On '5 Questions Every Athlete Should Ask Themselves'

Yesterday I came across an article titled '5 Questions Every Athlete Should Ask Themselves' writting by Jonathan Conneely. His article makes a great point that the best athletes consistently train hard on a daily basis and are action oriented and dedicated. He goes on to present five questions for his athletes that can be easily broken down into the value dimensions of formal axiology:

1. How bad do I want it? (internal extrinsic)
2. How bad do you really want to be great? (internal intrinsic)
3. Why do I want it? (internal systemic)
4. What am I willing to do until I get it? (internal extrinsic)
5. How much time do you put into what you do? (internal systemic)
6. Do you really love it? (internal intrinsic)

These five questions create a great foundation for building clarity around self-awareness, self-identity, and self-discipline! The key word here being SELF, or internal directed questions.

It woul be great to expand this list to also include external (world) based questions to help the athlete further identify for themselves their thinking/belief system beyond themself.

For example how about:

1. How important are teammates and coaches to you? (external intrinsic)
2. How clearly do you understand and value the cause & effect action of your sport? (external extrinsic)
3. How well do you thrive in a competitive match? (external extrinsic-attitude)
4. What is your reponse when things do not go as planned? (external extrinsic- negative attitude)
5. How well do you understand the demands of your sport and level of play? (external systemic)

These are just a few additional questions that help to create a bit more intensity for the athlete if appropriate. The initial five in Jonathan's article are a tremendous way to spark self-reflection and clarity for the athlete as they have to make some key decisions for their own athletic journey.

It is important to remember that no matter what the answers provided by the athlete that there are no wrong answers at all. Simply that is where the athlete is mentally in this point and time. The goal is to take their answers and match them up with their long term goals to see where the disconnect may be. Once this is identified, the art and science of coaching then comes alive in working with the athlete to get them to their own definition of 'what could be'.