Plateaus

I work with many high performers.?An issue I have encountered that you might experience is feeling like you are on a never-ending plateau.?I worked with an athlete that felt that for a bit and came to me for help.?We spent some time talking about his process, how he practiced, what he intended to get out of practice, and his goals.?He was well aligned with his ambitions.?His love of the sport was not in question.?He was well supported and resourced.?He also was in some ways over-aligned.?This caused him to lack the mental flexibility needed to experiment with and question his approach, he stopped developing new efficiencies as a result.?His behaviors were not always supportive of his goals.?In these situations, it was a lack of awareness as his attention was gone either intentionally or not.?

This was not a small list to begin with and common among experts.?Where to begin is always a joint decision.?In this case, we decided to work specifically on his attention and awareness when starting practice. He had typically left his intentions for the day to chance.?A professional athlete typically has such a busy schedule with every practice, recovery appointment, skill work, physical conditioning, family, and other work obligations, they assume their life is moving with intention.?Show up, put in great effort, repeat, is often the recipe that got them through their amateur career, it is not enough when they go through their professional filter.?

When we put intention into our day and put some attention into our goals, we ensure that we are getting experience as opposed to living on repeat.?This athlete began to make intentions for each practice.?What he focused on and how he engaged were areas where he felt the most improvement in how he practiced.?That is what made him begin to improve again.?It was not the only thing we worked on, just the first.?The improvements it made became obvious in his next competition, looking like a new version of himself and overwhelming his opponents.?

He could not reach his bigger goals without becoming a better version of himself.?I believe that is true with any goal.?Habit and schedules had caused him to allow his intentions to be externally.?The way forward as it is for most of my clients was to change the approach by introducing a new habit.?I think most people would agree change is seen in actions.?If you want to make a meaningful change, make a habit of creating regular intention in your day.?Make your intention inform your focus and drive your approach.?