How to get really good at lacrosse. 11 Proven Practice Tips to Rapidly Improve Your Lacrosse Skills

How can you accelerate your lacrosse development. What are the most effective strategies for mastering lacrosse fundamentals. Which daily habits lead to quick improvement in lacrosse performance. How do top players train to excel in lacrosse.

The Power of Constant Stick Work: Building Muscle Memory

Achieving excellence in lacrosse requires dedication and consistent practice. One of the most effective ways to rapidly improve your skills is to make your lacrosse stick an extension of yourself. By keeping your stick with you at all times, you create countless opportunities for skill development throughout your day.

Why is this approach so powerful? Constant exposure to your lacrosse stick helps build crucial muscle memory. The more you handle your stick, the more natural and intuitive your movements become. This translates directly to improved performance on the field.

Creative Ways to Incorporate Stick Work into Your Daily Routine

• Carry your stick on walks to school or practice
• Practice cradling while watching TV
• Do stick tricks during downtime
• Bring your stick on family vacations (with permission)

By incorporating these habits, you’ll find that your stick skills improve dramatically in a short period. The key is consistency and making stick work a natural part of your daily life.

Simulating Game Conditions: The Importance of Full Gear Practice

To truly excel in lacrosse, your practice sessions should closely mimic real game conditions. This means always practicing with your full protective gear, especially your helmet and gloves. Why is this crucial for rapid improvement?

Practicing in full gear helps you overcome the initial discomfort and distractions that come with wearing protective equipment. Many beginners struggle to adjust to playing with a helmet restricting their vision or gloves altering their stick feel. By consistently practicing in full gear, you eliminate these barriers to performance.

Benefits of Full Gear Practice

1. Improved comfort and familiarity with equipment
2. Better simulation of game conditions
3. Increased focus on skill development rather than equipment adjustment
4. Smoother transition between practice and game performance

Remember to take the time to properly adjust your equipment for optimal comfort and performance. A well-fitted helmet and properly sized gloves can make a significant difference in your ability to focus on skill development.

Mastering the Fundamentals: The Power of Wall Ball

Among all practice techniques, wall ball stands out as the most effective method for rapidly improving your lacrosse skills. This simple yet powerful exercise involves repeatedly throwing and catching a ball against a wall, allowing you to hone your stick skills, hand-eye coordination, and muscle memory.

Why is wall ball so highly regarded by coaches and experienced players? It provides an unparalleled opportunity for focused, high-repetition practice of essential lacrosse skills. By incorporating wall ball into your daily routine, you can dramatically accelerate your development as a player.

Designing an Effective Wall Ball Routine

To maximize the benefits of wall ball, consider implementing the following strategies:

• Set a daily goal of at least 20 minutes of wall ball practice
• Focus on both your dominant and non-dominant hands
• Practice various types of passes and catches
• Gradually increase the speed and complexity of your drills
• Use a rebounder or specialized wall ball target for added challenge

Consistency is key when it comes to wall ball. Even on days when you can’t make it to team practice, a quick wall ball session can help maintain and improve your skills.

Developing Lacrosse IQ: Becoming a Student of the Game

To truly excel in lacrosse, it’s essential to develop a deep understanding of the game’s strategies, tactics, and nuances. This “lacrosse IQ” can give you a significant edge on the field, allowing you to make smarter decisions and anticipate plays before they unfold.

How can you rapidly improve your lacrosse IQ? In today’s digital age, there are numerous resources available to help you study and analyze the game:

Leveraging Online Resources for Lacrosse Education

• Watch professional lacrosse games and highlight reels on YouTube
• Listen to lacrosse strategy podcasts during your commute
• Follow top players and coaches on social media for tips and insights
• Participate in online lacrosse forums to discuss strategy and techniques
• Utilize lacrosse-specific training apps and video analysis tools

By immersing yourself in lacrosse content and actively seeking out knowledge, you can rapidly expand your understanding of the game. This improved lacrosse IQ will complement your physical skills, making you a more well-rounded and effective player.

Diversifying Your Skill Set: Cross-Training for Lacrosse Success

While focused lacrosse practice is crucial, incorporating cross-training into your routine can lead to significant improvements in your overall athleticism and on-field performance. By engaging in complementary activities, you can develop skills and attributes that directly translate to lacrosse success.

What cross-training activities are most beneficial for lacrosse players? Consider incorporating the following into your training regimen:

Effective Cross-Training Activities for Lacrosse Players

1. Yoga or Pilates for improved flexibility and core strength
2. Plyometric exercises to enhance explosive power and agility
3. Boxing or martial arts for hand-eye coordination and footwork
4. Basketball or soccer to develop field awareness and teamwork skills
5. Swimming for low-impact cardiovascular conditioning

By diversifying your training, you’ll not only become a more well-rounded athlete but also reduce the risk of burnout and overuse injuries. This holistic approach to skill development can lead to rapid improvements in your lacrosse performance.

Maximizing Practice Efficiency: Quality Over Quantity

To rapidly improve your lacrosse skills, it’s crucial to focus on the quality of your practice sessions rather than simply logging hours on the field. Efficient, targeted practice can lead to faster skill development and better overall performance.

How can you maximize the effectiveness of your practice time? Consider implementing these strategies:

Strategies for High-Impact Lacrosse Practice

• Set specific, measurable goals for each practice session
• Focus on one or two skills per session for deeper improvement
• Use deliberate practice techniques to challenge yourself
• Incorporate game-like scenarios into your drills
• Regularly assess your progress and adjust your practice plan accordingly

By approaching your practice sessions with intention and focus, you can make significant strides in your lacrosse skills in a relatively short period. Remember, it’s not just about putting in the time, but about making every minute count.

Leveraging Technology: Tools for Rapid Skill Improvement

In the modern era of sports training, technology offers powerful tools to accelerate skill development in lacrosse. By leveraging these resources, you can gain valuable insights into your performance and target areas for improvement more effectively.

What technological tools can help you rapidly improve your lacrosse skills? Consider incorporating the following into your training regimen:

Innovative Tech Tools for Lacrosse Training

1. Video analysis software to break down your technique
2. Wearable sensors to track metrics like shot speed and accuracy
3. Virtual reality training simulations for decision-making practice
4. Mobile apps with customized workout plans and skill drills
5. Online platforms for connecting with coaches and mentors

By embracing these technological advancements, you can gain a competitive edge and accelerate your skill development. Remember to balance technology use with traditional practice methods for optimal results.

Improving your lacrosse skills rapidly requires a multifaceted approach. By incorporating constant stick work, full-gear practice, wall ball routines, lacrosse IQ development, cross-training, efficient practice strategies, and innovative technology, you can accelerate your progress and become a standout player on the field. Remember that consistent effort and a growth mindset are key to achieving your lacrosse goals. Stay dedicated, remain patient, and enjoy the journey of becoming an exceptional lacrosse player.

How to Get Good at Lacrosse Fast! (11 Practice Tips) – Lacrosse Pack

Once you’ve taken that first big step to actually committing to the sport of lacrosse, it’s time to shift your sights to developing your game. As a complete beginner, it will take time to fully master the fundamentals, but there are a few strategies you can implement on your own to accelerate this process.

Here are several practical ways to get good at lacrosse fast:

• Keep a lacrosse stick in your hands everywhere you go.
• Always practice with your helmet and gloves on.
• Set a 20-minute daily wall ball routine.
• Experiment with stick tricks in your free time.
• Become a student of the game via YouTube & podcasts.

We will explore these strategies to a greater extent below, along with other effective strategies to improve your game quickly. Having experimented with many different types of practice strategies firsthand that resulted in both success and failure, I can say with confidence that this list only encompasses strategies that have been proven to work.

1.) Keep a Lacrosse Stick in Your Hands Whenever Possible

One tried and true way to improve your game quickly is to be nearly inseparable from your lacrosse stick.

What makes lacrosse somewhat difficult for beginners is the fact that players cannot directly interact with the ball with their hands. In other sports, like basketball or football for example, players contact the ball with their hands whenever they have to perform basic fundamental moves. They don’t have to rely so heavily on any one piece of gear to play their sport.

Lacrosse is different in that players must use their lacrosse stick to do practically anything significant with the ball. For beginners, carrying around a lacrosse stick almost always feels unnatural at first because they’re not used to the crutch of not being able to physically touch the ball.

The only way to overcome the strange sensation of holding a lacrosse stick is to bring it with you everywhere… with a ball in tow.

Carry your lacrosse stick on the walk to school. Cram in some time on the stroll to the practice grounds. I even went as far to bring my lacrosse stick on our summer vacations, even though my family thought I was crazy for doing so.

If you want to build comfort with your lacrosse stick fast, this is the only way to do it. The time spent with your lacrosse stick during practices and games simply won’t be enough for you to see quick results.

It may sound bizarre, but you need to reach a point where your lacrosse stick feels like an extension of your arm. Only then will you have truly developed into a good lacrosse player.

2.) Always Practice with Your Helmet & Gloves On

The next tip you should implement to speed up your lacrosse development is to get into the habit of wearing your helmet and gloves. Ideally, you should practice with all your equipment on. This may not be the most convenient thing to do, but it’s one of the simplest ways to feel more at ease on the lacrosse field.

Too many times, lacrosse beginners grow sluggish in how they go about their practice sessions. They may not train at full speed or mentally dial in like they should. All practice sessions, regardless of whether you’re with a team or on your own, should be treated like the real game.

A major part of simulating live lacrosse gameplay is to get comfortable playing with the equipment. Since there’s so much mandatory protective equipment in lacrosse, it tends to get in the way more often than you would like, especially if you’re a beginner.

Wearing a lacrosse helmet, for instance, can be a major distraction for beginners. The chinstrap might be too tight, causing major discomfort that diverts their attention away from the game. The face mask bars may be positioned directly at the player’s eye level, compromising their field of vision.

Lacrosse gloves present an entirely different set of problems. The layer of material between a player’s hand and their stick can be somewhat unnerving, as it leads to a completely different feel. If a beginner relies too heavily on their sense of touch to guide their play, they are likely to see a dip in their performance come game time when they’re forced to put the gloves on.

These seemingly petty issues can add up if you fail to address them early. So take the time to both readjust the fit of your helmet and get acquainted with how your gloves feel. You will thank yourself later when it finally comes time to hit the field.

3.) Set a 20-Minute Daily Wall Ball Routine

Undoubtedly, the best method to improve quickly as a lacrosse player is to play wall ball. Ask any experienced lacrosse coach or player and they will say the same thing. Going out and playing wall ball every day is the single-most effective way to see results fast.

Put simply, wall ball—in the context of lacrosse—is the act of throwing a lacrosse ball against a solid wall (with a lacrosse stick), catching the ball as it bounces back, and repeating that same process over and over again.

It’s fairly uncomplicated, but many lacrosse beginners still choose to forgo wall ball simply because it’s too tedious. After all, throwing a ball against the same wall for twenty minutes everyday doesn’t seem like the most appealing thing in the world.

However, this sort of constant repetition is the only real way to sharpen your stick skills in a timely manner. There are few other practice methods where you can realistically accumulate this amount of training volume day after day.

It’s similar to shooting a basketball or hitting a baseball pitch. If you’re serious about taking your lacrosse game to the next level, you have to notch a considerable amount of passing and catching repetitions under your belt, to the point you don’t even have to think twice about it.

The unfortunate truth in lacrosse is that you can never be too talented for wall ball. Even professional lacrosse players—like Paul Rabil, Marcus Holman and Jordan Wolf—play wall ball on a consistent basis to keep their stick skills sharp.

Sample Wall Ball Routine to See Quick Results

If you’re at a loss for what sort of wall ball routine to follow, you can draw inspiration from Jordan Wolf’s wall ball routine by watching the clip below:

Whatever wall ball routine you implement, be sure to throw the ball hard against the wall. This way, you will develop a habit of throwing the ball on a line to teammates. Plus, you will be well prepared to handle whatever fast balls they throw your way.

Lobbing the ball towards the wall won’t test your limits. If you want to get the most out of your practice sessions, you need to throw the ball with vigor.

4.) Experiment with Stick Tricks in Your Free Time

This strategy may seem a bit unorthodox, but it truly does yield tremendous benefits for lacrosse players.

For those of you that do not know, stick tricks are skillful maneuvers done with a lacrosse stick and ball that are meant more to impress your peers, rather than serve any actual purpose during a game.

Contrary to popular opinion, stick tricks do actually help beginners to improve their stick control. For one, many stick tricks involve a high degree of hand-eye coordination and manual dexterity to perform, which are essential to success during games.

Plus, these tricks teach players to soften up the grip they have on their lacrosse stick. Players that grip their lacrosse stick too firmly often encounter difficulties with catching since they refuse to “give” with the ball.

Think about the last time you tried to catch an egg. Is it better to catch the egg with your hands abruptly, or gradually give with the egg as it makes contact? Obviously, it’s the latter choice.

Sample Stick Tricks to Speed Up Your Progress

If you’re wondering what types of stick tricks are the most beneficial to your game, watch the clip below to get advice from one of the best the sport has to offer: Paul Rabil.

