The word philosophy will either send us asleep or make us think of religion or some great thinkers from ancient greek times. Philosophy is essentially core beliefs and thoughts and on a personal level, they are how we live our life when faced with decisions and tasks. they are forever changing as we develop as a person by experiencing or learning new things. How others do things will also have an effect on how we believe we should react in certain situations.
So why do we need one for coaching?
You as a coach or even as a gym should have a philosophy to help guide you towards becoming the type of coach/gym you would like to be. One that will tie in with your beliefs and will guide you during difficult times and tough decisions. Your philosophy maybe won’t give you the answers to all your questions but it will help eliminate the answers that don’t fit in with your core beliefs.
The how.
As previously mentioned this is an evolving process and your core beliefs and philosophy may change quite a few times over your career.
One of the first things you need to put into practice is self-awareness. You need to become aware of the type of coach you are and the type of coach you want to be. This can be difficult as sometimes people find it hard to see the negative side of themselves. to help with this it is a good idea to get a mentor who will be honest with you when assessing your coaching and your personality traits. It will be hard at the start but it can speed up your development as a coach.
Start looking at each of your sessions and making a journal of what went well and what didn’t go to plan. Think of how you reacted to certain situations and did it fit in with your philosophy.
Next, you need to have a list of objectives. This list can be as long or short as you want, and you’ll probably find that you will add and subtract things as you develop. This list helps you with guidance and when reflecting on your sessions it can give you a checklist to see if you sticking to your philosophy. One of the best known USA coaches John Wooden had a philosophy for success, one of his many objectives was to always finish on a positive. Maybe this could fit into your or your gym’s philosophy.
Your philosophy doesn’t need to be a book, it can be one or two lines long. Why not take time during this lookdown period and either develop a philosophy for yourself or your gym or if you already have one take some time and see if it still meets your core beliefs as a coach.
Jonny
