The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches

One of the most successful business self-help books in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. I recommend it as a "must read" by anyone interested in reaching his/her full human potential. The book presents an approach to being effective in reaching goals by following "true north." He divides the habits into three categories: independence or self-mastery (habits 1-3), interdependence (habits 4-6) and renewal (habit 7).

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
1. Be Proactive
2. Begin with the End in Mind
3. Put First Things First
4. Think Win-Win
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the Saw

These habits are universal principles that lead individuals to being effective, no matter the endeavor - including being a coach. The idea of the habits of highly effective people has been applied to almost every industry in America. Wayne Goldsmith gives expert advice for sports coaching success and shared his perspective with The Ten Habits of High Effective Coaches.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches
1. Make training more challenging and more demanding than the competition your athletes are targeting
2. Learn and develop as a coach at a faster rate than your athletes
3. Accelerate your rate of learning faster than your opposition
4. Enhance your creative thinking skills
5. Coach individuals - even in team sports
6. Ensure that every athlete that you work with out prepares (in every aspect) their opposition
7. Adapt your training plans and programs to optimize their impact on each individual athlete at every training session
8. Performance practice - not practice makes perfect
9. Adopt an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to talent development and performance enhancement
10. Lead

I will be taking the next few weeks to dig deeper on the habits of highly effective coaches by putting a wrestling spin on each one.