A Raven State of Mind

beXtreme and Nockout relaying Richard's session to our freshmeat

Growth mindset theory with Richard Jones

@MrRAJones           www.sweetspotlearning.com

The Ravens believe that mindset can have a huge impact on our performance level. To be a better player does not necessarily mean that you must train harder or longer. Successful training must involve both mental and physical components and a successful coach will teach psychological skills and strategies as well as providing physical challenge and technique. As Ravens we aren’t satisfied with brushing off poor performance as an ‘off day’ and we want to learn how to analyse why things didn’t go our way.

We recently invited Richard Jones an experienced teacher, coach and public speaker to deliver a training session on the transformative power of growth mindset and deliberate practice.

Richard started the session by introducing us to Carol Dweck’s "fixed vs growth" mindset theory debate. 

People with a fixed mindset might believe that:

•      Skills are something that we are born with
•      If someone is successful it is because they are talented
•      Challenges are something to be feared because they might reveal a lack of skill
•      Perseverance will not help
•      Effort is futile. If you can’t do it, you aren’t good enough
•      Failure is blamed on other factors including other people
•      Feedback is taken personally

People with a growth mindset tend to believe that:

•       Skills come after practice
•       Feedback is something that you can learn from
•       Failure is a learning opportunity
•       Skills can be improved
•       Effort leads to mastery
•       Talent is overrated

Richard also explained the myelination process. When we practise something over and over again our brain creates a substance called myelin that grows and wraps around our brain’s axons acting as insulation for our nerve fibres. Axons that are well insulated with myelin send faster impulses to our muscles. In roller derby our skills often require split second timing; therefore, well developed brain pathways are very important. Richard suggested that the best way to increase myelin is through deep and deliberate practice. We should aim to practice skills that are just beyond our comfort zone and failure or falling over should be seen as a learning opportunity. The process of failing and trying again is how our brain creates myelin. In a nutshell, if you can’t do something you need to train your brain to be able to do it.

“Practice makes myelin and myelin makes perfect.” – The Talent Code – Daniel Coyle

Coming out of our comfort zone is an important training requirement for us all including the most experienced of our players who might feel that they have reached the ceiling of their skill level. Richard used the example of James Nottingham’s learning pit to explain this.

Richard explained that excellence is a choice and we need to be prepared to pair up with and learn from people who are better than us. Teaching others will always help the best players to hone their own skills. Personal goals and reflection are vital but it is also important to accept the fact that the myelination process might take four or five years to happen.

The language that we use to talk to ourselves can also be improved through growth mindset training. Richard suggested that simply adding ‘yet’ to our negative self-talk could make a difference to us. “I can’t do it” becomes “I can’t do it..yet” and coaches should aim to specifically praise effort in our sessions.

As individuals we need to take responsibility for our own thoughts and fears and we can’t expect our coaches to emotionally drag us through. We discussed anxiety reducing techniques such as positive imagery, negative thought blocking and rational vs catastrophic thinking. Richard showed us a peak flow arousal chart and suggested that we should be aiming for high somatic arousal with low cognitive anxiety. Basically this means that we should feel physically ready without worrying about it. Some might describe this as being in ‘the zone’.

                                                     

We all want to win, but are we all prepared to hold ourselves to a level of excellence?

We need to be prepared to practise, fail, correct ourselves and ask for advice. We need to overcome challenges, set our own goals and regularly review our performance. Above all else we need to value the skills of our individual players and should not waste time judging ourselves against those who we perceive to be better than us. This is the Raven state of mind!

Big thanks to Rich for a very valuable training session!

Recommended Reading

Bounce – Matthew Syed

The Talent Code – Daniel Coyle

Outliers – Malcom Gladwell

Grit – Angela Duckworth