100% and A+ Players

My dad is a coach, a great coach. I would say it is his single best skill. He is a teacher, a hand-holder, a motivator who has spent his life helping people be the best they can be.

Most of my life, the environment he has coached within is athletics and the sport he has always been the best at coaching was basketball. He could put B or C players into a system, an environment, to make them A+ players. And, to me, that is the simplest answer to who is a great coach.

A coach is someone who can take a skillset, recognize it and use it to it’s fullest potential. A coach doesn’t make a player great; a coach simply brings out the greatness that already exists inside that player.

My dad is not really a guy with a lot of black and white viewpoints, he lives in the gray (in the same way that I do), but throughout my life, as being one of the many players he coached, there have always been a few hard black and white beliefs that he has had. The most important one, that still sticks with me today, is that he hates, I mean HATES, when someone says that you should give 110%, 120%, to something.

My dad believes wholeheartedly in 100%, not 99% and certainly not 95% but also not 110%. My dad expects exactly the effort a person can physically, mentally put into an activity, and nothing more (or less).

As my viewpoints on the world have shifted over the years, I can’t relate to anything more than this theory of 100%. I could never expect someone on my team (in any environment) to put in even one ounce more than they’re capable of but I also find it impossible to accept one ounce less than they’re capable of.

100% looks a lot like hustle to me.

Gary Vaynerchuk said, ”Hustle to me is waking up one day, the day before you die and realizing you gave it your all, into the parenting of your children, the building of your businesses, the philanthropy that you wanted to do. It’s just all in.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIJElPStJpg

I couldn’t agree more. I’m proud to set this standard for myself to always give it my all and surround myself with people who strive to always give it their all. It seems to be the only consistent way for someone to perform as an A+ player.

I’m still waiting for one example of someone who hasn’t given it 100% and been an A+ player.

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