DON’T CONFUSE BUSY WITH PRODUCTIVE

Strength and conditioning can be a busy profession.  Early mornings, coordinating with sports medicine, attending practice, staff meetings, programming for your teams, testing analysis, monitoring, emails to read and send, pre-game prep, post-game work, travel etc… the list can seem endless.

Somewhere between all of that, you’re supposed to find the time to actually coach.

Days will be long and that’s part of working in athletics.  We all know this, but I’ve learned there is an important distinction that needs to be made: Busy describes how much you’re doing.  Productive describes whether what you’re doing is moving something forward.

Those aren’t always the same thing.

BUSY CAN FEEL PRODUCTIVE

There seems to be something satisfying about finishing a long day with plenty checked off your to-do list.

You’ve answered every necessary email, updated your spreadsheets, shown up for all your meetings and contributed while taking notes, adjusted a program, organized the weight room, responded to all messages, stayed late, and your day was full and feels complete.

But what actually moved forward?  That’s the tougher question.

A full calendar can create the feeling that we’re accomplishing a lot simply because there is no empty space.

Activity is easy to measure; impact is more difficult.

LONG HOURS AREN’T THE GOAL

Working hard matters.

There may be times when it's important to be the first person in and the last person out, but no one cares if you’ve already worked an 8-hour day by the time your athletes show up for their 6p lift.

Competition schedules aren’t built around your preferred workday and problems don’t only occur during the usual “9-5”.

That’s athletics and as I’ve always said, athletics never stops.  But long hours and “guarding your desk” shouldn’t become a measurement of commitment.

Being in the athletic buildings for 12 hours a day doesn’t mean you accomplished more than someone who was there for eight hours.

Leaving early because your work is organized doesn't mean you care less. 

The goal isn’t to accumulate hours, it's to accomplish meaningful work.

FIGURE OUT WHAT NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION

Not everything deserves the same amount of your attention.  An athlete needing to talk to you, a sport coach needing an answer, reorganizing a spreadsheet, inputting data from a test, sending an email, cleaning your cluttered desk, all of these things can occupy your time, but they don’t all carry the same value.

One of the skills I’ve learned throughout my career is identifying what needs my attention right now.

What affects today’s training?  What affects an athlete?  What is someone else waiting on?  What creates a problem if I don’t address it?  What simply feels productive because I can check it off my list?

Sometimes productivity is less about doing more and more about doing the necessary thing first.

STOP SOLVING THE SAME PROBLEM

If the same task keeps consuming your time, eventually it’s worth asking why.

Why are you rebuilding the same thing every week?  Why are you constantly answering the same question?  Why are you manually doing something that can be put into a template?

That’s where systems matter.

A template might take longer to build but it will save hours in the long run.  A shared calendar can eliminate repeated conversations.  A clear process helps reduce confusion.  Documentation can keep you from explaining the same thing over and over.

Good systems don’t eliminate work, they eliminate unnecessary work and that creates more time for things that need your attention.

PRODUCTIVITY ISN’T HOW FAST YOU CAN WORK

Efficiency can be misunderstood. 

Everything cannot be rushed through.  Some things should take time.

Programming deserves a lot of thought.  Athlete conversations shouldn’t be hurried.  Professional development and education requires your attention.

Relationships aren’t built by trying to rush through a connection.

Efficiency is knowing where your time creates value and protecting it accordingly.  Spend less time on things that don’t require much of you so you can spend more time on the things that do.

Saving ten minutes doesn’t matter if you use that extra time to add another meaningless task.

BE CAREFUL WITH THE BADGE OF HONOR

People can feel pride in being busy.

“I’ve been here since 5a.”

“I haven’t sat down at my desk yet today.”

“I haven’t had a day off in weeks.”

Sometimes those statements describe reality and sometimes they become evidence of how we perceive our level of commitment.  That is where we need to be careful.

Being overwhelmed isn’t always a sign that you’re important.  Sometimes it’s a sign of needing to be better organized.

Can something be delegated?  Can a process be simplified?  Can expectations be communicated more clearly?  Can you plan earlier instead of constantly reacting?

Working hard is important, but making unnecessary work harder isn’t.

PROTECT THE WORK THAT MATTERS

One of the easiest things to lose during a busy day is time for work that requires thought.

You spend your morning reacting.  An email comes in, someone stops by, an athlete needs something, another text, another notification.

Suddenly it’s 4p and the work you needed to accomplish hasn’t even been touched yet.

Being available is part of coaching but so is protecting your time to think through everything.  A new cycle of a program, planning a schedule, evaluating, preparing and don’t forget professional development and continuing education.

While you can’t eliminate interruptions in athletics, you can become more intentional about what gets your attention.

If everything gets your attention, then nothing gets your best attention.

MORE ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER

As coaches, we understand this concept when programming for our athletes.  More volume, more exercises, more conditioning isn’t automatically better.  At some point, adding more stops an adaptation and creates more fatigue.

Our work can operate in the same way.  More meetings, spreadsheets, metrics, reports, technology, etc..., doesn’t always mean it's better.

Before adding something, ask yourself what it’s supposed to accomplish.  If you can’t answer clearly, maybe it doesn't need to be added.

If something we are already doing no longer serves a purpose, it's okay to remove it.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Hard work will always matter.  No system, template or strategy will ever replace showing up and doing the work.  But the longer I’ve coached, the less impressed I am by being busy.

I’d rather know:

o   Did the athletes get what they needed?

o   Did I move the program forward?

o   Did I communicate everything I needed to?

o   Am I prepared for the next day?

o   Was I able to solve an issue?

A full day can still be unproductive, and a productive day doesn’t have to leave you feeling exhausted.

A SIMPLE STARTING POINT

At the end of your next busy day, ask:

“What did I move forward?”

Then look at everything else that filled your time.  What can be:

o   Simplified

o   Systemized

o   Delegated

o   Eliminated

Being busy is easy, there will always be more to do.  Your goal should be to fill your day with what actually matters.

-Coach Metz

Strong performance systems aren’t built by doing more.  They are built by identifying what matters, organizing it effectively and creating processes that allow time and resources to be used where they have the greatest impact.

If you’re an athletic department seeking structured, intentional support without the financial burden of hiring full-time staff, AXIS S&C offers contracted systems built around long-term sustainability.