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128. Win the Hour: The Power of Planning with Dr. Sheldon Martin
2 Plays4 months ago
In this episode of the Especially for Athletes Podcast, we sit down with Dr. Sheldon Martin to discuss the importance of planning in achieving success, reducing stress, and ultimately winning the hour. As a doctor of behavioral health, Dr. Martin offers valuable insights into how planning can benefit our mental health, improve performance, and help athletes, coaches, and parents manage their time effectively.
We explore the concept of planning within our win the hour framework—where each hour of the day is strategically used to reach your goals. Dr. Martin emphasizes the need for balance in planning: while planning is essential, it’s crucial to avoid getting paralyzed by the need for perfection. He introduces us to three key strategies that will help athletes (and anyone looking to improve) create better, healthier plans that promote growth, reduce stress, and foster success.
Key Discussion Points:
- The importance of planning to win the hour, and how to manage your discretionary time effectively.
- The benefits of planning for what you can control in your daily life, and avoiding the stress of the unknown.
- Micro-planning: Practicing for potential situations to build confidence and preparedness in the face of challenges.
- How reflecting on past plans and adjusting for future growth can reduce anxiety and improve performance.
- The concept of functional freezing and how to avoid over-planning, which can prevent action and progress.
This episode will give you practical tools to stay focused, plan effectively, and maintain the motivation needed to achieve your goals—whether in sports, academics, or personal development.
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Credits:
Hosted by Shad Martin & Dustin Smith
Produced by IMAGINATE STUDIO
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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Introduction to Especially for Athletes Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Especially for Athletes podcast, where we explore essential principles that empower athletes to learn life's most valuable lessons through sports.
Guest Introduction: Dr. Sheldon Martin
00:00:17
Speaker
We are so happy to be joined by Dr. Sheldon Martin, who has appeared on many of our podcasts as a guest host today.
00:00:25
Speaker
Sheldon, welcome.
00:00:26
Speaker
We're so appreciative of you taking time to be with us today and lend your expertise and thoughts and mingle two of your worlds, sports, which was a huge part of your life growing up, huge part of your kid's life now.
00:00:38
Speaker
And of course, the doctor of behavioral health and your expertise there to give us some tips on
00:00:45
Speaker
One of our core principles is win the hour.
How Does Planning Impact Wellness?
00:00:49
Speaker
And we're going to talk today about how planning, having a plan can impact our wellness.
00:00:58
Speaker
It could even lower anxiety and it can help us feel more solid, I guess more mainstream.
00:01:06
Speaker
But you kind of have some
00:01:08
Speaker
some cautions on both sides of that, that sometimes having a plan is a wonderful thing to do.
00:01:16
Speaker
And maybe let me set this up just a little bit more.
00:01:19
Speaker
So we challenge our athletes to go 16 and 0, meaning eight hours of sleep and rest.
00:01:26
Speaker
And then, you know, each hour of each day, they look at that hour and they ask themselves, what can I do to win that hour?
00:01:35
Speaker
So if I'm in a math class, what do I need to do to win at math?
00:01:39
Speaker
And, you know, it's stuff like sit in the front, raise your hand, ask questions, don't move on without really understanding it, stay after class,
00:01:48
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:01:48
Speaker
Like, that's win the hour there.
00:01:51
Speaker
And so, but part of that is planning, like actually looking at your day and making sure you're taking your discretionary time when someone's not telling you what to do and steering it toward goals that really matter to you.
Benefits and Risks of Planning
00:02:09
Speaker
And so we feel that's very important.
00:02:13
Speaker
beneficial to plan like that?
00:02:16
Speaker
Maybe if you could start out, what are the benefits of planning?
00:02:20
Speaker
And then as you hear that 16 and 0, what are some things that you're like, that's true, that's good, but here's some other things that you might want to be cautioned to make sure it doesn't go too far the other way.
00:02:34
Speaker
Does that question make sense?
00:02:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it sure does.
