Imagine you’re a hockey defenseman…
Your current level of self-awareness leads you to believe you pivot and race to retrieve a puck in your own zone, “a lot.”
“A lot” is subjective.
Get Specific
What if you knew exactly how many times you were in this situation in a game?
What if you knew exactly how many times out of 10 an NHL player could successfully navigate this situation?
What if you knew exactly how many times a D1 prospect in your junior league had success in a game?
Would it give you more confidence that you don’t have to be perfect?
Observation
As a coach for only 3 years at the junior level, too often I’ve seen this:
Player makes a couple of “mistakes” early in the game
Player disappears for the rest of the game
Some players disappear for the rest of the weekend
Some players are so hung up on mistakes that they can’t dig themselves out for a month
If you ask them what they think the success rate is for the best defensemen in the current league they play in, they won’t have a clue.
The Mindset
The mindset of the elite is different. It’s a little twisted and counter-intuitive.
I was reminded of this and finally have learned a name for it in the new Belfry Hockey book.
He calls it “2 to Give Mentality.”
If elite success on our breakout scenario above is 8 out of 10, why should you expect perfection? It is unrealistic and can dissolve your confidence on the very first shift.
If you know you have breathing room and perhaps if your coach is aware of the success rate as well, you can both relax and play better hockey.
The great basketball players like Michael Jordan and Kobe knew their shooting percentage from everywhere on the floor.
They didn’t stop shooting or stop attacking the basket when they missed a lot of shots in the first quarter.
They both knew it’s a numbers game and eventually, they would get hot to get back around their average shooting percentage.
Going cold for a period actually gave them confidence that they would get hot.
Their coaches wouldn’t worry about losing them for the rest of the game or slumping for a month.
Know Yourself to Be Confident
Mistakes are going to happen, the more awareness you can bring to your current success rate and the elite players in your current league, the more you can relax and just play the game.
This relaxation will help you to make better reads and improve your rate naturally.
Quick Mental Model
If there were 2 identical versions of that defensemen.
1 worries about making mistakes and loses confidence when he makes just one.
1 knows his success rate and knows he has 2 or 3 to give.
Which one is going to make more plays and play with more confidence over the course of the entire year?
Which player has more upside to continue to grow and develop their game?
Probably the 2nd one. (I’m willing to hear you out if you believe it’s the 1st one)
Application
Think about how often things happen and your level of success. Then decide if it is important to work on.
If you suck at gardening, but you don’t garden… Does it matter that you don’t garden well? Can you leverage things you do more often?
Now apply this to your game.