This type of practice is perfect for squeezing in the free time between warm-ups, practices, or games. Plus, you don’t have to worry about depleting any of your energy levels, since this is about as leisurely of a practice strategy as it gets.

Remember, the more active you are with the lacrosse stick in your hands, the better off you will be in the long run.

5.) Become a Student of the Game via YouTube & Podcasts

When athletes first embark on their lacrosse journey, they tend to concentrate their efforts toward understanding the physical skills involved, neglecting the mental aspect of the game. The mental aspect of lacrosse is equally, if not more, important than the physical aspect.

At first, trying to make sense of all the fundamental offensive and defensive strategies of lacrosse may seem overwhelming. With all the different terminology and tidbits of knowledge, it can be difficult to know where to start.

The truth of the matter is that it doesn’t matter where you begin, so long as you take steps forward to learn the game. In my experience, I’ve found YouTube to be a very resourceful tool in learning what lacrosse was all about. Some of the best lacrosse minds are at your disposal on this platform, for free!

In addition to YouTube, lacrosse podcasts are also a wonderful supplement to furthering your knowledge of the game, mainly because you can listen to podcasts as you tackle daily tasks. You can listen to lacrosse podcasts on your drive to school, while you’re grocery shopping, or even during your wall ball workout. The convenience of podcasts are practically unmatched, so far as learning goes.

Before you consider any of these platforms, however, it’s worth noting that this website also has a wealth of lacrosse information catered specifically toward beginners. So feel free to browse around!

You can learn the general gist of what lacrosse is all about by heading over to Rules of Field Lacrosse Explained: A Beginner’s Guide.

6.) Dedicate Time to Full Speed Ground Ball Drills

There’s one facet of lacrosse where any player can flourish, regardless of their experience, stick skills, or athleticism. This facet of lacrosse that’s ripe with opportunity has to do with fighting for ground balls.

As a quick reference, a ground ball is a loose ball on the field that neither team has possession over. Much like a rebound in basketball, it’s essentially an extra possession that’s up for grabs.

For additional information on what ground balls are, click over to What Does Ground Ball Mean in Lacrosse?

It doesn’t take an All-American athlete to be the best at winning ground balls. All you need to have is an unrelenting, scrappy attitude to excel in this area. Often times, the player that wins the 50/50 ground ball situation is the player who wants it the most.

Since no experience is necessary to shine in this particular area, you should devote time and effort to being the best ground ball scrapper you can be.

Simple Ground Ball Drill to Get Better Fast

One simple drill to improve your ground ball skills is to space out five lacrosse balls on the grass or turf. From here, run full speed through each ground ball and pick them up one-by-one with your lacrosse stick, practicing perfect technique with each scoop.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while you perform this drill:

• Step Next to the Ball – This mental cue not only protects the ball from oncoming opponents, but also puts you in the best position to pick up the ground ball.
• Get Your “Two Butts” Low – First, bending at the knees and sinking your bottom down lowers your center of gravity, putting you at a more stable position to stand up to physical contact. Second, lowering your butt-end (the bottom of your lacrosse stick) to the ground gives you the best angle at picking up the ball.
• Scoop Through the Ball – Often times, beginners stop moving as soon as they come into close proximity with the ball, which makes them vulnerable to defensive pressure. It’s better to run full-speed, scoop the ball up, and not break stride.
• Run to Open Space – Lastly, get into the habit of running away from the scrum you just left behind. If you stay still, you’re bound to lose the ball to defensive checks and go back to square one.

7.) Make Certain that Your Lacrosse Pocket is Well-Strung

The importance of the lacrosse pocket cannot be overstated, considering that it affects every facet of your ability to possess the ball. With a poorly strung lacrosse pocket, your capacity to cradle, catch, throw, dodge, and shoot will inevitably be hindered. Needless to say, this is something we want to avoid.

The problem is that the majority of lacrosse beginners do not know what a reliable lacrosse pocket looks like. They’re under the false notion that any store-bought lacrosse head is ideally strung. Sadly, this is not always the case.

For example, certain pre-strung lacrosse heads have extremely shallow pockets, to the point where the pocket is more resemblant of a tennis racket than a lacrosse stick. An example of this difference is depicted below:

If the ball does not have a deep, secure place to rest, it will be exceptionally harder to move with the ball, let alone perform basic skills.

Other pre-strung heads are not strung symmetrically. Any asymmetries, no matter how subtle, will lead to a lopsided pocket, which translates into throwing and shooting inconsistencies. Most beginners end up blaming themselves for these faults, when their pocket is the one to blame.

For these reasons, it’s important to consult with an experienced stringer, teammate, or coach to see what they think about your lacrosse pocket. They can offer insight that you may not yet have, preventing future problems down the road. If they do find an issue, take care of it as soon as possible, especially if it’s an issue that may deem your stick illegal.

In short, it’s best to get your pocket strung right the first time, before these stringing blunders force you to develop bad habits.

8.) Prioritize Shooting on the Run Over Time & Room Shooting

If you want to get good at the offensive side of lacrosse fast, you need to emphasize shooting on the run more than any other type of shot.

Lacrosse is a fast-paced game, with very little opportunity for players to simply go through the motions. Everything from passing to dodging to shooting should be done with the utmost speed and precision to keep the defense on their heels. Any precious time wasted on your part is a gift to the defense, since it buys them time to recover.

For this reason, ball carriers don’t have many time and room shot opportunities where they can fully wind up and let one loose at the goal. More often than not, ball carriers have to shoot on the move to stay a step ahead of their defender, both literally and metaphorically.

Most entry level lacrosse players opt to practice time and room shots over shots on the run because it’s less physically demanding. To them, staying in one spot and whipping balls at the goal is much more preferential. After all, running is fairly taxing.

To truly take your game to the next level, you need to do what other players aren’t doing and practice what you’re actually going to execute during the game. It may not be the easiest road, but it’s the path that reaps the most rewards.

9.) Catch as Many Collegiate & Professional Games as You Can

Watching lacrosse games is not only entertaining, but instrumental to cultivating your lacrosse IQ.

The teams that play at the collegiate (NCAA) and professional (PLL) level do so for a reason. They’re the best the sport has to offer. The plays they run, the strategies they implement, and the tenacity they put on display are all prime examples of how beginners should approach the sport.

To hone in on your personal lacrosse skill set, you should carefully observe talented players at your position that closely resemble your play style. Watch how they play off-ball. Take note of where they position themselves on the field defensively. Pay attention to their shooting tendencies.

This way, you can see exactly how these players use what strengths they have to their advantage. Imitation is the best form of flattery, so the best thing you can do to pay tribute to these players is to model your game after them.

Once you do this a few times with some of your favorite players, you will have a well-rounded base of knowledge of how to play your position. You can experiment for yourself to see what works and what doesn’t. Ultimately, the more trial and error you put yourself through, the better equipped you will be at pinpointing your identity on the field.

10.) Do Everyday Activities with Your Off-Hand

It may come off as odd, but performing daily tasks with your off-hand is a proven way to be ambidextrous on the field.

Being versatile with both hands is critical in lacrosse because it makes players more multi-dimensional. It’s considerably easier for defenders to shut you down if they know you rely exclusively on your dominant hand. If both hands are a threat, however, defenders won’t be able to play nearly as aggressively.

Ideally, new lacrosse players should distribute their time equally between both hands from the very beginning.

Otherwise, they risk just furthering the imbalances in their game. Once these imbalances are ingrained into a player, they can be extremely difficult to resolve. Unfortunately, most players are so focused on improving on their dominant hand that they neglect their off-hand.

Much of improving your off-hand has to do with overcoming self-doubt and trusting your off-hand to do what it needs to do. The physical portion of it is rather insubstantial. The problem is that this mental block only intensifies as you continue to neglect your off-hand.

By accomplishing everyday tasks with your off-hand, you slowly begin to unravel this mental block so that you’re better able to put trust in your off-hand when the time comes.

These tasks don’t even have to be overly complicated. They can be activities as simple as eating cereal, brushing your teeth, or sipping on your water bottle.

Sometimes, a nudge in the right direction is all a player needs to make the necessary adjustments to their game. At first glance, such lifestyle changes may seem rather trivial, but they can provide a huge mental boost once you go and actually pick up your lacrosse stick.

11.) Improve Footwork with Jump Rope, Ladder Drills, & Basketball

You would be amazed at how quickly your lacrosse skills develop when your agility and footwork are in prime condition. For this reason, the last strategy on this list for getting good at lacrosse fast is to specifically address your footwork through other physical activities.

Agility Ladder

The most obvious way to improve upon your footwork is to get familiar with the agility ladder. This simple piece of equipment offers you a multitude of different footwork exercises that you can choose from. This workout diversity allows you to develop your speed and coordination in every plane.

Jump Rope

In addition to the agility ladder, jumping rope on a consistent basis is a fantastic way to increase you foot speed (source). With all the change of direction in lacrosse, this is a key component to both offense and defense. Offensive players need foot speed to shake off opponents, while defensive players need foot speed to stay in front of them.

Plus, jumping rope has the added bonus of improving your cardiovascular fitness, which is a must for lacrosse performance.

Basketball

If neither the agility ladder or jump rope appeal to you, I found basketball to be immensely helpful in enhancing my own footwork.

Going into lacrosse as a midfielder, I struggled on the defensive side of the ball in trying to match feet with defenders. After my initial season, I ended up playing a lot more pick-up basketball at the local gym. I was shocked at how my lateral quickness showed significant improvement once I returned to the field.

It’s also worth mentioning that I was never that particularly fond of the agility ladder and the jump rope either. Had it not been for basketball, I would have struggled to find an appealing means of strengthening my weaknesses.

So if you need to improve upon your footwork, don’t be afraid to give other sports a try!

Sources: 1

10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Lacrosse Game – LaxWeekly

So you’re a lacrosse player and you want to get more playing time and improve your game.

You’ve come to the right place!

Here are 10 things you can do to instantly become a better player and make any coach want to play you more. Let’s go.

If you’d prefer to see a video version of this article, check out this video on my YouTube channel:

#1: Use More Fakes

Nothing is free in lacrosse. Except for fakes. Fakes are free and you should use them. 

Fakes are an easy way to score more goals and deceive your defenders.

The two best fakes are the passing fake and shooting fake. With the passing fake, you can pretend like you’re passing it to one teammate which will make a defender move, and then it will open up a lane for you to dodge or pass to another player.

Shooting fakes deceive goalies and make it easy to score. Before you shoot, take a deep breath and throw one or two fakes. Watch your goal numbers increase significantly. 

#2: Keep Your Eyes and Stick Up

If you want to instantly become a more dangerous lacrosse player, always keep your eyes up and your stick up. It might sound like a little change, but it will actually make a huge difference.

When your eyes are up, you’ll be able to find open teammates and lanes that you can’t see when your eyes are down. When your stick is up, your defender has to respect you as a passer – it looks like you’re about to make a pass when your stick is up. This will open more dodging lanes and make it easy for you to make quick passes. 

Here’s an easy way to practice this. Go out to a field and start running around with your stick and your eyes up. Constantly scan what’s around you – trees, equipment, other people, whatever. Just don’t keep your head down.

It will feel weird at first. You’ll want to put your head down, but soon you’ll get more comfortable and it will become second nature. 

Overall, keeping your eyes and stick up is one of the best ways to become a better player. 

#3: Practice Good Recovery

One area of lacrosse that I know most people don’t pay attention to is recovery. This is the time in between your games and practices where you’re not playing and your body is trying to rest and get ready for the next time you play lacrosse.

If you’re not taking your recovery seriously, you might not be performing as well as you could be. Luckily I have three super simple ways to make your recovery better. 

First off, you need to be drinking at least a gallon of water each day, no questions asked. If you’re not hydrated, your body will break down. Get a reusable water bottle and it will be easy to track your water intake. 

Second, you need to eat protein at every meal. Protein helps rebuild muscle and most people don’t get enough of it. You can get protein from lean meats like chicken, steak, turkey or salmon. You can slo use protein powder if you don’t like or eat meat. 

Third, you need to be sleeping 8 hours a day. Not 6 hours, not 7 hours, but 8 hours a day. Sleeping is the most important part of your recovery and you need to make sure you get enough of it. 

I talk a ton about the best lacrosse fitness and recovery tips in my free email newsletter. If you’re not one of the 1,000 people subscribed already, come join now!

#4: Start Jumping Rope

In lacrosse, there’s not many shortcuts to getting better. But one shortcut I have found is the jumprope. If there’s one exercise you should be doing right now, without a doubt, the jumprope. Jumprope is pretty much magical for your footwork, conditioning and muscle endurance. It pretty much works out every part of your body, and it’s super easy to do. 

I’ll never forget it, my coach told me, Jake, jump rope for 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening.

I took his advice to heart and did it for a month. I was a completely different player after that month. Follow my advice and it will happen to you too. 