00:02:37
Speaker
In fact, it leads to an analogy that I like to use often in my practice and just in when I teach.
00:02:46
Speaker
And that's a, you can imagine a bowling lane.
00:02:49
Speaker
And a bowling lane has gutters on each side.
00:02:52
Speaker
And so if planning is this bowling lane, there's going to be a gutter to the left and a gutter to the right.
00:02:58
Speaker
So one caution that we see often is one you've alluded to, and that is a lack of planning is a problem.
00:03:08
Speaker
So not making any effort to plan for the day, to be prepared to win that hour, it is a problem.
00:03:17
Speaker
You're always going to be in survival mode and crisis mode, and we can talk about why that's not a good thing.
Avoiding Functional Freeze in Goal Setting
00:03:23
Speaker
However, a lot of times on the other gutter on the other side of the lane is that we plan to the extent or our preparation and planning has to be so perfect that it leads to what we call functional freezing, right?
00:03:41
Speaker
So if someone is planning for conditioning or strength training, right?
00:03:49
Speaker
Everything, they spend so much time planning and it becomes so overwhelming that they actually never get started because all of the energy goes into planning and they freeze.
00:04:00
Speaker
And so both of those are gutters.
00:04:03
Speaker
And there's a way to learn how to kind of stay in the lane that we're planning enough to be successful and not over planning to the extent that we're freezing and not taking some initial steps.
00:04:17
Speaker
Sweet.
00:04:17
Speaker
So what would you say in your in your mind, what would healthy planning look like?
00:04:25
Speaker
Like, if we were to take a young person and help them see, like you shared the analogy of weightlifting.
00:04:31
Speaker
So let's just stick there for a second.
00:04:34
Speaker
A young person wants to get stronger.
00:04:37
Speaker
So functional freeze is they're on Instagram all the time, reading all the things you should do, all the things you shouldn't do.
00:04:44
Speaker
They're studying what everyone's lifting plans are, what their regiment is.
00:04:51
Speaker
And they get this functional freeze because people don't agree with one another.
00:04:56
Speaker
And therefore, they feel like they can't move forward until they figured out what the perfect plan is.
00:05:01
Speaker
That would be...
00:05:03
Speaker
that would be too far here.
00:05:05
Speaker
Maybe the other side is just not even researching at all, not even knowing anything, just walking into a gym and, you know, like Brian Regan said, all of a sudden you're in the scaffolding, you know, you're coming up and lift the scaffolding and they're like, hey, well, that's the setup to paint.
00:05:24
Speaker
That's not even a machine.
00:05:26
Speaker
So what's the happy medium and how can people be a healthy planner?
00:05:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:33
Speaker
So if you take weightlifting and you can even boil it down to like the actual day.
00:05:38
Speaker
So, so if it was too far one side, it could even be, oh man, it's Wednesday and I want to do a full week of routine.
00:05:46
Speaker
So I'll start next Monday.
00:05:48
Speaker
Oh, you know, I, I really don't want to lift without protein or creatine.
00:05:52
Speaker
And so I need to go and get that and,
00:05:55
Speaker
And, oh, man, I had my favorite pair of gym shorts.
00:05:59
Speaker
They're not.
00:06:00
Speaker
OK, so that would even in the moment lead to then not not lifting.
00:06:04
Speaker
And then the other the other end of that would be such a lack of planning that I show up to the gym and I just bench every day.
00:06:13
Speaker
And so that lack of planning actually leads to I'm not getting stronger.
00:06:17
Speaker
So an effective planner would be one to say, you know, I I know enough to get started.
00:06:24
Speaker
It's a Wednesday and I missed Monday and Tuesday.
00:06:27
Speaker
That's OK.
00:06:28
Speaker
I'm going to start.
00:06:29
Speaker
I'm just going to.
00:06:31
Speaker
Put on my gym shorts and a shirt, I'm going to get to the gym, right?
00:06:35
Speaker
And I'm going to get there.
