The worst part about programming is that it engrains behavior through repeated exposure.
Napoleon Hill calls this concept hypnotic rhythm. And I quite like the term. Let’s give some context as to how it works, then what it is.
Think of how you learned to play music in elementary school. You learned notes. Then you learned the notes are related through the rhythm and melody. Repeating the rhythm and melody over and over got the song fixed in your head.
Now you don’t need the sheet music.
Hill writes:
“Any impulse of thought that the mind repeated over and over through habit forms an organized rhythm. Undesirable habits can be broken. They must be broken before they assume the proportions of rhythm.”
Essentially it boils down to 2 things:
Whatever you’re ‘practicing’ you’re improving at
Rhythm is the last stage of a habit
If I bitch at Tiffany for petty shit, I get better at that.
If I train speed in the gym by lifting lighter weights faster, I get better at that.
If I do those 2 things for weeks to months, they become rhythm and significantly harder to break.
This also works from an outside perspective.
Let’s take a parent for example.
When they see Instagram drills with 4 billion likes that involve players ripping through a cone course with their heads down, and then the algo starts feeding them more of that, that becomes their new rhythm of what is expected.
When they see big rousing speeches, they expect that.
And those are optics.
Just like screaming and pointing all over the ice from the bench.
And that becomes our expectation of coaching.
We get lulled into the new normal.
Hypnotic rhythm.
What’s the take-home?
Optics are for parents. The players might fall for it too with endless access to Tiktok and other media platforms.
Optimal is for players.
Who do you coach for?
What I do know is this…
What looks right and what is right are 2 different things right now. So you have to address those gaps through communication with parents and players you guide.
A question you might ask as a filter:
What looks right today simply because I’m seeing it repeatedly but actually is suboptimal?