4-Point Weekend #126

On coaching, conflict, and planning

Hi everyone,

Please enjoy this week’s 4 points!

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• 1) The key to coaching

The key to good coaching is….. happy players.

The Texas Rangers recently won the World Series. They completed a turnaround that took them from ranking 29th, 28th, and 23rd out of 30 teams over the previous three seasons to winning a championship. Yes, they went out and got better players, but anyone who has led at any level will tell you that buying talent doesn't guarantee a turnaround. So what else changed?

"Happy players. I'm telling you, man. When you get players happy together, I think you are going to find the best performance," said Ranger's first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.

Happiness doesn't create the dramatic impact of a coaching giving a roaring half-time speech that we see in movies. It doesn't have the gloss of an environment where players look and are treated like robots, performing highly coordinated drills to perfection. It doesn't capture as much attention as the social media clip of someone screaming in the weight room or telling athletes they are going to war. We tell ourselves that happiness is something to strive for in our relationships or hobbies, but not in our work. This is a wrong view.

Source: The Growth Equation

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• 2) Conflict

Sorry to burst your bubble, but conflict may be inevitable..

We might describe ourselves as avoiding conflict, but I personally believe there is no such thing as avoiding conflict. There is only transmuting how you experience conflict.

Internal vs external conflict: People who "don't have conflict" in their lives generally just have internal conflict instead of externalized conflict. Example: instead of telling my friend, "You being constantly 30 minutes late bothers me," I just sulk about it silently.

Implicit vs explicit conflict: I believe that ignoring the person or responding less are implicit ways of handling conflict; you are responding to the situation, just not in an explicit way. Again: I think running away from conflict does not free you from the conflict, it just changes the way it's expressed.

Source: @noampomsky on X

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• 3) Learning

Every act of conscious learning requires the willingness to suffer an injury to one’s self-esteem. That is why young children, before they are aware of their own self-importance, learn so easily; and why older persons, especially if vain or important, cannot learn at all.

- U.S Psychiatrist Thomas Szasz

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• 4) Quote of the week

“Plans are nothing, but planning is everything.”

-Dwight Eisenhower

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Thank you for your time and attention this week.

Much love,

Kyle