The Offseason

The National Football League (NFL) season kicked off this past weekend in the United States. That means many will find themselves firmly planted on their couch, cheering for their team on many Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays from now until February of 2022.??

For the players and coaches, the start of a new season is like the beginning of a new S Curve of Learning? within their larger S Curve of football. As the buzz of football has taken over the sports page in every American newspaper, it made me think about how we find ourselves on a slightly different S Curve with each new start in our careers and our lives, particularly when we are part of a team.

No one in the NFL is entirely new to football. They are the best of the best. They have been climbing this curve their entire lives. Yet, there are many examples of individuals and teams being at the launch point at the beginning of a season.

One being Matthew Stafford, who left the Detroit Lions after twelve seasons to join the Los Angeles Rams. After a win in his Sunday night debut with the Rams, he was quoted in the?Los Angeles Times?saying there was "a lot of anticipation for this game. It's a new experience for me, a new place, a new stadium, new fans, the whole deal. But this team has embraced me."?

It's easy to think about the launch point as something we only encounter when we try to do something new, something with which we have no experience. While that certainly happens, more often, we find ourselves at the launch point within the context of something we've been doing for a long time.

A new coach, the transition to a new team, the return from an injury, or even the addition or loss of a teammate may in some way cause a professional athlete to find themselves at the bottom of the S Curve.

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In what ways have you found yourself at the launch point of an S Curve within an S Curve?

As the football season begins again, I wonder what players and coaches have been up to since last season. The off-season is an opportunity to leverage the?fifth accelerant of growth on the Seven-Point Framework of Personal Disruption?: Step Back to Grow.

A step back, and sometimes a step down, is critical to growth. You squat before you jump. You bring your fist back to punch. In sports, the time between seasons does just that.

By stepping back, players and coaches have the opportunity to do two critically important things: rest and prepare.

Rest is crucial to growth. Stepping back to grow isn't just about building up the strengths and skills you need to slingshot forward; it's also about rest. NFL players typically take 3-4 weeks off after the season before they resume training and preparing for the next season. Retired NFL player, Geoff Schwartz, said about the end of the season, "the weight, all the stress from the season, feels lifted. Your body might still be hurting, but it's the first time in months you're able to relax mentally."

Because just like your phone needs to recharge, so do you. We know from neuroscience that after you focus intently on a project or problem, your brain needs to disengage and relax fully. As John Cleese said, "If you're racing around all day, ticking things off a list, looking at your watch, making phone calls and generally just keeping all the balls in the air, you're not going to have any creative ideas."

Step back to prepare.?A lot happens during a season of professional football, but, in many ways, more happens during the off-season. The off-season is when you build skills and talents and when you stockpile strengths. At the beginning of the season, we hear stories of athletes significantly increasing their speed, improving their strength, or mastering a new approach. This isn't just true in sports. Research has shown that companies that develop capabilities before they need them - not when they need them - outperform on a wide variety of metrics.

How can you emulate an off-season in your own life and work?