#5: Start Communicating to Your Teammates

One thing that we don’t do enough of in lacrosse is communicate with each other. There’s plenty of lacrosse games that I go to where it’s dead silent. That needs to change. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re an attackman, defender or bench warmer, communication is key in lacrosse. Call out for the ball or tell your teammates if someone’s behind them, whatever it is just talk.

Getting in the habit of talking will make you more fun to play with and coaches will be impressed with your ability to command your team. 

I always used to get nervous before lacrosse games, and my way of getting over that nervousness was talking. The second I got onto the field, I’d talk to my teammates and the nerves would go away. 

#6: Watch More Film

There’s much more lacrosse on TV and YouTube than ever before, which means tons of opportunity for you to watch more film. One of the best ways to become great at lacrosse is by watching great college and pro players. Watch a game and focus on one or two players. See what they do with the ball and without the ball. Take notes and go practice some of their moves. 

I like the break down individual plays piece by piece in my lacrosse film breakdowns, and you can check out dozens of these breakdowns on my youtube video. 

#7: Go on Long Runs

I always did plenty of sprints during lacrosse practice, but one thing we always neglected was long runs. Long runs help you build stamina which will help you last the whole game. Pick a day each week where you know you won’t have a lacrosse game. Then commit to running for at least 35 minutes without stopping. Throw on a music or podcast and you’re good to go. Add 5 extra minutes each week until you can run an hour or two without stopping. 

Long runs are great for lacrosse players

By going on these long runs, you’ll find yourself much less tired during practice and in games. Coaches will always pick a player who’s fresh and ready to run than a player who’s gassed and out of breath. 

#8: Go Back to the Fundamentals

In lacrosse, there’s so many fun moves like behind the backs and between the legs that it’s easy to forget to focus on the fundamentals. Although learning another stick trick is cool, the best thing you could be doing right now is wallball. Or shooting. 

The best players and teams always go back to fundamentals. I remember going to a Duke lacrosse camp and coach danowski, one of the greatest lacrosse coaches of all time, said that duke players spend almost all of practice on fundamentals. And these guys are the best of the best. If they’re doing it, you should be doing it too. 

#9: Master One Skill

Another thing I’ve noticed in lacrosse is how easy it is to try to get a lot of things. You want to be the best outside shooter and really good at dodging and really good at passing. Yeah that’s great, but start by being AMAZING at one thing. Then you can expand. If you’re the best dodger on your team but aren’t great at shooting, coaches will put other players who are better at shooting around you. But if you are average at dodging and shooting, where do you really fit in? 

I think the first skill to master is outside shooting, there’s not a lot of players who can do it really really well. If you can become automatic from 10 yards and in, any coach will want you on their team.  

#10: Learn Defense

No matter your position, it’s always a great idea to learn how to play basic defense. If you’re an attackman, you’ll play defense when you ride to try to get the ball back. If you’re a midfielder or defender, you’re playing plenty of defense. Even goalies play defense sometimes. 

Learn basic footwork and how to force your man to one side of the field. If you just learn these basics, you’ll be a much better player. Coaches hate when someone is a liability on defense, so make sure you brush up on your skills and you’ll be ready to go. 

I hope you have a great day, I’ll see you next time. 

Becoming The Complete Midfielder In Women’s Lacrosse

Lacrosse Video Tip

Presented by Shanta Loecker, Camp Director

TIPS ON BECOMING THE COMPLETE MIDFIELDER IN WOMEN’S LACROSSE

BY: SHANTA LOECKER, ALBION COLLEGE HEAD WOMEN’S LACROSSE COACH

Shanta Loecker developed the Albion program into one of the most successful in Division III in just three seasons.

Taking over a program that did not win a game in 2012, she worked tirelessly to grow the roster and she had the drive and patience to teach the most basic skills to her student-athletes. Her teaching paid off in the form of five victories in her first season (2013) and the win total has continued to rise. The Britons finished 8-8 in 2014, 15-3 in 2015 and 10-7 in 2016. The 2015 squad won the MIAA Tournament to qualify for the NCAA Division III Championship. The 2016 team completed an undefeated run through the MIAA during the regular season to achieve the program’s first league championship.

OWN THE DRAW CONTROL
• Stats show that if a team dominates the draw, they dominate possession, and win.
• How do we get better at draw controls?
• Every successful draw comes from routine, confidence and habit. Get in reps!
• Improve your ability to track the ball/Eye Training
— Number and word charts
— Peripheral vision work
— Hand/eye coordination drills
• Ear training (reacting to the whistle).
— Whistle reaction drills
• Build chemistry and communication. Get to know your fellow middies off the field.
— That will translate into better play on the field.

BUILD YOUR STRENGTH, SPEED, AND ENDURANCE
• Train more than anyone else in the off-season.
• Field is 120 yards long and 65 yards wide.
— It’s HUGE and you’re expected to play 100% of it at full speed for potentially 60 minutes.
• Improve wrist and forearm strength with:
— Weight Flips
— Rice Bucket Workouts – CLICK ABOVE FOR VIDEO
• Increase your versatility and vicinity, especially 1-handed on the move.
• Work on mobility and quickness – reacting and tracking with your feet.
— Ball Drops
— Speed Ladders
— Reaction and Agility Drills

FOCUS ON PURPOSEFUL MOVEMENT WITHOUT THE BALL
• North/South cutting and movement is your friend – focus on split dodges and change of speed when creating space.
• Anticipate opportunities to “Give and Go” in transition.
• Work on midfield defensive footwork, drop steps, and change of direction.

IMPORTANT SKILLS WITH THE BALL
• Practice dodging hard from the top, rather than X.
• Split dodge, hitch dodge, and change of speed are the best ways to maneuver.
• Avoid movement that forces east/west cutting
— (such as a roll dodge or face dodge…you always want to advance the ball).
• Ability to use both hands comfortably and interchangeably to change your angles.
• Always accelerate through the catch or loose ball control.
• Most importantly, always work on ball handling skills on the move.

Xcelerate Nike Lacrosse Camps

For more tips and instruction like this from Shanta Loecker join her this summer at the Xcelerate Nike Girls Lacrosse Camp at Albion College, June 25-28. Home to our top rated instructional lacrosse camp is Division 3’s Albion College in Michigan. Centrally located, Albion is right off Interstate 94, between Detroit and Chicago. With a perfect small college setting, campers will have the opportunity to personally work with Xcelerate Nike’s elite staff members, as well as, Albion Head Coach Shanta Loecker. This camp location is ideal for all regional players in the area. Get ready to play the game at a high level and have some big time fun!

How to Tell If You’re Getting Better

What’s up everyone! Hope you’re doing well and surviving canceled lacrosse seasons. As things start to open back up it’s great to see sports returning, even if in a modified and limited form.

I got a great question from a young goalie sent to my Instagram account (you’ll following LaxGoalieRat on IG right? If not, you’re missing out on some awesome stuff).

Hi Coach Damon!
I’ve been reading your blogs and listening to your podcasts and their super cool! I have a question though…
I’ve been practicing for a while during quarantine at least 4-5 times a week an hour each practice usually by myself and sometimes with my dad shooting. How do I know if I’m getting better? I’ve put in a lot of work but I have no real way to see results because of my team not playing.
Thanks!

Great question. Let’s dig into that as the subject of this post.

Setting Goals to Achieve

Whenever I train I like to turn every drill into a mini challenge.

If you’re doing wall ball – how throws can you complete in a minute?

If you’re jumping rope – how many revolutions in a minute?

If you’re taking shots with your Dad – how many 100% power shots from 15 yards can you save?

If you’re at the gym – what is your 5 rep max?

Structuring the training in this method does two things – 1.) it pushes us to achieve more and 2.) we get a measuring stick on how we’re progressing.

I remember when I was studying engineering at Berkeley I would also bring a shortie and a ball with me to the library and play 10 minutes of wall ball during study breaks.

During those 10 minutes I timed myself for a minute at a time to see how many throws I could complete.

My goal was 60 in 60 seconds. And it took awhile to get to that goal. But eventually I did.

It’s possible to put in 4-5 hours a week of work and not get better because you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. I’ve seen this happen many times!

So set a mini goal for each exercise that you do you. Then work your butt off to achieve that goal.

When you accomplish that goal – congratulations!!

Now let’s set an even higher goal. This is the mentality and the process of the elite athlete (and the elite entrepreneur too – but that’s for another post).

Doing this as a team provides a whole new level of accountability and pushes everyone to get better.

Challenging yourself with mini challenges is a great method of determining wether or not you’re progressing. You’re giving yourself a measuring stick that also serves as motivation.

Trust the Process

Regardless of what you do, if you do it consistently and with the right technique, you will improve at it.

That is a universal truth throughout life.

Of course if you don’t practice with the right technique that’s another story. So make you do research or get a coach who help you so that all your practice is not done in vain.

It applies to learning the position of goalie in lacrosse and its applies to your career, relationships, studies, on and on.

One of the key components in a lacrosse goalie’s success is belief in what you’re doing. But you also don’t want to over think things.

At a certain point just remember to trust the process.

Trust the fact that if you go out there 4-5 hours a week and work your butt off you’re going to get better.

It seems that one of the biggest stumbling blocks in being a successful athlete is the tendency to overthink the process and second guess everything they are doing.

Listen to Your Body

As lacrosse goalies we’re training our body to be an explosive save machine.

After awhile of training you’re notice the drills become easier. After awhile of taking shots you’ll notice you’re able to explode to the ball quicker than before.

Even though we might not be able to face real competition right now, after a few months of training if you pay attention to your body I bet you’ll notice some improvements.

When taking shots with your Dad do you find yourself picking up the shot a little quicker?

When you’re playing wall ball does the stick feel a little more natural in your hands?

When you’re jumping rope or doing the exercise ladder can you go a little longer without getting tired?

These are all signs you’re getting better my man! Sometimes you just gotta look for them.

Make Your Weakness Your Strength

I was speaking with PLL Goalie of the Year Blaze Riorden on the podcast and he said he focuses on making his weakness, his strength.

At first I didn’t understand – so I asked him to clarify.

If you only practice things that are your strengths then it can limit your progression.

What Blaze does is work so hard on improving his weakness until its one of his strengths.

So if you’re only training things you’re really good at, reconsider altering your training to really focus on the elements of your game that need the most work.

It’s comfortable to train our strengths. If hand speed and hand eye coordination are my strengths then you probably love doing those drills. I get it – they’re fun.

But if you really need to work on strength in your legs, it’s not fun but it will turn your weakness into a strength and make you way better.

Then you’ll see exponential improvement!

Conclusion

There are certain endeavors in life – like say meditation – where it is extremely difficult to know if one is progressing, getting better.

Luckily for us, athletic endeavors do not fall into this category.

That is because in any sort of drill or exercise we can measure our results. Therefore, pick a goal and then work your butt off to achieve that goal.

Once you hit that goal. Celebrate! Then pick another goal and keep going.

It’s also important to have faith that if you’re practice with the right technique you will get better. There’s no reason to overthink it.

With enough training I imagine you’ll start to feel quicker in your body.

If you’re only focused on training elements of your game that are yours

Once competition opens back up and you’re able to get back out there with your boys will be the ultimate test however suffice to say if you’re putting in an hour a day of hard, focused training every week then you’re going to get better.

Until next time,
Coach Damon

Question for you goalies and coaches out there – how do you determine if you’re getting better? 

About Lacrosse – Tri-City Lacrosse, Inc.

Parents Guide

Chances are better than good that your son or daughter introduced the game of lacrosse to you. Consequently, it’s not something you can share with them, other than as a spectator. This page is devoted to familiarizing you, the parent, with the game of lacrosse. Also provided is information and our recommendation for lacrosse sticks and protective gear. We encourage you to learn about the sport, buy a stick of your own and “have a catch” with your son or daughter!

Spectator’s Guide
Moms Guide to Lax

The Stick

The use of a properly strung, quality stick is essential for becoming a good lacrosse player. Lacrosse is the only sport where a stick is used as an extension of a player’s arms. With practice, the player will develop a “feel” for where the ball is in the stick while craddling and running with the ball. The learning curve for developing this skill is steep. If your child can’t run with the ball in their stick without looking at it, they don’t have a “feel” for where the ball is in the pocket. The ball is either rolling around or bouncing while they are moving. This is usually due to a worn out or badly strung pocket.

The only thing you can do to lessen this learning curve is to buy a decent stick. We recommend buying a lightweight, flexible stick head and lightweigth shaft. Have it professionally strung. This costs more than the ‘Play It Again Sports’ stick, the WalMart special or the “loaner” but will last for years and provide a better experience for your child. Also, a good stick has a resale value when you decide to upgrade it (or donate to our recycling program).

The pocket on the WalMart special comes with a cheaper pocket and requires lots of adjustments. To work correctly, the pocket and shooting strings need to be adjusted so the ball remains in the same place during cradling and the ball leaves the stick consistently during passing or shooting. The cheaper shafts are made of aluminum which break and bend easily. For young/small beginners, cut 2 – 3 inches off their stick for better control.

Each player should know how to string a stick. One way to learn is to buy a professionally strung stick and compare it to the number of on-line guides out there (see links below). Armed with the on-line guides and a completed stick in front of you, you can string a stick yourself. Another tip is to try out other players sticks. After you find one that works for you, purchase the same stick.

