Discipline and Focus

"Can you drive yourself to get fit, and, after you are bent over in exhaustion from sprinting, can you spend an hour slamming a ball against the wall, doing Coervers, or juggling? Can you drive yourself with self-discipline, when others are not there? No one is going to be constantly pushing you, insisting that you get fit or hone your skills. When it truly counts, you're on your own. Your margin of success is based on your inner drive. This focus and self-discipline is also a great element of your character.” - A Letter to Mia Hamm from her coach Anson Dorrance, 21x NCAA Division I National Championship Winner and coach of the first US Women’s World Cup Champions.

I just read the quote above in a book called What it Takes to Win by Anson Dorrance. He’s one of the most winning coaches in athletics history. And this quote must be taken into context. Mia Hamm is arguably the best women’s soccer player ever. Her ability to take on defenders and score goals was prolific. She was the face of the US Women’s National Team when I was a kid.

What makes her different from other forwards, other scorers of her time? Was she born with an athletic advantage over her peers? Was she given greater resources than others to play the game? The answers are no. Mia was born with a club foot, having to wear corrective shoes as a toddler. She played on boys teams in Wichita Falls when she was younger and excelled. Her story is like many other famous ones we could look at. Passion for the game and a humility in discipline became essential in making her the player she became.

I say humility in discipline because it takes a beginner’s mind to really understand discipline. To be disciplined in something, we have to understand we are deficient in it in some way. We have to know there is still more to learn, and starting out, much, much more. All of it, in fact.

Discipline is one of those words some people stray from. It can bring back memories of overbearing teachers, being punished in some way, or blindly adhering to an institution’s rules set. But that’s not the discipline I’m talking about.

If we take a look at the Latin roots, we find the word disciplina, meaning "knowledge or learning", and the word discipulus, meaning "student or pupil". For players like Mia, becoming a student of soccer was essential. The ability to become the best in the world at soccer takes discipline, fortune, and the overcoming of obstacles. The ability to stay the best in the world at soccer takes a humbleness to continue to learn.

When we look again at the word discipline, we may see it as small actions taken daily that build into something greater than what we are at present. The cornerstone word in this definition is action. Action gives us experience. Thinking about something saturates our mind with this thing and may present opportunities to experience this thing, but it won’t makeup for actionable steps taken to give ourselves a particular experience to learn from.

These experiences give us a range of emotions. In soccer, shooting a ball into a net is usually associated with joy and fun. Fitness sessions usually stoke the opposite. And yet it’s necessary. Discipline requires focus, a narrowing of the vision to one thing at a time. If I choose to practice juggling a soccer ball for the next thirty minutes, I will practice staying focused, keeping my attention on the ball, playing games with myself to see how long I can keep the ball up, how many touches I can get on the ball before it falls, etc. Time flies by and I enjoy myself.

When I have a perspective of “I need to do this or I won’t get better…” or “I’ve already practiced so much this week. I can take a break...” while I’m juggling, the time seems longer, I’m not as attentive and therefore not learning as much. The concentration of attention on one spot, one thing (focus) equals greater knowledge gained in a shorter amount of time.

Research shows the more I focus on the positive, the more I can accomplish in the long run. It draws opportunities to me that wouldn’t be there if I had a pessimistic outlook. In Navy Seal training, the graduation rate increased 10% when they started teaching them positive self-talk.

The stories we tell ourselves have the greatest impact not only on what we accomplish, but our state of happiness. What differentiates the most successful people is grit, the willingness to persevere regardless of negative outcomes.

Remember from the quote above, "When it truly counts, you're on your own. Your margin of success is based on your inner drive.” Or, as my grandma would say, "It’s what you do when no one is looking that counts.”

For players to practice at home every day - 10 minutes

Toe Touches (one foot, spinning) - 3-4 minutes

Outside, Inside - 3-4 minutes

Figure 8 Dribbling - 3-4 minutes

See you tonight.

Michael

Michael Dardanes