How to Keep Your Ax Sharp In-Season

Phillip Rivers, the Quarterback for the San Diego Chargers, has turned the Latin phrase Nunc Coepi into a motto for their entire team.  Nunc Coepi means, “And now I begin again.” What I like about this sentiment is that each day we get a chance to start over.

Each practice we get to try and move toward our goal of having a championship culture in our program.  We know we’re going to struggle and make mistakes but rather than dwell on the problems that we’ve had in the past, we want to focus on what we’re doing now to realize our vision for the program.

Abraham Lincoln and Keeping Your Ax Sharp – I head a story about Abraham Lincoln and how he said if he had two hours to cut a tree down, he would spend one hour sharpening his ax.  Many of us get so caught up in the day to day grind of our coaching jobs that we neglect to find inspiration and motivation to keep us going.

I don’t know about you but, in the middle of January or February, I am chomping at the bit to start the season.  A big part of that is that I am getting all sorts of inspiration and motivation from hearing the best coaches in the country during the “clinic season.”  Try to find some of that inspiration in season so that you can share that with your team.

If you want to skip ahead to the story in the video below, go to 6:50 to hear the story, however, the entire video is good stuff.

I highly recommend finding great positive coaching influences that will help remind you of what your vision is for your program and what steps you can take now to move toward that vision.  In addition to the article that is the basis for this entire post, I’ve found recent posts on James Vint’s blog or reading sections of Randy Jackson’s book Culture Defeats Strategy, to help refocus and remind me of what I’m wanting to accomplish.

So often we get bogged down with the day to day grind of kids being late to practice, the team room being dirty, wrapping up fundraising or planning practice.  We need to fill our tank up with good influences so that we don’t find ourselves just dwelling on the draining part of our profession.

Here is a top five ways I am trying to keep my ax sharp during the season:

1. Call Dr. Gilbert’s Success Hotline every morning on my way to school – 973-743-4690.  This may end up being the best 3 minutes of your day.  I don’t remember every message that Dr. Gilbert leaves but, I do know I have a better attitude walking into school on the days when I call in than when I don’t.
2. Brian Cain’s Monday Message – You can sign up to have Brian’s Morning Message emailed to you.  There are a lot of good ideas and tips included in the videos he sends.
3. Brian Johnson’s Philosopher’s Notes – Brian’s podcast and Youtube videos are great ways to get some big ideas in a short time.
4. Review Clinic Materials, Nike COY Coaches Notes, etc. – I’ve scheduled time in my days this past week to review a book such as Randy’s book or Dale Mueller’s presentation at the AFCA convention in 2015.  Remind yourself of the things you set out to do at the beginning of the season.
5. Use you Coaching Network – One of the most therapeutic things I have found to do in season is give another coach a call to check in and get a fresh perspective.  A lot of times I find that the same issues that I feel are unique to our program are actually the same ones others are dealing with.  Sharing ideas and commiserating in-season helps in keeping a proper perspective during a time when most of us are incredibly myopic.

Have some ideas that you’d like to share on how you keep your ax sharp in season?  Post on our Facebook Page or tweet @nathanstanley.  I’d love to hear other ideas.