Protective Gear

Safety is a huge concern in any sport, not to mention a contact sport such as lacrosse. To the novice parent, it looks gruesome when beginning players are swinging sticks around. The sound of a stick hitting your child’s helmet can be stressful. In actuality, it really doesn’t hurt. The hard plastic shell and foam cushioning absorb all of the impact. Information from the US Lacrosse Insurance program (required for all Tri-City lacrosse participants) supports this claim. Based on claims data, the most common injuries on the lacrosse field are similar to soccer (i.e., leg related sprains and muscle pulls). As an additional safety precaution, our youth leagues prohibit body checking until the 7-8th grade division.

Your child should have a good helmet, mouthpiece and groin protection. The rest of the equipment doesn’t need to be top-of-the-line, although a good set of gloves will help your child get a better feel for their stick.

Goalies should have a top-of-line chest protection and throat guard. Tri-City Lacrosse purchased a number of helmets with screw mounted, hard plastic throat guards to ensure the safety of our goalies. Please speak to your child’s coach if you’d like to borrow this equipment on a per game basis.

Please contact us (see the contacts link on the main page) if you have any questions.

Face-off tips from the best: Andy Towers

Brown University; All-American

I first became interested in facing-off when I was a tenth grader and playing for the junior varsity team at New Canaan High School in Connecticut. I had been cut from the varsity and had to play on the JV team. There was nothing wrong with playing JV, but I thought that I was good enough to play on the varsity that year. Three weeks before the first game, I spotted Carl Nisson who starred at NCHS and had gone on to play for Princeton. Carl had coached me when I was growing up and had extensive knowledge of the game of lacrosse and more importantly for me facing off. Carl showed me some things/tricks that day that I really worked on. He stressed quick hands, balance, and technique. Just before the first game, the JV scrimmaged the varsity. In that final scrimmage, the varsity beat us. However, I won enough face-offs to not only be brought up to the varsity, but to start the first game. I ended up starting the rest of the year. Facing-off gave me the opportunity to shine when my skills were still very limited. It was through this experience that I became infatuated with facing off. It became a game within the game. It became a separate way of measuring my performance, and it was fun.

As I got older, I began to see how having a dominant face-off man could change the course of the game. It can make or break a game. It starts fast breaks and creates scoring opportunities. It also prevents an opposing team from gaining momentum by possessing the ball after EITHER team scores. It has become so important that college coaches are now recruiting the best face-off guys in high school even if all they do is face-off. However, the game is more fun if you develop in all areas: offense, defense, and special situations.

There are two parts to facing off: the physical side and the mental side.

The Physical Side

When talking about the physical part, I am talking about everything from the set up to executing the move to picking up the ball. There are many different moves and counters. There are also counters to the counters. It’s very similar to the game rock, paper, scissors. However, there are some things that stay consistent throughout these many different moves and counters.

First, the set up should always be the same on every face-off. The set up entails the stance (foot and hand position) and head of the stick position in relation to the ball. Every player will have a slightly different stance. All stances are correct provided that the player can execute all moves and counters from that stance. The player’s stance must allow him not to put any weight on his hands. Quickness is everything. If a player has weight on his hands the first thing he must do when the whistle blows is take that weight off his hands. When going against a good face-off man having weight on you hands will insure that you lose. The other thing that must stay the same is the player’s hand position on the stick. The right hand is placed as close to the neck of the stick as possible. The left hand is placed in the middle of the stick. With this hand placement you should be able to execute every move, while not making any c hanges in your stance, or hand placement on the stick. The player should be able to get in his stance and be able to lift up his hands and not lose his balance. This is your stance.

When approaching the ball before the face-off, make sure that you “crowd” the ball. Line up as close to the ball as you can. Remember, if you line up close to the ball on one move but not the other, then you are making yourself readable in the eyes of your opponent. Your stance together with crowding the ball is your set up.

There are many different moves. All of these moves are designed to start a fast break. Technique refers to how you execute a certain move. There are also counters to all of these many different moves. There are also counters to these counters. A good face-off man understands that he must know and feel comfortable executing all these from his set up without changing his stance or head position in relation to the ball.

The first move to learn is the clamp. There are three different techniques of clamping; the basic quick clamp, the top corner clamp, and the power-down-the-line clamp. All of these moves require staying low and clamping down on the ball with a different part of the back of the stick and then raking it forward for a fast break. Each is effective for different reasons. Clamping is currently the most popular move in the game. Most people clamp (ROCK).

There are three different counters to these three types of clamps. These clamp counters are called over the ball or topping moves. All entail doing a reverse clamping motion to the area of your opponent’s stick where he is clamping the ball.. With the left hand gripped firmly roll your knuckles up to face the sky as you extend your left hand up and out. Your right hand remains loose and jams into you opponent’s stick to stop his clamp. Be careful not to grab your opponent’s stick as this will result in an immediate loss. While the left hand is extending out and up, pivot off the bottom right corner of the head of your stick which is on the ground. This movement will prevent the clamper from finishing his clamp and will give you a good opportunity for a fast break (PAPER).

The counter to these topping moves is the punch rake. Because all of the topping moves entail coming over the ball, they are susceptible to being beaten underneath. That is where you beat them with the punch rake. When executing the punch rake make sure that the handle of your stick stays on the ground by keeping your left hand down and still. Put slight pressure on your right hand. When the whistle blows make a punching motion forward and keep your right hand low. This will spit the ball forward for a fast break (SCISSORS).

Remember the clamp beats the rake. The top beats the clamp. The rake beats the top. It’s rock paper scissors. But if you don’t line up the same way every time you will make yourself readable which will eventually catch up with you. The best way to solidify your techniques is practice with two friends. Have Friend A act as the referee and set up a fair face-off and blow the whistle. Friend B does the clamp 10 times while you counter his clamp with ten topping moves. Then rotate this sequence so that all three have done ten clamps, ten tops, and ten punch rakes. This will help you identify any problems with your technique and help you improve faster. Remember only through repetition and readjustments will you improve. A player can’t work on the technique of his moves enough.

The Mental Side

You will get to the point where your technique is very sound through execution of all moves and counters. The next step is to start the read, identify, and execute or mental side of facing-off . Before each face-off we talked about lining up the same way every time. This was called our set up. The same stance, same hand placement on the stick, and same head position in relation to the ball before the whistle blows, is essential to successfully masking your move.

While we do everything we can to insure that we mask our move, we also should do everything we can to read our opponents move. All players are readable in some way. The most common changes in a player’s set-up are their wrist position and the pressure on the bottom, right sidewall of his stick.

Here are the three most common scenarios:

1. Our first read is our opponents left wrist. If his wrist is down, he’s usually clamping. That is the read. Then we identify the counter to his clamp; the top. Then when the whistle blows, we execute the top for a break or behind us for possession.

2. If his left wrist is up, then he’s doing either a top or a punch rake. We need to make a second read. That’s the bottom right sidewall of his stick. If it’s up also, then he’s topping. That’s the read. Then we identify the counter and execute it.

3. If the sidewall is down then he is raking. That’s the read. Then we identify the counter and execute it. It’s becomes simple through practice.

Conclusion

The best academic institutions in the country play lacrosse. Now with the college game becoming more and more specialized, if you’re good enough at it you can be recruited just for facing-off. I began doing it because it was fun. I kept doing it because it helped me get on the field. It entails being disciplined, competitive, and most of all smart.

The 14 Commandments of Lacrosse – North Chatham Youth Lacrosse

1. You must be able to catch, throw and shoot both left-handed and right-handed.
2. The more time you spend playing lacrosse with your stick perpendicular to the ground (as opposed to parallel to the ground), the better player you will become
3. Do not hold the ball in your stick.
4. Move the ball immediately upon gaining possession of a loose ball.  
5. You must learn to move with out the ball.
6. You must move to the ball when catching and toward the goal when shooting.
7. Look to a spot behind the goalie when you shoot.
8. Shoot with a quick release.  Place your shot – on the ground first, to open net second.
9. Defense must have stick skills as good as or better than Attackmen and Midfielders.
10. Defenders must play defense like boxers box.
11. Defenders do not have to take the ball away to play good defense.
12. You play as you practice!!  (See Bonus, below)
13. Be in great physical condition when the lacrosse season starts. Coming into any season out of shape is disrespectful to your teammates, your coaches, and the game of lacrosse.  Work your self hard in the offseason so you will be well prepared for the mentally and physically challenging lacrosse season.  The more time you spend conditioning yourself in the offseason, the less practice time will be needed conditioning once the season starts.   You may not be able to control how fast you are, or how tall you are, but conditioning is another matter. This is something that you directly control.
14. Never Lie. Never Cheat. Never Whine. Never Complain. Never Make Excuses.

 Bonus – “The 4 P’s”

Every time you step on the field (for practice and/or a game) you must bring the four (4) “Ps”!!

1. Positive Attitude:  A belief in your success and the success of your teammates.  We become what we think about: If we think you can succeed, and we work diligently as a team toward that goal, we will succeed.  It’s really that simple!
2. Patience:  You’ll never stop learning how to play better Lacrosse.  It’s a game that requires equal measures of hustle (great physical conditioning) and smarts (the successful application of learned skills).  It will test you, you will fail, and when you do, you must pick yourself up, learn from your mistakes, and try again—if you do you will become the best player you can be.
3. Perseverance:  Anything worth doing is worth doing well.  To succeed you must give the game your full attention each and every time you pick up your stick! Those who hustle all the time, and those who work diligently to learn the game will be worthy of being called “a Lacrosse Player” (a wonderful distinction if/when you earn it!)
4. Passion:  Love the game!  Appreciate your teammates who are counting on you to help them win the game!  Bring energy and enthusiasm to the field!  “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm!”

How to become number 1 in your business and understand that you are the best

To become the best is a worthy goal for professionals in their field. In fact, this is the logical conclusion of a long path of self-development in a specific area.

But not all specialists achieve this, not all become the best or even at least somewhat good. So what does it depend on? First of all, from the very desire to become the best.

Do you want to become the best in your field?

Any movement begins with a goal, and the first thing to do is to set the goal correctly.

Start by setting a goal

The first and foremost sign of a good goal: it motivates. When you think of her, you want to do something, she pushes you to work and repels laziness and procrastination.

If your goal is not motivating, then this is the wrong goal.

Starting your movement, you must clearly know who you want to become and after what period of time this should happen. It shouldn’t be a secret for you why you are achieving this goal: for money, recognition, better living conditions.

It is also important to determine the correct pace at which you will achieve your goals. If it seems to you that you can become the best in your field in 40-50 years, maybe you should speed up a little?

When goals are set, it’s time to pursue them. But for this you will have to overcome your habits, accumulated during the time of aimless existence, more than once.

Here is a list of the qualities that characterize the best in their field – from a particular profession to a favorite hobby.

Developing the qualities necessary for the number 1

Surely these qualities will not be a discovery for you, but have you often thought about their development? All these qualities can be called correct, and even though truth is most often a subjective concept, they are the same for almost everyone.

Don’t be late

The best at what they do isn’t late. It is better to arrive half an hour earlier than to be 5 minutes late, and there can be no excuses.

To train yourself to be punctual, you can come up with different punishments for being late. For example, as Igor Mann, a well-known marketer and author of books on self-development, advises, you can punish yourself by paying a general bill at a restaurant.

Keep your word

Make it a rule to always do what you promise.Of course, it will not be easy to readjust right away if you are used to throwing words to the wind, and, most likely, you will have to come up with some kind of sanctions for failing.

Remember one thing: so that you do not have to promise a lot and then punish yourself for failure, just do not promise what you are not sure of. In general, try to make less promises.

Learn to say “no”

If you are going to be the best, you simply will not have time for extraneous meaningless requests.

Therefore, practice saying “no” to all requests that do not correspond to your plans.Although, of course, you should choose carefully: some refusals are fraught with unpleasant consequences.

Delegate tasks

If someone can do a task as well as you, delegate it. Stop unnecessarily burdening yourself with all the things, so you just waste time. Transfer tasks to the maximum and only do what no one can do better than you.

Learn to bring things to an end

This is a serious skill that we have been told about since childhood.Nevertheless, few people complete the work they have begun, from large projects to small plans.

If you can’t complete the most basic thing, how are you going to change your life and become the best?

Cultivate this skill in yourself, do not leave anything unfinished, and it will be much easier for you to change.

Think of all your unfinished business and either give it up completely or finish it.

Learn to Concentrate

This is a vital skill that comes in handy no matter what the job.And in order to become the best, you have to learn how to do it.

Start with bad habits like checking emails, long meaningless conversations, and sticking on social media first. These are parasites that breed multitasking and take up time.

For working in hostile environments, there are some simple tips that can help. If office chatter disturbs you, wear headphones with neutral music or earplugs; If you can’t concentrate on talking to customers on the phone, try wearing tinted glasses.

Igor Mann claims that this is a great way to focus: “All external stimuli are turned off, and you seem to see your interlocutor.”