00:06:38
Speaker
And if I'm new to this, I'm going to plan by asking someone.
00:06:44
Speaker
I'll ask someone a question.
00:06:46
Speaker
I'll be willing to kind of put myself out there.
00:06:48
Speaker
Or if I don't have the perfect routine worked out, I'm going to get started and just say, you know what, I'm going to do upper body today.
00:06:56
Speaker
And I know a principle is not to do the same area of the body too much in a row.
00:07:02
Speaker
So I'm going to do upper body today, lower body tomorrow, and I'm going to figure out a better plan.
00:07:09
Speaker
So you see that middle lane there is I'm getting there, which is good.
00:07:15
Speaker
I have some idea of how to get started.
00:07:18
Speaker
And I'm going to be willing to ask for help on how to keep moving down that lane.
Three Phases of Planning by Dr. Martin
00:07:25
Speaker
That would be a good planner.
00:07:27
Speaker
And then as they...
00:07:29
Speaker
gain new knowledge as they get into a better routine, that planning is going to tighten up, right?
00:07:35
Speaker
And now on Mondays, they're going to do a specific thing and Tuesdays and their plan can keep getting better as they keep moving and leaning into it.
00:07:44
Speaker
Yeah, I love that.
00:07:45
Speaker
So what keeps some people from getting started is the feeling that they need a perfect plan.
00:07:51
Speaker
And so as they lay out those 16 hours, it's okay to say, okay, here's my general plan for these things.
00:07:58
Speaker
It's okay to realize that plan really didn't work or I need to learn more about that.
00:08:02
Speaker
I need to ask people about that.
00:08:04
Speaker
But don't get frozen by needing the perfect plan in order to get started.
00:08:10
Speaker
Just get started and things will take care of themselves.
00:08:15
Speaker
Awesome.
00:08:15
Speaker
And you were talking to in a conversation that we had that there's almost these different phases of planning that would enrich our principle of win the hour a little bit.
00:08:29
Speaker
You gave.
00:08:30
Speaker
kind of three tips.
00:08:31
Speaker
And I would love if you would just take a minute and give these three tips on the podcast today.
00:08:37
Speaker
So the first one is, as you come up with a plan, which is an important part of winning the hour, you should plan for what you can control.
00:08:46
Speaker
So speak to that for a second.
00:08:49
Speaker
So any situation, if I'm planning to win the hour, whatever hour I select, there are going to be things about that hour that are going to be very predictable.
00:09:01
Speaker
You started the podcast by mentioning math class, right?
00:09:05
Speaker
There's certain things, I can't predict everything, but there are certain things that I know about math class.
00:09:13
Speaker
And if I know them, there's very few things we...
00:09:17
Speaker
actually can control but the more i i know about the predictability of that thing that's going to happen in the hour plan ahead for that moment and so you know math class you mentioned okay i know that um that teacher doesn't have a seating chart i can sit up front i can raise my hand i could you know there are certain things i know about this situation that i can plan for
00:09:42
Speaker
When it comes to sports, it's also the same thing.
00:09:47
Speaker
Because there are so many things that are unpredictable, there are certain elements that we could look at and say, this is going to happen.
00:09:57
Speaker
I mean, this is something that I can control.
00:10:01
Speaker
I think this is why, Shad, you see a lot of great athletes have a very specific pregame routine.
00:10:12
Speaker
There's an element that, you know, I remember hearing Kobe Bryant talk a lot about this.
00:10:18
Speaker
He wanted to arrive at the arena at a certain time.
00:10:22
Speaker
He then had a flow that went through that he wanted to do every single time.
00:10:29
Speaker
He could control it so his plan was more predictable because once the game starts,
00:10:35
Speaker
there were a lot of variables you can't control.
00:10:38
Speaker
So that first moment is if you can predict things that are going to happen in that hour, plan for them, be prepared for them, because in that hour, there's going to be a lot of other unpredictable situations that come up.
