The Value of Reflection
Justin Johnson
Mental Edge Performance Advisor

As I’ve traveled around this past month discussing with athletes about how they have spent their summer, I’ve stumbled across an interesting phenomenon. A great number of athletes, of all abilities mind you, have decided to take on a Quantity over Quality approach in their off-season. In their pursuit of excellence athletes find themselves practicing sport-specific skills sometimes up to four or more hours a day, six days a week. Pile on top of that, games, lifting, and for many others, a summer sport or camp. As an athlete you begin to wear very thin

It is amazing when you sit down with a group of athletes and ask them about what they have learned or gained from all of these hours of activity. The response ranges from a puzzled look to a list of three or four things. By physically participating in all of this activity and training, the athlete has been forced to move from an intense focused form of training, which yields the most results, to a more conservative way of training so they have enough energy to get them through the entire day or week.

The reason so few athletes have a response to what they have learned is because mentally they move in a zombie- like state from one activity to another. Not remembering how or what they did last week in their game or practice. So an ironic situation occurs, despite all of the activity athletes are involved in only a select few are gaining any experience from their involvement.

How can you combat this? Well, it’s simple; set some time aside to reflect. Take a few minutes after each activity you partake in and ask yourself a few questions:

What did I learn?
What could I have done better?
What did I do well?
What should I try next time?
Was that fun?

You can also write in a daily or weekly journal to keep track of the activities you are doing and what you are gaining from them. This journal will be an incredibly valuable asset as you move through the summer compiling all of the great learning experiences. As you look back over your entries throughout the summer you will begin to get a sense of what is working for you and what isn’t. The journal will also help you in the following off season. Depending on how detailed you are you should have a great blueprint for what you should and shouldn’t sign up for and participate in. This way you can look forward to a more efficient and effective off season as well as the knowledge that you have become a more experienced athlete.