Are You Cultivating Commitment & Curiosity?

Instead of checking the box, start thinking outside the box.

Author

Bryant Ferate
November 12, 2024

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What’s up!

I was sitting down at my favorite cozy coffee shop, Cathedral Coffee in North Portland, to write a newsletter about the difference between being committed and having goals. While researching, I stumbled across an article written by the legend Seth Godin.

Here it is. Short and sweet.

We spend way too much time teaching people techniques. Teaching people to be good at flute, or C++, or soccer. 

It's a waste because the fact is, most people can learn to be good at something if they only choose to be, if they choose to make the leap and put in the effort and deal with the failure and the frustration and the grind.

But most people don't want to commit until after they've discovered that they can be good at something. So they say, "teach me, while I stand here on one foot, teach me while I gossip with my friends via text, teach me while I wander off to other things. And, sure, if the teaching sticks, then I'll commit."

We'd be a lot more successful if organized schooling was all about creating an atmosphere where we can sell commitment (and where people will buy it). A committed student with access to resources is almost unstoppable.

Great teachers teach commitment.

Seth Godin

After reading this over a few times, linked here, I paused… a full-blown wrestling match in my brain on what I should be teaching. Am I coaching what I should be?

Across +100 student-athletes for Men’s Cross Country, Women’s Basketball, Baseball, and Men’s Soccer, what skill is essential?

Yes, I know I know lifting weights without injury is important. Health & do no harm is the number 1 priority. The list could go on and on of how to squat, do push-ups, proper progressive conditioning work, sprinting, etc.

Long-term impact & often overlooked skills that are essential to high performance.

  1. Commitment

  2. Curiosity

  3. Awareness and Action

Commitment… Ah the big one here that started this rabbit hole of thoughts. Teaching athletes to be committed is such a fascinating thing. They “want” to go Division 1, they do the work, get recruited, then “commit” to a school. Then what…? To have a fulfilling, incredible college experience and squeeze the sponge to get everything out of it. It demands commitment.

One common issue I often see is athletes come in super unprepared and out of shape. They haven’t trained at all when they are away from campus. Then we start and they are behind, relying on their talents to keep them in the mix. They get hurt or their performance drops. They get burnt out of trying to play catch up all season, and then they don’t train for the 6 weeks of winter break. INSANE LOOP repeated over and over.

How can I teach athletes to commit to themselves and their teammates?

I use training as the example, but I believe this applies to a lot more than just lifting over winter break. What does your commitment look like to other areas of your life? With questions comes more questions.

Cultivating curiosity… is the 2nd most vital skill. Think about two athletes with the same talent level, but you can only pick one to be on your team.

  1. Athlete One: Committed, ultra curious, always asking questions about how to improve, ways to grow, and self aware.

  2. Athlete Two: uncommitted, not curious, not aware of how they act.

No brainer.

Curiosity shows that you care, you’re invested, you want to grow and know more. Not just checking the box but thinking outside the box. Being an active participant in designing their entire life. How they spend their time and energy.

Awareness… Hard to make changes if you aren’t self-aware. Becoming more aware of what you do, why, and how it can be improved. This applies to training, sports, interacting with teammates, and in your personal life. To make change you must be aware and then take action.

As coaches, teachers, managers, leaders, or a boss how are you cultivating commitment and curiosity within your team? Are you walking the walk by being committed and curious?

Commitment and curiosity can create magic once you realize that you can do something about it. Maybe poor performance or lack of consistency isn’t so much of a technique problem as it is a misunderstanding of what it means to be curious, be committed, and take highly aware actions moving forward.

Let’s move forward together. If you loved this article or connected with it anyway, please let me know. Email, text, DM, handwritten letter. I am curious what you agree or disagree on.

Thank you for tuning in this week. Let’s keep stacking those daily deposits and making every day the best of the year until tomorrow!

Ferate

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