00:10:54
Speaker
Awesome.
00:10:55
Speaker
The second tip you gave, you called micro planning for potential situations.
00:11:02
Speaker
What does micro planning look like?
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, so micro planning is you take these moments that
00:11:11
Speaker
if we separate it from like pregame preparation, like in that hour, there's going to be something that does occur.
00:11:19
Speaker
And I can now practice, micro plan, I can practice being great at that thing.
00:11:25
Speaker
So I use the analogy, you know, every basketball team is going to have an inbounds play, right?
00:11:32
Speaker
And there's going to be a moment in the game when you're going to have an inbounds play that you're going to run.
00:11:38
Speaker
So that would be an element of micro planning to say, hey, at this moment, here's what we're going to do.
00:11:44
Speaker
And we're going to practice it.
00:11:46
Speaker
We're going to practice it.
00:11:47
Speaker
We don't know the exact moment when this situation is going to come up.
00:11:51
Speaker
And in a very rare circumstance, maybe it's if it's a play with a few seconds left, maybe that situation doesn't come up.
00:12:01
Speaker
But the likelihood of a team being in a situation
00:12:04
Speaker
when you've got five seconds on the clock and you need to score a basket to win the game, you've got the ball and you're taking it out.
00:12:11
Speaker
That would be micro planning.
00:12:13
Speaker
Let's predict some of these moments that are going to happen and we're going to practice them over and over and over.
00:12:22
Speaker
Because what happens is when chaos happens, we all go into survival mode.
00:12:30
Speaker
Every single one of us, that's just how we respond.
00:12:34
Speaker
So the more that we plan for potential situations, the better we feel and the more relaxed we are and prepared to be able to adjust to those situations in the moment.
00:12:48
Speaker
Because we're not just surviving, we're actually planning to thrive in those moments.
00:12:53
Speaker
Awesome.
00:12:54
Speaker
So that's a great team kind of application of micro planning.
00:13:00
Speaker
I'm wondering what it would look like
00:13:03
Speaker
What are some micro planning situations an individual athlete can take?
00:13:07
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:13:08
Speaker
Like, so let's take a basketball player right now.
00:13:12
Speaker
We're in basketball season and like, so teams, they drill these, um,
00:13:19
Speaker
out of bounds plays or press breaks or whatever it might be so that when a team all of a sudden boom rushes upon you and they put on a press you know exactly what you're doing we go into press break you yell it out you practice it a thousand times what does that look like for an an individual athlete to do micro planning for potential situations does anything come to mind there
00:13:46
Speaker
Yeah, I think this is where you see those individual practice moments really thrive.
00:13:53
Speaker
So if we stick with basketball, you know you're going to have to dribble.
00:13:58
Speaker
I mean, I know it sounds so funny, but there's kind of an ongoing joke, right, at times of how rare it is for a junior high or even kind of an intro basketball player in high school to be able to dribble with their offhand, with their left hand.
00:14:15
Speaker
You know that's going to happen.
00:14:17
Speaker
You know at some point you're going to need that skill.
00:14:20
Speaker
So plan for it.
00:14:22
Speaker
Prepare for it, right?
00:14:25
Speaker
Get prepared to use that skill.
00:14:28
Speaker
I don't need anyone else around me.
00:14:29
Speaker
It's not a play.
00:14:31
Speaker
Here's a skill that I'm going to need.
00:14:33
Speaker
The same comes for your athletes in other moments that they're going to have with school or in life.
00:14:41
Speaker
where they might not know the exact moment they need to dribble with their off hand.
00:14:45
Speaker
They just know they're going to need to do that.
00:14:48
Speaker
So it might be something as simple as, man, I know I'm going to have to create a PowerPoint for my English class or something.
00:14:59
Speaker
I don't know how to do that.
00:15:00
Speaker
Like, I'm going to prepare and learn how to do that, because at some point in the semester, my teacher is going to ask me to do this task.