Various techniques can also be used to increase concentration, such as Pomodoro. This is a technique according to which you work, taking a break for 5 minutes every half hour (later 10 and 15 minutes).

This technique is well-known enough that you will find many timer apps for iOS and Android like Flat Tomato or Clockwork Tomato, desktop options like Keep Focused for Windows, or entire services to better concentrate and fulfill your daily goals like Persevy. …

Learn to accept new things and constantly develop

The older we get, the more difficult it is to perceive something new. But if you decide to become the best, then standing still is no longer for you.

Try new techniques and tools, find new opportunities, develop not only in your field, but also in related ones, meet new interesting people.

You cannot win the title of the best once, and then put your cup on the shelf and rest on your laurels until the end of your days.Only constant development will help you stay the best.

Don’t give up

In one of his lectures, Igor Mann mentioned one famous saying:

Nothing can replace persistence: no talent – nothing is more common than talented losers, no genius – a loser genius has already become a proverb, no education – the world is full of educated outcasts.

Only persistence and perseverance are omnipotent. The motto “push” or “don’t give up” has solved and will always solve the problems of mankind.

Calvin Coolidge

30th President of the United States

A person who has all these qualities already claims to be the best and will definitely become one. And now about how to understand that you have become the best.

How to understand that you are the best

How will you prove to someone or even yourself that you are the best specialist in your field? After all, objectivity as such does not exist, and each person judges himself and others from his own point of view.

The very first is your projects and accomplishments .If you have projects or things that you are proud of, you can name them and tell about them, this is already a success.

Of course, you may have some kind of documentary evidence of recognition: a lot of money, diplomas, excellent ratings, statistics.

Interestingly, your failures can also be considered achievements. Why? Because you did something, and, as you know, only the one who does nothing is not mistaken. Therefore, appreciate and consider all your mistakes as achievements, the main thing is that they do not repeat themselves.

It is equally important and to position itself as the best in what you do . Creating a personal slogan that sets you up for a certain position in life, the correct original resume, 100 words that describe you as a person, and other chips – all this helps you to see yourself as the best and to be them.

So, if you have achievements that you are proud of, there is documentary evidence that you have enough to consider yourself the best, and at the same time you continue to constantly develop and position yourself in the right way, we can say that you have really achieved what that they became number 1, and few would doubt it.

The rules and methods sound simple enough, but the path itself cannot be called simple. After all, one motivation is missing: today you decided to become the best, you lived the day “correctly”, and tomorrow you forgot about everything.

We need consistent actions, regular training and constant maintenance of motivation, and this can only be ensured by training with a trainer who himself has gone this way and has become the best in his field.

Teen Wolf Tyler Posey: “I wish I was a rock star”

Remember the sweet boy, the screen son of Jennifer Lopez, with the unforgettable charming smile from the movie “Mistress Maid”? So this is Tyler Posey from 13 years ago.He was then 11. And since then the boy has definitely grown up. Even Jennifer Lopez was surprised at last year’s Teen Choice Awards how her on-screen son matured. 23-year-old Tyler Posey can rightfully be called the sex symbol of Hollywood. On the Ellen DeGeneres show, the actor staged a striptease. Not for fun, of course, but to help raise money for breast cancer research. Nevertheless, one could see what good shape the actor is in, and see all the tattoos that are on the body of the star.

About childhood and school

“I was not an unpopular boy in high school,” admits Tyler Posey. It is not surprising: he began acting in films at the age of 10, and at 11 he was already playing with Jennifer Lopez herself. So how can you be an unpopular boy at school?

Tyler Posey and Jennifer Lopez in Mistress Maid (2002)

True, Tyler Posey did not shine in his studies. “I taught Spanish in high school and was not very good at it.One day my Spanish teacher told me not to come to class again. Frankly, I was a little discouraged, ”the actor recalls.

About my character, hobbies and acting

“I say a lot of nonsense and sprinkle stupid jokes. I can’t help myself. I cannot control it – everything happens by itself, ”the actor admits.

Tyler Posey and Jennifer Lopez behind the scenes at the Teen Choice Awards (2014)

“I don’t bother with what I eat.I love good food so much that I could not limit myself in something, ”says Tyler.

“Lacrosse was an integral part of my life when I was growing up because my father was into the sport during his college days. In my room I always had everything I needed to practice lacrosse, ”the actor recalls.

“I’m a huge zombie fanatic and I have a zombie tattoo on my leg,” says the Teen Wolf star.

Tyler Posey on The Ellen DeGeneres Show

“Acting is all I can do in life.Filming is the only thing I can do, ”says Tyler Posey. “I love doing stunts,” he adds.

“I think people don’t understand what nationality I am,” the actor continues. “They’re wondering if I’m from Hawaii, or Italian, or Mexican, or Spanish, or just white. I could have played a Jew. Yes, I could play anyone at all. I’m Mexican by my mom, and my dad is white. ”

“I would like to be a rock star,” Posey shares his dream. Well, he still has everything ahead of him! Let’s take an example from Jared Leto, who is the frontman of 30 Seconds to Mars, and plays in the movies.

How his life changed after the TV series “Teen Wolf”

The main role in the television version of the successful movie “Teen Wolf” was a lucky ticket for Tyler Posey. After the release of the series, the young actor woke up famous. Here’s what he recalls about casting for the lead role in Teen Wolf: “I was not a fan of the original version, the feature film Teen Wolf, rather, I was a fan of Michael J. Fox.”

Tyler Posey on Teen Wolf poster

On whether he and the other actors were guided by the original version while working on the TV, Tyler says: “Yeah, but didn’t try to take something from the film and repeat it in the series.It was just another opportunity for all the actors to rally and become friends. Jeff Davis (Exclusive Producer of Teen Wolf – Ed. ) got us all together, ordering pizza and watching the full length Teen Wolf. It was a very fun night and the best time of my life. I was having a great time. ”

About how his life changed after the series was released, the actor says: “A lot has changed for me. I could no longer just go out into the street and not be seen, recognized, photographed.But I got the opportunity to travel the world thanks to the series. I have visited such places that I could not even dream of visiting before. I am really very lucky. ”

Dylan O’Brien & Tyler Posey

Tyler on Teen Wolf co-star and best friend Dylan O’Brien : “Dylan will never have to turn into a wolf in the show. He won’t get to experience what it feels like. If I had to choose from all the actors on the show who to bite to turn into a wolf, then I would choose Dylan.I have a reason for that. He’s my best friend on set. We went through a lot together. ”

About the new, fifth season of “Teen Wolf”

In the new season of “Teen Wolf”, Tyler Posey’s hero will face serious changes in his life. The focus of the new episodes will be Scott’s struggle with his own guilt and the feeling that he is unable to restore order.

Tyler Posey in the series Teen Wolf

“He doesn’t know why it’s his fault, he doesn’t understand why this is happening, and he can’t fix anything,” the actor says.- He has an internal struggle to preserve friendship, keep the peace and keep people alive. Which is why Scott has had so many psychological breakdowns this season that I’m really interested in acting as an actor. My character hasn’t been that vulnerable since the first season. Scott is usually very confident in himself and in any incomprehensible situation he knows what to do and which path to take, and now he just doesn’t know where to go. ”

Posy is intriguing, they say, something very bad will happen in the new season, in particular with Lydia.“This whole season has been pretty bloody,” says the actor. “Of course, we have had really dark situations before, but this time the gloom is just going through the roof.”

Tyler Posey on Teen Wolf

According to Tyler, the dynamics of the show have not diminished since the departure of Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin), although his decision to leave the show in the fourth season was like a bolt from the blue. “He is one of my really good friends, so I see him all the time, and, in principle, I knew that he had such a thing on his mind,” Posey admits.

On his character’s high school graduation, Tyler says he hopes to see Scott refreshed after he leaves the walls of Bacon Hills: “I think he’s too concerned about saving people right now.”

About what Scott will do after graduation, Posey already has an idea: “I have a really cool idea for Scott’s future for the next couple of years, which I voiced to the producers.” The actor plans to take part in the work on the second half of the fifth season together with the writers.

Read also:

Who plays whom in the TV series “Wolf” (“Werewolf”), season 5: male images

“Wolf” (“Werewolf”), season 5: what to expect from the new season

90,000 Five EGOTW Plots: Carolina vs. Minnesota

The two teams approach the European Match of the Week in different moods. Carolina started the 2019-20 season as if the 2018-19 championship had not ended. After an away victory over the dangerous Buffalo (5: 4 OT), the Hurricanes returned to the playoffs, taking one of the wild card spots by Friday morning.

“Minnesota”, although it won on Thursday at home “Arizona” (3: 2), shares the last place in the Western Conference with “Los Angeles” and so far can not find stability. A victory in the “European Match of the Week” (22:00 Moscow time, “Yandex.Efir”) over “Carolina” would greatly help the “Savages” to finally do it. Here are five stories worth watching.

What focus should be expected from Svechnikov?

19-year-old Andrei Svechnikov struck the hockey world in the heart with his lacrosse goal against Calgary in late October.Svechnikov made more than one attempt to bring the puck into the goal on the hook of the stick, but he achieved success only now and this is not surprising – it was the first lacrosse goal in the history of the league.

“It’s always nice to score goals like this,” the Russian said in an interview with NHL.com on the eve of “European Match of the Week.” which I have ever managed to score and it was also nice to score my 20th goal last season.That goal meant a lot to our team, because after it we reached the playoffs. ”

Video: Andrey Svechnikov talks about the lacrosse goal

After the sensational goal, Svechnikov did not think to stop. he has 21 (8 + 13) points, while the forward continues to open up new horizons for himself.

Niederreiter wants to prove himself against the former team

One of the main characters of the “European Match of the Week” promises to be 27-year-old Nino Niederreiter.One of the main stars of Swiss ice hockey ended up in North Carolina as a result of the January exchange just from “Minnesota”, where he had problems with performance in the first half of last season.

Changing interiors, Niederreiter spent one of the most powerful segments of his career, first gaining 30 (14 + 16) points in the 36 remaining league games, and then benefiting Carolina in the playoffs, where the team sensationally reached the conference final …

Video: Svechnikov talks about second year syndrome

“Carolina is a wonderful region,” Niederreiter said in an interview with NHL.com / ru. – The climate here is completely different than in Minnesota. I spent six years there and got a lot of pleasant memories. But now I’m in Carolina and I feel great. I’m happy to be here. “

This will be his second date with the former club in a new jersey. In the first match, which came at the end of the last championship, Niederreiter did not score any points.

The Hurricanes dream of more

Start of the championship 2019-20 was just magical for Hurricanes.They have won five straight wins, won six of seven matches in total, and topped the conference table. In November, the team found itself in a slight crisis, having lost four meetings in a row, but gradually began to get out of the hole. The victory over the “Sabers” was their second in a row.

Despite the usual volatility of the regular season, where one series succeeds another, Carolina has the big picture in mind. The first time in ten years, getting into the playoffs proved that the team is on the right track, and reaching the final of the conference – that the ultimate goal is not as far away as it might have seemed last winter.Having become a year older and more experienced, and at the same time having received an idea of ​​what level of hockey is necessary for the championship, the current squad sets itself the most ambitious tasks.

Video: Svechnikov talks about the syndrome of the second year

“Last year we made it to the final of the conference. Now, God forbid, we will play in the final (Stanley Cup),” said Svechnikov.

“We’ve come a long way in that playoffs,” Niederreiter said. “Now we would like to repeat this success. We need to stick to our game.When the playoffs begin, anything is possible. ”

Zuccarello started to benefit

The start of the 2019-20 championship was challenging not only for Minnesota as a whole, but also for its main acquisition in the free agent market, Mats Zuccarello. Having played four matches, in which he had no points on his account, and the indicator of usefulness was minus -6, he was placed on the list of injured and missed ten days.

Returning to service towards the end of October, the 32-year-old Norwegian gradually began to find a common language with new partners, and it immediately became noticeable on the scoreboard.In the last eight fights on his account 6 (3 + 3) points, and “Wild” increasingly began to alternate victories with defeats, which is already a good sign for the club from the basement of the standings.

With a five-year, $ 6 million a year deal signed in the offseason, Zuccarello is Wild’s largest free-agent acquisition and one of the largest in the league. His arrival signaled the seriousness of Minnesota’s intentions to return to the playoffs, where the team did not make it this spring for the first time in many years, but the club gave a frankly bad start.

“It’s a new system and new teammates for me,” Zuccarello told NHL.com ahead of the European Match of the Week. “But playing for Minnesota and living in Hockey State is very cool. I enjoy my time here. Hockey is hockey and there have been no big changes in this regard. ”

Wilde are trying to get on the wheel of the leaders

Having looked at the “St. Louis” of last year, now few people dare to hang the final labels on outsiders ahead of time.Lagging “Savages” from the playoff zone is ten points, which to win back until April seems quite real, provided that the “Wild” begin to demonstrate solid hockey. Zuccarello himself does not lose optimism.

“The team has very good players,” he said. “However, I have yet to get to know them on the ice, and they have to meet me. It takes longer than I expected, but the progress is visible.”

