this to ensure our students remain humble, support each other and understand that we rarely achieve greatness alone, indeed our community is fundamental to our success. 

Set Goals:

Once this is achieved it’s time to set new goals using the Warrior Academy Goal Setting System. It’s vital we break down the big vision into smaller goals, all the way down to daily habits. 

Step Four: Repeat

The final step is simply to repeat. Try not to see competition or challenges as one-off life events but merely a process for learning and applying our lessons. Having goals creates drive and purpose in our lives. Competing challenges us and takes us out of our comfort zone. We grow when we compete and the more we gain experience in competition the more confident we become. The process we learn through competing has a huge carryover in all areas of our life. As adults we often find ourselves in a competitive environment, having lots of experience competing and a healthy process of analysing our performance can make a huge impact on our happiness and success in later life.