00:15:09
Speaker
And so I'm going to practice it on my own.
How to Combine Planning and Reflection to Achieve Goals?
00:15:12
Speaker
Awesome.
00:15:12
Speaker
Yeah, I love that left-handed dribbling analogy, because it's...
00:15:17
Speaker
you know, that's a great example of micro planning as you could just put, you know, okay, I have 16 hours and that discretionary time.
00:15:26
Speaker
I mean, that's something we've really been emphasizing this year as we go around that really people who achieve great things, they seem to be able to take their discretionary time and steer it toward their goals.
00:15:39
Speaker
But sometimes the goal is like, I want to play college basketball, right?
00:15:44
Speaker
It's like,
00:15:44
Speaker
Yeah, that's not I mean, that's on the macro level that that's a big thing.
00:15:50
Speaker
But saying, okay, so I know I'm going to have to handle the ball with my left hand really well if I'm going to get to the level of play I want to.
00:15:58
Speaker
Therefore, I'm going to take this hour a day for at least a half an hour of that hour.
00:16:04
Speaker
I'm going to do these dribbling drills and I'm going to work on full speed dribbling with my left hand or whatever it might be, you know, the reverse dribbles and the things that you're doing to create space.
00:16:17
Speaker
And I'm going to do these things for a half an hour a day.
00:16:20
Speaker
I'm going to dribble and I'm going to work on these specific aspects of my game that I want to improve to get to the level I want to.
00:16:28
Speaker
Am I catching the vision of what you mean by micro training?
00:16:32
Speaker
Yep, you're exactly right.
00:16:33
Speaker
And to add to that, Chad, we have learned from studies what's really fascinating.
00:16:38
Speaker
Even if I'm alone, even if there are not people around me, my default is to still practice something I'm already pretty good at as opposed to improving something I know I need help with.
00:16:50
Speaker
So whether it's dribbling with my left hand, right?
00:16:53
Speaker
If I know that I need to do that and I'm left alone in a gym and I don't intentionally do it, but I'm a pretty good shooter, I'm going to end up shooting more.
00:17:02
Speaker
Right.
00:17:18
Speaker
So this idea of knowing this, the micro planning is actually addressing the needs that if we're real honest with ourselves, we know they exist and they're not going to go away magically, right?
00:17:29
Speaker
Like I need to practice and get better at this very specific skill.
00:17:33
Speaker
Awesome.
00:17:34
Speaker
So we take...
00:17:35
Speaker
tool one and tool two.
00:17:38
Speaker
So plan what's within your control.
00:17:41
Speaker
Don't get frozen by needing the perfect plan.
00:17:43
Speaker
So what this might look like to a young athlete, if I'm hearing you correctly, is, okay, I want to get better at dribbling with my left hand.
00:17:51
Speaker
So I'm going to do a little bit of study.
00:17:53
Speaker
I'm going to Google now.
00:17:55
Speaker
We didn't have that back in our day, right?
00:17:57
Speaker
But I'm just going to Google now, you know,
00:18:00
Speaker
getting better at dribbling with my offhand drills to help me get better at dribbling with my offhand.
00:18:07
Speaker
And then I'm going to find four or five drills and I'm going to do those drills.
00:18:11
Speaker
I don't need the perfect drills.
00:18:12
Speaker
I don't need to get frozen by watching 17 different ones.
00:18:16
Speaker
I just need five really good drills.
00:18:18
Speaker
I'm going to do that for a half an hour every single day.
00:18:21
Speaker
And that will help me to develop in the way that I want to.
00:18:25
Speaker
And then as I do it, I might feel like this drill doesn't feel like it's helping me very much.
00:18:29
Speaker
I'm going to adjust that little plan that I have.
00:18:31
Speaker
But
00:18:32
Speaker
But that seems to be combining one and two.
00:18:37
Speaker
And then three, okay, awesome.