Following the Carolina encounter, the team will face a very important trip to the East Coast, where Wild will face other clubs in the lower half of the table (notably Rangers and Devils).So the direction of movement of “Minnesota” in this championship largely depends on the outcome of the “European match of the week” and the subsequent away series.

Can we teach students to think like scientists? – News – IQ Research and Education Portal – National Research University Higher School of Economics

The HSE Publishing House has published a translation of the book by cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham “Why do students dislike school? The cognitive psychologist answers questions about how the mind functions and what this means for schooling.IQ publishes a chapter that discusses the way scientists think – and why students can’t be taught to think the same way.

Question. Educators and policymakers often complain that school curricula are “terribly distant” from the scientific fields they are supposed to correspond to. For example, in history curricula, the emphasis is on learning facts and dates. Good curriculum makers aim to provide students with some insight into the debates that historians have.(I heard with my own ears how one of the teachers scolded the idea of ​​a textbook in which it was supposed to list all the causes of the American Civil War, as if it were already a resolved issue.) Very few curricula encourage schoolchildren to think like professional historians. – that is, to analyze documents and evidence and, on this basis, offer your own interpretation of historical events. Likewise, science curricula involve students memorizing facts and conducting laboratory experiments in which well-known phenomena are observed; at the same time, there is no question of actual scientific thinking, research and problem solving, which, in fact, is science.Is it possible to teach schoolchildren to think like real natural scientists, mathematicians, historians, etc., and how to do this?

Answer. Protests against school curricula (it’s impossible to train the next generation of scientists if we don’t train them to think and act like real researchers) seem valid only at first glance. This logic is based on a false assumption – on the assumption that, from a cognitive point of view, schoolchildren are capable of acting like scientists.

Cognition in the early stages of learning has fundamental differences from cognition at its later stages.

The point is not only that students know less than specialists in a particular science – the knowledge of schoolchildren is organized in memory differently than that of real scientists. At the beginning of their journey, today’s specialist scientists thought quite differently from the teaching professionals. They thought like newbies. In truth, to think like a natural scientist or historian, you have to learn, learn, and learn.This does not mean that students should not even try to write a poem or conduct a science experiment; but teachers and administrators should be clear about how such an assignment will affect students.

Remember how the science classes were organized in high school. If you have followed the same path as me, then the science lessons were structured as follows:

1. at home you read a section of a textbook that explained a particular principle of biology, chemistry or physics;
2. the next day in class, the teacher explained this principle;
3. You and a classmate did the lab work that illustrated the key point in question;
4. In the evening at home, you had to solve a problem, to practice applying this principle.

It seems that all these activities of schoolchildren have nothing to do with the real scientific activity of natural scientists. For example, scientists never know how the experiment that they are going to conduct will end: experiments are necessary just to find out what will happen, and then the natural scientist must explain the results obtained, which are often both unexpected and internally contradictory.

In contrast, high school students know the results of the lab and focus on getting it right.Likewise, professional historians should not read and memorize the content of textbooks; they work with original sources (birth certificates, diaries, points of view expressed in print, etc.) and create intelligent narrative (narrative) interpretations of historical events on their basis. But if students have no practice in what real historians and natural scientists do, what is the point of teaching them history and natural science?

Real scientists are specialists in their field.For many years they devote 40 (many and more) hours a week to scientific research. As a result of this long-term practice, there is not a quantitative but a qualitative difference between how professional researchers think and how well-informed amateurs think. The thinking of a historian, natural scientist, or mathematician is a phenomenon of a very high order.

What are natural scientists, mathematicians, and other scientists doing?

Obviously, the actions of scientists depend on the area of ​​their scientific interests.At the same time, there is a great deal of similarity between professionals working in their own scientific fields, such as history, mathematics, philology and natural sciences, and those who are professionals in applied fields (medicine, banking) and even in occupations usually associated with rest and entertainment (chess, bridge and tennis).

The abilities of scientists are perfectly illustrated by many episodes of the TV series “House”. Its protagonist, a brilliant doctor, the ever-angry Gregory House, specializes in diagnosing mysterious diseases that baffle other doctors.

Below is a brief overview of one of House’s cases. He will help us understand the usual way of thinking for scientists.

1. A sixteen year old patient complains of double vision and nightmares. House notes that if a young man did not have a brain injury, then in most cases the nightmares at this age are caused by extreme stress caused by events such as murder or sexual assault. Approximate diagnosis: sexual assault.
2. House learns that a teenager suffered a brain injury from a blow to the head while playing lacrosse. House is angry that he was informed of this so late. He concludes that the patient was admitted to the hospital with a concussion, and irritably notes that the ambulance doctor, who examined the young man after the game, made a mistake. Tentative diagnosis: concussion.
3. House is already leaving. At this time, the teenager sits on the table, swinging his leg. House notices that at some point, the leg twitches, and defines this as a movement characteristic of the moment when we begin to fall asleep.However, the patient is alert and you cannot tell by him that he wants to sleep. This observation changes everything. House suspects degenerative disease. He orders the adolescent to be hospitalized.
4. House orders a sleep test (which appears to confirm nightmares), blood tests, and brain scans. His colleagues do not notice anything unusual in the results of the analysis and scanning, but House sees that one of the brain structures is slightly deformed, which, he believes, is due to fluid pressure.Approximate diagnosis: blockage in the circulation of the protective fluid in the brain. As a result, there is an increase in intracranial pressure, which causes the symptoms observed by doctors.
5. House orders a procedure to check if fluid is circulating normally. The results of the procedure indicate the presence of a blockage, therefore, a surgical operation is prescribed.
6. During surgery, chemical markers associated with multiple sclerosis were found in the fluid circulating in the brain.At the same time, doctors found no brain damage caused by this disease. Approximate diagnosis: multiple sclerosis.
7. The patient begins to hallucinate. House realizes that the young man had hallucinations, not nightmares. They are most likely caused not by multiple sclerosis, but by an infection in the brain. Tests did not reveal any signs of it, but according to House, in the case of neurosyphilis, the false-negative rate reaches 30%. Approximate diagnosis: neurosyphilis.
8. Another case of hallucination in a patient leads House to the conclusion that neurosyphilis is absent; Appropriate appointments were made, and if the young man had this disease, he would feel better.House learns that the teenager is the adopted child in the family. His parents hid this fact even from their son. House suggests that the young man’s biological mother was not vaccinated against measles and could have contracted the disease in infancy before he was six months old. At that time, he recovered, but the virus in the body mutated, reached the brain and was inactive for 16 years. Final diagnosis: subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

Naturally, the main feature of the retelling of this series is brevity.The series is much more interesting and meaningful. But even he reveals behavioral patterns typical of scientists.

House, like any other doctor, is subjected to information “bombardment”: the data of his own examination, the results of many laboratory tests, data from the medical history, etc. It is generally accepted that there is never a lot of information, but this is not entirely true – just remember your reaction when an Internet search engine gives you five million results.

Medical students struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff, while experienced doctors seem to have a sixth sense of what is really important and what should be ignored.For example, Dr. House is not at all concerned with the patient’s message about double vision (his first reaction is: “Put on the glasses”). All his attention is focused on nightmares. The experience sharpens House’s susceptibility to mild symptoms – he alone notices the strange jerking of the youth’s leg.

It is obvious that scientists must have a huge stock of basic knowledge in their field. But to be a scientist requires more than just knowledge. In many cases, teaching professionals know just as much (or a little less) than scientists in a particular field.In most cases, doctors who study with Dr. House understand well why their mentor makes a particular diagnosis or draws their attention to certain symptoms. House’s advantage is that he retrieves the correct information from his memory faster and more accurately. This information is also possessed by not so experienced doctors, they just think in a different direction.

The special character of House’s knowledge is evident even in his mistakes. When he fails as a specialist, he accepts it with great grace.When he cannot get the right answer, his mistake usually looks like a very shrewd guess.

Dr. House is often mistaken before making a correct diagnosis (otherwise the episode would have lasted no more than five minutes), but his preliminary conclusions are portrayed as valid, in contrast to the guesswork of younger colleagues. House will definitely emphasize (usually with devastating sarcasm) that the diagnosis proposed by another doctor is impossible due to the presence of an important symptom (or, conversely, its absence).

The considered example cannot be used to illustrate another characteristic of the activities of scientists, which, however, does not diminish its importance in any way. Scientists demonstrate a better transfer of knowledge in an area of ​​activity close to their main field than beginners. For example, the historian is able to conduct a sound analysis of documents that relate not only to his professional field, but also to other areas. It will take more time, and the analysis itself will not be as detailed as the study of historical documents, but its conclusions will be much closer to the conclusions of a specialist in this field than the conclusions of a novice.

Imagine a critic who has published weekly movie reviews in the newsweek section of Newsweek for the past ten years has been asked to run a financial advice column in the Wall Street Journal. The critic’s professional knowledge belongs to the field of cinematography, but he could use his writing skills (clear and precise presentation, the ability to build a sentence structure, etc.). As a result, the columns of the film critic in the economic publication will be more professional than the work of the casual amateur.

Compared to newbies, professionals have a more developed ability to highlight important details, propose intelligent solutions and apply their knowledge in similar areas. These traits are possessed not only by doctors, but also by writers, mathematicians, chess players and, of course, teachers. For example, aspiring teachers often do not notice that students are behaving in a wrong way, while experienced teachers will not hide any wrongdoing. (According to the widespread opinion of schoolchildren, experienced teachers have “eyes on the back of their heads.”) Like Dr. House, experienced teachers quickly access the information they need. Compared to beginners, they are able to explain an idea from different angles and quickly find available alternatives.

What is included in a scientist’s intellectual toolkit?

The content of the previous section is the answer to one of two questions asked: what can specialists do? The second question is how do they do it? What problem solving abilities or specialized knowledge do they need? How to make sure that the students have everything they need?

In part, the mechanisms used by scientists are similar to those that we have already discussed.Working memory is the bottleneck to effective thinking. This is a thinking workspace, but its size is limited. If this space overflows with information, we lose control over our actions, and the attempt to think fails. There are two ways to get around the working memory limit: expanding basic knowledge and practice.

Beginners can gain an advantage in thinking through any of these mechanisms. Scientists also use both mechanisms, but with their vast experience they are implementing these strategies even more effectively.

Basic knowledge helps to overcome the limitation of working memory, as it allows you to group or “aggregate” pieces of information, as in the case when we combine the letters C, B and S in the acronym CBS. You will not be surprised to hear that scientists in their field have extensive basic knowledge. But the mind of a scientist has another advantage over the mind of other people. It is not just the large amount of information stored in the long-term memory of a scientist – this information is organized differently from the information in the long-term memory of a novice.

The thoughts of beginners slide on the surface of phenomena, while the thoughts of specialists are directed towards functions or deep structure. For example, one experiment compared the thinking of experienced chess players and beginners. For a very short time, its participants were shown a chessboard with pieces in a position typical for the middlegame. Subjects were then given a blank board and asked to recreate this position. The experimenters paid particular attention to the order in which the figures were placed.It turned out that first a group of 4–5 pieces was placed on the board, then there was a pause, after which another 3–4 pieces were exposed, followed by a pause, and so on. Pauses were taken when the experiment participant needed to recall the next group of figures.

Researchers found that beginners placed groups of pieces on the board based on their position; a beginner could first place all the pieces that were in one corner of the board, then the pieces that were in the other corner, etc.d.

Professional chess players, on the other hand, put groups of pieces according to their functional characteristics, that is, they assigned pieces to the same group not because they were nearby, but because one piece threatened another, or because the pieces supported each other in defense.

So, experts think abstractly. People have a hard time accepting abstract ideas, as their attention is focused on the surface rather than on the deep structure.Professionals do not experience these problems because they see the deep structure of tasks. This conclusion is confirmed by the results of a classical experiment, when novices in physics (university students who attended one course) and specialists (graduate students and professors) were asked to divide 24 physical problems into separate categories.

The first ones created separate categories based on objects that appeared in problems: problems using springs were grouped into one category, problems using inclined planes were grouped into another, etc.e. The second group divided the tasks into groups depending on the physical principles that are important for their solution; for example, all energy conservation tasks were assigned to one group, regardless of whether they used springs or planes.

The generalization that specialists have abstract knowledge of problem types and novices do not seem to hold true for teachers as well. Faced with the problem of classroom management, most aspiring teachers focus on solving a specific problem, while experienced teachers try to correctly identify the problem, collecting additional information if necessary.Experienced teachers know that different types of tasks arise in classroom management. Therefore, they are more likely to solve them in ways that are directed not just at the behavioral incident, but at the root cause of the problem. For example, an experienced teacher transplants students more often than a novice.

Difficulties in transferring knowledge are largely due to the fact that beginners tend to focus on the superficial features of the problem and do not very well distinguish the abstract, functional relationships between problems that play a key role in solving them.Conversely, the ability to look deep into tasks is the most powerful trait of professionals.

