Why Getting Better Isn't Enough

Announcements: 2 Final Spots + A Quick Ask

Just a heads up, I currently have 2 open spots remaining in both of my upcoming group programs and I wanted to extend a final invitation before registrations close.

The Next Level Coaching Lab (12-weeks) — For mental performance coaches (and adjacent practitioners) who want to develop a more clear framework, strengthen their craft with individuals and teams, and set themselves up to take the next level in their careers. Early bird pricing concludes on Wednesday (2/25) and the program starts March 26th.

Win More, Live Better Leadership Accelerator (6-weeks) — For high-achieving coaches and leaders who want to win more consistently (personally and professionally), while creating better systems to protect their energy and sustainability. This program starts in a couple of weeks.

If you’re interested in either experience or simply want to explore whether one is the right fit, just reply to this email and I’ll follow up with more details.

One More Ask:

I’m participating in an upcoming podcast panel with two other MLB mental performance directors and we’re discussing “mental performance for coaches.” If there are specific questions or topics you’d love to hear a group like this discuss, then please feel free to respond with your suggestions. I’d love to incorporate your ideas as we shape the conversation. Thank you!

The Red Queen Effect

In the book, Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, there’s a scene where the Red Queen tells Alice:

It’s a whimsical line in a children’s story, but evolutionary biologists later borrowed it to describe a phenomenon we now call The Red Queen Effect.

The Red Queen Effect explains how in adaptive and competitive systems, improvement is relative. If two competing species are evolving and improving at similar rates, neither will appear to pull away.

We could use cheetahs and gazelle as examples here. I didn’t know this until recently, but early cheetahs weren’t all universally fast. They evolved their extreme speed over time as the slightly faster ones were able to catch more prey and survive long enough to reproduce. At the same time, gazelles weren’t universally agile, but the ones that cut sharper and reacted quicker were able to escape more often. They survived, reproduced, and agility became a core trait of the whole species.

This wildlife example illustrates how both species are “running” (as the Red Queen quote implies) and, yet, neither creates distance or separation from the other.

When Everyone is Running and Ascending

Another way you can look at this phenomenon is to imagine development (in any area) is like getting on an elevator.

If you and your competitors all step into the same elevator, you’re rising together. When you glance sideways, it’ll feel like you’re standing still.

This is what makes competitive environments so deceptive. Everyone is practicing. Everyone is trying to improve and grow, which means there will be some instances where you’re actually getting better, but that doesn’t mean it’s translating into better performance. Your competitors are getting better too.

If everyone is consuming the same content, training the same way, copying the same models, and thinking with the same frameworks, you shouldn’t expect dramatic separation. If your strategy looks like everyone else’s, your results likely will too.

The challenge becomes how to differentiate and separate yourself. To use the elevator analogy, the only way to reach the top faster is to either find a faster elevator or take a different route altogether.

Elite performers don’t just improve. They separate by improving at a different rate or in a different direction.

How to Accelerate

One of the things I appreciate about the Lewis Carroll quote is that it applies at both the individual level and organizational level.

If everyone is running, the question becomes: How do you create distance and separation? Here’s a couple of high-leverage approaches.

For Individuals: Borrow Outside Your Lane

If you only study what your direct competitors study, you’ll likely think like they think and perform like they perform. Sometimes the most valuable thing you can do is borrow from other arenas and import new ideas into your space.

Study disciplines your peers ignore and adopt principles from disciplines that think in unfamiliar ways. One of my all-time favorite examples of this was how Kobe Bryant used inspiration from Great White Sharks to create a better defensive mindset and strategy for guarding Allen Iverson (read more about it here).

Kobe is a prime example of someone willing to run up the stairs others aren’t even looking at.

For Organizations: Integrate Faster (and Better) Than Others

There was a time when separation came from simply adding talent. Over the last decade plus, elite sporting organizations have invested more into data analysts, performance scientists, biomechanists, skill acquisition experts, and even mental performance coaches (although some spaces still have a significant way to go with the latter).

For a while, hiring all this new talent and filling these new roles was one way organizations attempted to separate themselves. But now? Most organizations have similar access to expertise so the edge is less about how many smart people you have (although this will always help) and more about how integrated these groups are.

Are insights shared openly across departments? Are departments aligned philosophically? Is data and information translated into practical and digestible feedback for players? Is there alignment between the objective recommendations from data analysts and the development plan being executed by the coaches on the ground?

When everyone has access to expertise, access is no longer the advantage. Execution is and execution accelerates when integration is tight.

Separation belongs to the teams that are most aligned.

Final Thoughts

Where in your life are you mistaking shared elevation for stagnation?

Where could accelerating your learning or adapting your approach create real distance?

Because effort keeps you in the race. Acceleration and adaptation helps you win it.