00:18:39
Speaker
And then three, you said, reflecting and planning for future growth, that that's a tool that you need if you're going to be an effective planner in a way that reduces anxiety and stress rather than adds to it.
00:18:54
Speaker
Can you talk just a little bit about what that looks like to reflect and plan for the future?
00:18:59
Speaker
Yeah, maybe a phrase that I like is the best adjusters are the best winners, right?
00:19:07
Speaker
Because we can't predict, because there's a lot of variables in that, someone that can catch early and reflect and look back and adjust quickly, that's a winning formula.
00:19:20
Speaker
So you talk about winning the hour, right?
00:19:23
Speaker
Well, you know what?
00:19:24
Speaker
What if there's an hour or two?
00:19:25
Speaker
I'm not winning.
00:19:27
Speaker
And you know what?
00:19:27
Speaker
I've missed a week.
00:19:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:19:30
Speaker
The best thing to do is to adjust in that moment and to move forward.
00:19:34
Speaker
Or to be real honest with ourselves.
00:19:36
Speaker
Oh, I want to get better dribbling with my offhand.
00:19:40
Speaker
I'm doing a little bit of practice.
00:19:42
Speaker
I look back, realize, you know what?
00:19:44
Speaker
Yeah, I spent 20 minutes doing it.
00:19:46
Speaker
I really wasn't intently focused on those 20 minutes and doing drills.
00:19:52
Speaker
I could get better at this.
00:19:54
Speaker
Those who reflect and adjust quickly are going to be the best athletes and really the best anything that they do in life.
What is the Vision Hour?
00:20:05
Speaker
You have heard this said many times, but some of the great football coaches, right?
00:20:11
Speaker
Some of the greats of all time are those that head in at halftime
00:20:15
Speaker
and they adjust from what they just saw, and they come out in the second half with an adjusted game plan to win the game, that's one of the skills that makes them so great, right?
00:20:27
Speaker
We can do the same thing with win the hour.
00:20:30
Speaker
Adjust within the day if needed, and over a couple of days look back, how do I need to adjust my planning so that I can capitalize on these hours and win the hour in a more effective way?
00:20:44
Speaker
Awesome.
00:20:45
Speaker
In fact, I know someone who says a really, really important part of planning, they call it their vision hour.
00:20:54
Speaker
They kind of look at where they want to get and then they analyze their goals or my goals really helping me get to where I want to.
00:21:01
Speaker
And they actually plan an hour of every week.
00:21:04
Speaker
And this is in their occupation to do nothing, to put their phone down,
00:21:10
Speaker
to put everything away, they get a blank piece of paper, they think about where they're trying to get, and they just reflect on the last week and whether or not it's getting them to where they want.
00:21:22
Speaker
And then they refine and adjust those plans that they have made, which goes beautifully with what you're talking about in number one, right?
00:21:30
Speaker
So it's like, if you want to win the hour, don't worry about a perfect plan, just get started.
00:21:38
Speaker
And then number two, micro plan, like say, okay, I want to be able to move the ball up the court a little bit better.
00:21:45
Speaker
I need to be better at dribbling with my left hand.
00:21:47
Speaker
So I'm going to come up with a plan to do that specific thing.
00:21:51
Speaker
If your plan is to get better at basketball, then you might gravitate toward those things that you're already doing really, really well.
00:21:58
Speaker
But then this third tip is reflecting and planning for future growth and having an hour set aside where you could both reflect on the past week.
00:22:09
Speaker
Hey, is this really helping me?
00:22:10
Speaker
Do I feel like this is making a difference?
00:22:13
Speaker
And then look forward to the future week and plan and adjust those plans.
00:22:18
Speaker
Then,
00:22:19
Speaker
it just has this feeling when you think of those three tools you gave us, it just has this feeling of forward movement that you don't have to be perfect.
00:22:32
Speaker
You just have to be moving forward, right?
00:22:37
Speaker
Yep, that's exactly right.
00:22:38
Speaker
It's a cycle because if I'm living the concept of I can adjust quickly, well, then I can start quickly.