Their long-term memory stores ideas about tasks and situations that are abstract in nature. Hence their ability to focus attention on useful information, ignoring minor details; functional thinking allows you to quickly understand what exactly is important. Hence their ability to transfer knowledge to new tasks. The latter differ in surface structures, but specialists are able to recognize their deep, abstract structure.The consequence of this is the reasonableness of their judgments, even if the experts are not entirely right.

For example, experienced doctors think about the diagnosis in terms of the basic physiological characteristics of the human body. They know quite well the systems of the body and, on the basis of external symptoms, can understand their condition and functioning; therefore, the statements of experienced doctors are extremely rarely (or never are) internally contradictory or absurd. In contrast, medical students are able to recognize patterns of symptoms that are already stored in their memory, but they cannot think functionally and, when faced with an unfamiliar picture, cannot correctly interpret it.

The second way to get around the limited working memory space is practice, that is, repeating procedures many times so that they are automated. As a result, the space that these procedures take in working memory is sharply reduced (almost to zero). Tie your shoe laces several hundred times, and you will no longer need to think about how to do it; your fingers will perform routine actions on their own, without referring to the thought processes in working memory.

Specialists have brought to automatism many routine, frequently used procedures that required mental control in the early stages of training. Professional bridge players calculate the points they have on their hands automatically, without thinking for a second about what they are doing. Experienced surgeons apply automatic stitches. Experienced teachers have routine procedures for starting and ending a lesson, attracting attention, responding to typical violations, etc.

Interestingly, many young teachers often take lecture notes to plan whatever they are going to say to their students.In contrast, teachers with extensive practice plan different ways to discuss or demonstrate a concept, but not the lesson text. This means that the process of translating abstract ideas into words understandable to students has been brought to their automatism.

Thus, possession of extensive basic knowledge and automatic execution of mental procedures allow specialists to save working memory space. How is this extra volume used? Let’s say for a conversation with yourself.What can this internal dialogue be like? In many cases, it is devoted to the task facing the specialist at the moment, and therefore is conducted at an abstract level. So, a scientist-physicist says approximately the following: “Probably, this is a problem on the law of conservation of energy, when there is a transformation of potential energy into kinetic”.

Interestingly, self-talk can be of great benefit. The physicist mentioned above put forward a hypothesis about the nature of the problem and, continuing reading, will consider it from all sides in order to understand whether he has made a mistake.

Indeed, the physicist continued: “Now I am completely confident in my conclusion. Compression of the spring will increase its potential energy. ” Thus, professionals do not just comment on their actions. They hypothesize, testing their own understanding, and speculate about possible consequences. However, internal dialogue takes place in working memory, so beginners practice it much less often.

Even in cases where a beginner starts a conversation with himself, this dialogue, as one would expect, is more superficial than that of a professional.For the most part, beginners repeat the conditions of the problem or try to apply a familiar formula to it. In a conversation with himself, the beginner describes his actions, which very often has nothing to do with the self-examination characteristic of professionals.

And what about the schoolchildren?

So what are the abilities that distinguish natural scientists, historians, mathematicians, and scientists in general? The most important feature of their method is a functional, rather than superficial, approach to the consideration of tasks and situations. This allows you to highlight critical details in the information flow, always offer intelligent and consistent solutions (even if they do not necessarily turn out to be correct), and demonstrate the transfer of knowledge to related areas.It should be added that many of the routine tasks performed by professionals are brought to automatism by them, thanks to constant practice.

Sounds great. Is it possible to teach this to schoolchildren? It is a pity, but the answer may disappoint the reader. You yourself understand that when addressing newcomers, such advice as “conduct an internal dialogue” or “think functionally” will not work. Scientists are capable of this only because they have the appropriate mental tools. As far as we know, the only way to acquire professional knowledge is through practice.

In order to try to understand what the knowledge and skills of specialists are, several groups of researchers have made attempts to study the lives of professionals and compare them with those whom we call almost professionals.

For example, one study surveyed violinists to estimate the number of hours they spent playing the violin at different ages. Some of the participants (professionals) were already musicians of famous symphony orchestras, others (young people who were barely 20 years old) studied at the music academy.According to the professors, the potential of some of the students allowed them to count on a solo international career; others (just good violinists) strove for the same goal, but, according to the teachers, their prospects were not so bright.

The task of the participants from the fourth group was to become not professional performers, but rather music teachers. The figure below shows data on the average accumulated hours of music lessons between the ages of 5 and 20 for each of the four groups named above.Although the good and the best performers studied at the same music academy, we can see that the number of hours that they devoted to classes since childhood, according to the participants in each of the groups, was markedly different.

Other researchers have taken a more detailed biographical approach. Over the past 50 years, there have been several examples of research teams gaining access to a large number (10 or more) of well-known scientists who agreed to in-depth interviews, participate in tests for intellectual development, determine personality characteristics, etc.Further, the common features in the origin, education, interests and abilities of these outstanding scientists were studied.

In all studies, one rather unexpected result was obtained. The brilliant minds of our science were not very different from ordinary people on standard intelligence tests; of course, they were very smart people, but not as much as one might think based on their achievements in scientific fields. At the same time, all of them were united by an exceptional ability for continuous activity.The vast majority of great scientists were workaholics. Each of us knows the limits of our own working capacity: at some point we have to stop and take a break – watch a stupid TV program, flip through People magazine, or do something like that. Great scientists, unlike us, have incredible persistence, and their threshold of mental exhaustion is at a very high level.

The most important practice is that we will not be able to become professionals until we give our work the due time.According to a number of researchers, in this case, the “rule of ten years” is in effect, according to which, in order to become a specialist in any field, be it physics, chess, golf or mathematics, a person must devote at least ten years to the acquisition of relevant knowledge and skills.

The rule applies to areas as far apart as music composing and sports swimming, mathematics, poetry and car sales. It even extends to such geeks as Mozart, who began composing music at the age of five: most of his early works were imitative and were not perceived by their contemporaries as outstanding.Even if we assume that several prodigies were born every 100 years, the ten-year rule holds true.

There is no magic in the duration of the time span in question; apparently, these ten years are necessary in order to assimilate the basic knowledge and develop the automatism, which was mentioned above. Indeed, it has been shown that people who did not have enough time to practice took more than ten years to achieve true mastery; conversely, in areas where less practice is required (eg sprint running, weightlifting), people reach the top in just a few years.But in most areas, ten years of practice is a general rule for everyone. This does not mean that when a person reaches the status of a master of his craft, he can forget about study and practice. To keep it, you need to keep working.

Application in class

Professionals do not just outperform newcomers in their chosen field of thinking – they use qualitatively different methods of thinking. Schoolchildren are beginners, not professionals.How should this affect the learning process?

Schoolchildren are ready to consciously perceive, but not create knowledge.

Mathematicians, natural scientists and historians differ from beginners in that they have worked in their fields for many years, and the acquired knowledge, skills and experience allow them to think about problems and situations differently than everyone else thinks. Therefore, the goal of teaching schoolchildren to think the way professional scientists think is a pipe dream. Perhaps you will answer: “Well, what are you! I didn’t expect my students to be awarded the Nobel Prize! I want them to get to know science better, and nothing more. “This is a very worthy goal, and it is significantly different from the goal of teaching students to think the way scientists think.

The distinction between understanding knowledge and creating it can help. Scientists are busy creating knowledge. For example, natural scientists create and test theories of various natural phenomena, historians create narrative interpretations of past events, and mathematicians create proofs and descriptions of complex models. Scientists not only have an understanding of their fields, but they also add new knowledge to them.

A more modest and realistic goal that your students are able to achieve is the conscious perception of knowledge. Perhaps the student will not create his own scientific theory, but he is quite capable of coming to a deep understanding of the already existing system of scientific principles. The student may not be able to cope with the task of writing a new historical narrative, but he is able to study and understand the narrative proposed by someone else.

But even this is not the end point of schooling.Even if students cannot yet fully participate in the scientific process (or are not going to devote themselves to science), they are quite capable of understanding how science functions and develops. For example, students may learn from you about different approaches to science. Once it was perceived as research, the purpose of which was to discover the immutable laws of nature. But science can also be regarded as a method of consistently obtaining particularly significant results and continuous improvement of the theory.

To help students understand how historians create narratives, introduce, for example, different perspectives on the Philadelphia Convention.Again, your goal is not to encourage students to participate in the creation of knowledge, but to get them to understand how other people create knowledge.

At some point, schoolchildren may engage in the same activities as scientists, but the cognitive role of such activities will be small.

The key difference between the professional scientist and the well-informed hobbyist lies in the former’s ability to create new knowledge, while the latter’s ability is limited to understanding the ideas put forward by others.What happens if you ask your students to try to create new knowledge? What will your task lead to to conduct a scientific experiment or analyze a historical document? Nothing bad will happen. Most likely, schoolchildren will not cope with the task very well; in order to perform it at a high level, extensive basic knowledge and experience is required.

However, the teacher can give this assignment, guided by other considerations. For example, the purpose of the assignment to interpret the results of laboratory work may not be so that students learn to think like scientists, but that they become acquainted with a certain natural phenomenon or realize the need to closely observe the result of the experiment.

Creativity-oriented tasks can arouse interest in schoolchildren. Music lessons can focus on practicing and developing the right technique; at the same time, the teacher has the opportunity to encourage students to write their own works – simply because the students may perceive it as a fun and interesting experience. Will this practice be necessary or beneficial in terms of getting them to think as musicians think? Most likely no. Schoolchildren do not yet have the cognitive tools necessary to compose music, but that does not mean that such an assignment will not allow them to have a great time, and that is enough.

The same is true for scientific competitions. I had the opportunity to participate in the work of the jury of many such events, and most of the projects, to be honest, were terrible. The schoolchildren posed before themselves trivial questions that did not have fundamental significance for the chosen scientific field. In addition, the contestants were not very familiar with scientific methods – they did not show the ability to plan experiments, and the analysis of the data received suffered from many gaps. However, some of the contestants are really proud of their achievements, and participation in a major show sharply increases their interest in science or engineering.Therefore, despite the fact that the creative aspect is absent in most projects, participation in scientific competitions, apparently, is an incentive for schoolchildren to further study.

Generally speaking, schoolchildren do not yet have the knowledge and skills that would enable them to cope with tasks involving the creation of something new. But this does not mean that the teacher should never set such tasks for them. Just keep in mind what kind of results you can expect.

Don’t expect newcomers to learn to act like specialists.

When we look for ways to help students learn a skill, the first thought that comes to mind is to emulate someone who already knows how to do what you want your students to do. If you are trying to teach them how to read maps of the area correctly, you need to find a specialist in this matter who will introduce students to the appropriate methods. At first glance, everything is logical. However, the result can be disappointing, because professionals think in many ways differently than beginners.

Let’s look at an example.How do we teach children to read? If we take a closer look at experienced readers, we see that they are distinguished from unskilled readers by fewer eye movements. From this we can conclude that the best way to read is to recognize words as a whole, which means that students should learn to read “by words” from the very beginning. Indeed, I can take an old educational psychology textbook off my shelf and look at the data on readers’ eye movement. The author of the textbook draws from this data a conclusion similar to the one above.

Such arguments can be taken with a grain of salt. In this case, it is known that experienced readers read the text in whole words. But it doesn’t follow that they started reading using this method. During a match, experienced tennis players think about strategy most of the time and try to anticipate the opponent’s actions. In contrast, beginners should think about footwork and the correct technique for striking.

Whenever you see a professional doing something differently than someone with significantly less knowledge and experience, it is possible that in the past the current professional has acted in the same way as a newcomer.It may also be that a beginner’s course of action is a necessary step towards acquiring specialized knowledge and skills. Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed the same idea more gracefully: “Every artist was at first a dilettante.”
IQ

October 30, 2020

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Egypt squad | Catapult

The Egyptian national team is one of the most successful international teams in Africa, having won the Africa Cup of Nations seven times and played three times at the FIFA World Cup, the last of which was in Russia in 2018.

Following a recent partnership between Catapult and the African Football Confederation (CAF), Pharaohs have begun using GPS technology to support critical performance metrics, injury risk reduction and return to play initiatives.

As Head of Performance in Egypt, Paul Lorente was responsible for implementing Catapult technology with the team and creating effective athlete monitoring workflows.

“Since we got GPS devices, we have started using them in all our training sessions, and we also use them during our official and friendly games, creating good habits for the players,” explains Lorente.“All of our players use devices during training, of which 30-40% use them during games. (Getting support from an athlete) is challenging, but they feel more comfortable using the devices every day and they understand that getting metrics is very important to us. ”

The use of Catapult technology was particularly important to The Pharaohs in preparation for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. In preparation for the competition, Lorente and the rest of the staff used the system to schedule sessions and closely monitor the number of players leaving after long home seasons.

“We get gaming value from players who use devices while gaming,” says Lorente. “We also prepare workouts and training loads in terms of volume and intensity, depending on the values ​​of the game.