00:22:48
Speaker
If I'm not living that I can't adjust quickly, then I have to put more emphasis on having the perfect plan before I start.
00:22:54
Speaker
And so they kind of feed each other.
00:22:56
Speaker
If I get started, that's the best thing I can do.
00:22:59
Speaker
And I start micro planning and really looking at this.
00:23:02
Speaker
Well, the good news is I...
00:23:04
Speaker
I can adjust along the way because I'm not going to get it just right.
00:23:07
Speaker
And so they do start to feed each other and build momentum as we kind of use all of them together.
00:23:14
Speaker
And then just one last question here.
00:23:17
Speaker
How does that reduce stress when it comes to planning?
00:23:22
Speaker
The reason it reduces stress is because any time stress is always associated with fear.
00:23:31
Speaker
always associated with fear, even on a very small or kind of micro level, but it's still rooted in fear.
00:23:41
Speaker
And fear is the unknown.
00:23:43
Speaker
Fear is the, you know, I don't know what's in the closet.
00:23:48
Speaker
It's the monster in the closet, right?
00:23:49
Speaker
That's where fear comes from.
00:23:51
Speaker
And so by exposing it, by planning for it, we reduce fear.
00:23:58
Speaker
We start to feel a higher level of confidence and competence.
00:24:06
Speaker
So the way that we start to build confidence is we build our competence in some of these areas that we are leaning to.
00:24:15
Speaker
We give ourselves a break when it doesn't have to be perfect.
00:24:20
Speaker
And so as both of those come together, the anxiety goes down because we're planning better.
00:24:26
Speaker
we're adjusting better, and we're allowing ourselves to grow.
00:24:32
Speaker
And that growth mindset is what reduces anxiety.
00:24:37
Speaker
And then planning when it produces anxiety is when we get so like stressed about having to have the perfect plan or not giving ourselves a little grace.
00:24:49
Speaker
Like, you know, I planned on lifting tonight and then just something came up with my family or something I didn't expect.
00:24:56
Speaker
I didn't get to hit the gym.
00:24:58
Speaker
My plan didn't go perfect.
00:25:00
Speaker
So it's almost like you know,
00:25:02
Speaker
Both in your plan and in your behavior, you need to give yourself a little grace or the planning actually becomes more stressful.
00:25:11
Speaker
That's exactly right.
00:25:13
Speaker
That's exactly right.
00:25:14
Speaker
Awesome.
00:25:15
Speaker
Well, thank you so much, Sheldon.
00:25:17
Speaker
Here's the three takeaways.
00:25:19
Speaker
Plan what you can control.
00:25:21
Speaker
Plan enough to be prepared, but not so much that you get paralyzed.
Conclusion and Resources
00:25:27
Speaker
Micro plan and practice for potential outcomes.
00:25:31
Speaker
Reacting is surviving, planning is thriving.
00:25:35
Speaker
And then third, reflecting on
00:25:38
Speaker
your past plan and planning for the future.
00:25:42
Speaker
When preparation meets opportunity, you're ready to win the hour.
00:25:45
Speaker
And so taking that hour each week, build it in to reflect about how it's going and plan and adjust for the future will really help.
00:25:55
Speaker
And that's part of winning the hour is that planning.
00:25:57
Speaker
And so we just want to dive into that.
00:25:59
Speaker
Thank you, Sheldon, so much.
00:26:01
Speaker
You're very welcome.
00:26:02
Speaker
Thank you again for having me.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah, well, thank you.
00:26:06
Speaker
And thanks, everyone, for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast.
00:26:10
Speaker
Eyes up, do the work, win the hour.
00:26:13
Speaker
Thank you for joining the Especially for Athletes podcast.
00:26:16
Speaker
To learn more about Especially for Athletes organization, get a copy of our book, The Sportlight, or to bring our program to your team, school, business, or organization, visit us at especiallyforathletes.org.