“We also test our players live during training to see how they are feeling. Many of our players have played many games throughout the season, up to 50 or 60 games, so they are really tired and we have to take care of their training load to help them be in the best shape for the African Cup.Nations and advance far in the tournament. ”

Egypt is also using this technology to inform medical decisions and help reduce the risk of injury and manage rehabilitation as needed. In his role as the Doctor of the Pharaohs team, Dr. Mohamed Abu Elela was convinced from his own experience of the benefits of athlete monitoring technology.

“The catapult means we have more objective data on the condition of the players,” says Elela. “We have reliable data, and we can view this data to manage workload and, as a result, reduce the risk of injury.Another major benefit is the return of injured players to pre-injury levels. ”

When it comes to familiarizing players with data, Elela and other technical staff present the information in an appropriate context to help athletes relate it to the situations they encounter on the pitch.

“We provide players with performance data along with physical and technical information,” explains Elela. “It encourages them to improve by linking our data with real life situations.Usually players are most interested in the total distance covered. ”

Want to know how Catapult can help your team gain a competitive edge? Contact us today.

90,000 5 Lessons of Courage from SpaceX Female President Gwynne Shotwell

Gwynne Shotwell was born on November 23, 1963 in Evanston, Illinois, but grew up in Libertyville. Her father was a neurosurgeon, and her mother was an artist, so the girl had no prerequisites for choosing a career in the aerospace industry.Gwynn recalled how everyone around her was jubilant when Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969, but she felt absolutely nothing. No joy, no amazement, no interest in the space achievements of their country. What really interested her as a child was the way cars were built. She knew all brands of cars and loved to assemble all sorts of mechanisms with her own hands. On one occasion, Gwynn even repaired her bike, rejecting her dad’s help.

However, engineering was just a hobby for her, which she preferred to hide from her peers.“As a teenage girl in the late 1970s, I was afraid that I would be perceived as a nerd,” she admitted. But that all changed when Mom took Gwynn to the Society of Women of Engineers convention at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Later, Miss Shotwell said that the main part of the event did not make any impression on her, and “the speakers were boring,” but then a beautiful female engineer, dressed in a perfectly tailored pantsuit, stepped on the stage and began talking about her work with burning eyes.

“I was fascinated by her speech,” Gwynn recalled. “She had her own company that was developing environmentally friendly building materials and solar-powered devices. I was impressed not only by her work, but also by her costume. [Therefore] I approached her after the panel discussion and started talking about her outfit, and then about her profession. Leaving this event, I thought, “Okay, engineers can be cool too. So I will be a mechanical engineer. “

After graduating from high school, Gwynne Shotwell applied to the Faculty of Engineering at Northwestern University. Of the 36 students who studied with her on the same course, there were only three girls. But even as part of a social minority, she did not see this as a problem: the professors took them as seriously as they did the young men, and appreciated their successes. For the first time, Gwynn faced discrimination only in the summer, when she tried to undergo a student practice in a climate company.

Five languages ​​of love in the workplace »Library soteria.ru

6. Fourth Language of Praise – Specific Gifts

John likes his job. He works as a manager at a factory that makes sports equipment – helmets for football players, baseball players and cyclists; shoulder pads for football players, various types of equipment for hockey players, lacrosse and other sports. Over the years, John has gone from a mechanic to a foreman, and then a shop manager, and for five years now he has been working as the managing director of the transportation division.

John’s factory is owned by the same family, and the people who have worked in the factory are highly regarded by its owners. He is well paid and loves everything about his work. He loves the way his boss praises him from time to time, especially when things are going great at work.

But he gets special pleasure when his boss shares with him tickets to various sports events, which are constantly sent to them in the company. Two or three times a year, he is presented with tickets to the games of various local teams.He especially loves it when he gets tickets to games in Ohio, and can go there, since he himself grew up in this state.

It’s easy for the family of the factory owners to give him tickets to sporting events, but it means a lot to John when he can take his son to a game or go to a match with a couple of his friends. Since the owners rarely donate tickets to people outside of the family, the fact that he receives them means that John is indeed held in high esteem. It is clear that specific gifts are John’s primary language.

POWER OF SPECIFIC GIFTS

Choosing the right gifts for a person who prefers this particular language clearly speaks of your gratitude, high appreciation of this person and your desire to inspire him. By the way, your gifts to a person who does not appreciate them will not make any impression on him, and the wrong choice may even offend him. The problem of finding the right gift for the right person has caused many executives to stop giving gifts to their employees at Christmas, anniversaries, and their birthdays.However, if you do not give gifts as a way of expressing appreciation entirely, your employees will feel disadvantaged.

Julia, an administrator at a dental clinic, said: “Verbal praise is good. As for the special time, I don’t care who I spend time with at work (other than, perhaps, a couple of my closest friends). If someone offers me their help in the work, I will not be impressed either. I prefer to do my job myself.

But if I receive a gift certificate for lunch in a restaurant or tickets to the theater or cinema – this is really a sign that I am appreciated and want to please me. “

When we tell people about the concept of expressing gratitude in the form of specific gifts, the eyes of many light up and they say, “Yes, indeed. Better to get recognition in the form of a specific gift! ” However, we are not talking about salary increases or bonuses. Of course, many people would appreciate the pay raise. However, for the overwhelming majority of organizations in modern conditions, this is simply impossible.

Financial compensation usually directly depends on the position of the person and on the fulfillment of clearly defined obligations.In addition, many organizations cannot afford to financially reward good employees, especially since such rewards increase over time. In today’s economy, many workers are not expecting a big pay rise, they are grateful to have a job. However, they still want to feel important. In the case of volunteer work, for example in a non-profit organization, in ministry at churches or in canteens, reward with money is generally not accepted.It’s ridiculous for a volunteer to be handed a thank-you card with a twenty-dollar bill inserted in it, if he feeds homeless people on holidays. Here, gratitude should be expressed in a language that is acceptable to him, and in this case we are talking about specific gifts.

GIFTS: WHO AND WHAT

There are two key ingredients that will make gifts truly inspiring for recipients.

First, gifts should only be given to people who value them.If an employee is indifferent to such courtesies, then you better figure out his main language of praise. For some people, gifts are really important, while for others they mean almost nothing. In this book, we emphasize that if you want your employees to see that you value them, you need to learn to speak their gratitude language. If these are gifts, then you need to choose a gift that will mean a lot to that person.

If you buy gifts for all your employees for Christmas, some of them will appreciate your attention more than others.Moreover, some will try to immediately get rid of your gifts, because they have no meaning to them. In this case, your efforts and money were wasted. Therefore, it is much better to determine who exactly belongs to the category of people for whom the language of specific gifts is the main one, after which you need to choose the appropriate gift for them.

The second key ingredient for effectively expressing appreciation through specific gifts is this. Only what a person appreciates should be given.Two ballet tickets won’t warm you up and won’t make sense to some people. Some women will get cold just at the thought of someone inviting them to go to a soccer game on a cold winter day. But if you give ballet tickets to a person who loves him, then you can express your gratitude to him in such a way that he will remember your signs of attention for a long time. The same can be said for football tickets. If you are a manager, you may be thinking, “But this is too difficult.I don’t have time to figure out who wants what. Therefore, it is better not to give anything to anyone at all. ” We understand your confusion, but if you make that decision, some of your employees will feel left out.

The critical importance of giving the right gifts to the right people has led us to compile the Praise Motivation Topical List. It is good if you know that a person’s primary or secondary language is specific gifts, but you are still faced with the dilemma of what to give to such a person.

But if the manager knows which gift the person will appreciate, then he has a means by which he can express his gratitude to the employee. We’ve found that managers and executives are willing to invest time, effort, and money to give people what they love. An up-to-date list of gifts will help you with this.

NOT JUST A MUG

People who do not understand the true spirit of giving gifts are often mistaken in their attempts to give something to other people.They do not understand that it is important not just to give their gift. The fact is that specific gifts are a very effective way to show that the giver has spent time and energy thinking about what to give this person. He tried to understand what he would like, what he was interested in, and how exactly could one show that he was appreciated and respected?

Conversely, thoughtless gifts bought in a hurry as a tribute to tradition or out of a sense of duty, so to speak, without a soul, not only do not hit the target – they convey a negative message.Such a gift becomes a formal act, but in no way an expression of sincere gratitude. It does not improve relationships between people. Many companies give their employees and customers coffee mugs, calendars, pens with information about themselves. For the company, perhaps, this is a clever advertising move, but such gifts will not become a sign of attention and gratitude. If you want your client to feel significant, it’s best to give them something they really appreciate. Will this require additional time and effort? Oh sure.You can get the information you need by conducting a survey among your employees and customers:

• Which musician can you list as your Favorite Artist?

• What is your favorite magazine?

• What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

• What are your favorite sports teams?

• What are your favorite restaurants?

• What events do you like to attend?

With this information, you will be able to choose the right gift, and your employees and customers will definitely approve them.

When we talk about specific gifts as a means of demonstrating appreciation, it is very important to understand that a gift is not always a “thing”. In fact, more often than not, gifts that fall under the category of “experiences” are valued more than things. Such gifts include, for example:

• Tickets for sporting events (basketball, hockey, football).

• Gift certificates or coupons for restaurants.

• Tickets for cultural events (theater, art exhibition, concert).

• Certificates for spa, nail salon or golfing at a local club.

• Coupons for purchasing discounted items.

• Gift vouchers to shops selling household goods or sports equipment.

Such gifts are the most popular among our employees. Please also see the information “The Art of Giving Gifts Without Buying“ Things ”” in our Appendix in the section “Praise Tools” at the end of the book or on our website (www.appreciationatwork.com/resources).

There is another problem for managers. They need to find time to purchase gift certificates or coupons for certain events. Fortunately, a lot of this can be bought online. But for people whose work does not allow access to the Internet during the working day, buying gifts can be a really daunting task (which means it just might not happen). In all fairness, some executives simply don’t have the extra money to personally fund the purchase of gifts for their employees.

In one factory, we worked with the leadership team to resolve this issue. The management concluded that it was necessary to support the middle managers who wanted to express gratitude to the workers in the form of specific gifts. To do this, they set aside a small amount of money (initially just $ 500) and sent the HR director along with line managers to figure out what gifts and tickets for what events workers might like. After that, the director of the personnel department bought gifts and gave them to the bosses so that they would distribute them to their subordinates.Moreover, the bosses were also asked to write thank-you notes by hand so that the gifts were individualized and showed that time and energy were spent on their choice. The bosses appreciated the practical and financial support from the company, and the workers were frankly delighted with the gifts and the recognition they showed.

BY THE WAY: “FREE DAY”

AS A GIFT

We are often asked one question: “Can I get a free day as a gift? Is there such an alternative in your Praise Motivation? ” Young workers are more likely to ask this question because this group values ​​free time highly.

In discussing this issue with young workers, as well as business owners and managers, we realized that a free day fits well into the category of benefits that people get. This is the gift. And if people are allowed to leave early or given a paid day off after completing a major project, they see it as a valuable and meaningful gift.

MARIA: NO TIME FOR STORES

Maria loves to shop.However, she is a very frugal person. Her children are already in college and she is in a position of responsibility as the head of customer relationship management at a large financial firm. It is difficult for her to find time for shopping.

One day her leader Germaine discovered that Maria loves to receive gifts and is very fond of shopping, but she does not have time for that. Then he organized her a free paid day and presented a certificate worth fifty dollars to visit the largest mall in the city.Maria was so happy, as if she were a sweet tooth, who was brought to the ice cream maker and told that you can eat as much as you want. She looked forward to the day when she could go to the store, and for weeks before this event she spoke only of him. Germaine became the best boss in the world for her. Of course, she received a huge boost of motivation and was ready to work even better.

Such is the power of specific gifts for those who value them. When you find the right gift for a person, they will feel happy and energized to perform even better.

WHAT GIFTS TO GIVE TO COLLEAGUES?

In this chapter, we mainly talked about gifts that leaders give to their subordinates. However, gifts from colleagues make a lot of sense too. If you know that one of your employees appreciates gifts, and you decide to pay attention to him in this way, you thereby begin to build friendships, and they, in turn, create a positive working climate in the team. Sometimes people are ready to part with money if they know that one of their colleagues will appreciate their gift.This is why it is so important that people share with each other the results they have received from the Praise Motivation Questionnaire and the Live List. With this information, people will know exactly what gift will make sense to their companion. They will also know which colleagues feel unimportant to receive gifts as an expression of appreciation. We are confident that this valuable information will help colleagues create a climate of mutual acceptance in a sincere and open manner.

A LITTLE ABOUT PERSONAL

1.Based on a ten-point score, how important do you think it is to receive gifts?

2. If you gave gifts of seven or more points, what kind of gifts would you say are worthwhile?

3. What gifts have you received from colleagues or superiors over the past year? How did you feel about it?

4. What gifts have you presented to your colleagues over the past year? How did the person receiving your gift react?

5. Do you have a colleague whom you especially value? Does he give anything to other people at work? If so, perhaps you should ask him, “If I wanted to give you something as a token of my gratitude to you, what gift would you like to receive?” Or listen to his comments in normal conversations.When such people say: I wanted to get this and that, ”mark this to yourself, and follow this information in the process of purchasing gifts for them.

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