Jen’s Monthly Update…

 

Luke and I recently finished up a year of house sitting all around the USA. We lived in Colorado (twice!), California, Texas and Florida!

Austin and Durango were by far our favorites!

Although camping/hiking through Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks & playing volleyball with new friends on the beaches of Santa Monica are still some of our most cherished memories.

For those who aren’t aware, Luke and I are married! We celebrated 3 years back in August!

In fact, Luke just received his Green Card about a month ago – woohoo!

Okay that’s enough of an update for now.

Onto the monthly recaps & tools below.

A Quote That Inspired Me This Month…

“I would rather you get a taste of your own power than be full on mediocrity.”

~Robin Arzon

Videos I Created Over the Past Month…

Jen’s Monthly Recap.

Girl Soccer Player in High School

What we worked on together:

• Her parents asked me to help her organize and distill the first draft of her goals for 2024 into a simple, step-by-step plan. Her family does this every year – creating their joint family goals as well as individual goals.

Why did we work on this?

• While her goals were good, they lacked key characteristics such as specificity, measurability and a timeframe to make them truly excellent.
• In addition, while I celebrated her for the big effort she invested in writing down a long list of action items to move her toward each goal, her original plan lacked organization, clarity & simplicity.

How we resolved this:

• First I taught her about S.M.A.R.T. goals. Just like putting an exact address into a GPS significantly increases the chances of us arriving at our desired destination (through reverse engineering the steps from exactly where we want to be to where we are now), it’s SO essential to create specific, highly detailed goals.
• To help her refine her action plan and lock in on the most powerful actions that would get her the majority of her results, I also taught her about the 80-20 Rule and the difference between outcome goals and possess goals.
• We also co-created a monthly accountability strategy to ensure that she’s regularly celebrating her progress and solving the problems that will inevitably pop up along the way.

Notes from me:

• I saw Tony Robbins being interviewed recently and he said something to the effect of… “Check in on your goals each month and you’ll never have a bad year. Check in every week, you’ll never have a bad month.”
• This lit me up with energy because I’ve personally experienced the truth and power of this, especially recently over the past few months, as I’ve been regularly checking in on my goals and problem-solving/course correcting what’s not working each week.

Boy Soccer Player in High School

Outcomes he wanted to accomplish during our session:

1. How to confidently study for all of his tests & quizzes over the upcoming semester (he just started a new semester at school)
2. Creating a technical training plan to develop his skills as a center forward in soccer

Why did we work on this?

1. He wanted to be able to learn and memorize more material faster. Also, his grades had slipped a bit recently due to an increase in his academic workload.
2. He has an upcoming tryout next month and he wants his skills as a center forward to be highly polished and dialed in.

How we accomplished the above outcomes:

1. I taught him how to use a study resource that I created that is an alternative to flashcards and Quizlet. This resource is powerful because it utilizes the power of active recall AND by the end of each semester, all of your study guides for every single class are organized in one place (a virtual, google sheet document). So when it’s time to study for finals, it’s a total breeze! One of my other teenagers (who used to religiously study with Quizlet) told me this after a few months of using this study resource: “It’s the best study tool I’ve ever used; it’s all in one spot; it’s so convenient.”
2. We reviewed the roles and responsibilities specific to his center forward position in the context of his unique strengths and his opportunity areas. Then I created 2 customized, weekly technical sessions to do on his own between now and the tryout next month.

Student-athlete’s biggest takeaway:

• “That study guide – it’ll help me stay a lot more organized in all of my classes.”

Some notes from me:

• Proper organization, time management & study skills are game changers for teenagers in that they massively reduce stress levels and help them get better results in less time while feeling more at ease.
• I love this quote that I recently heard from Harvard graduate and USWNT soccer player Midge Purce: “Practice is for showing the coach how much you’ve been practicing on your own.” If your athlete wants to get to the next level in their sport (like my teenage client who has club tryouts next month) then training on your own, outside of team practices, is a non-negotiable. It’s not necessarily about the quantity of the training, and much more so about the quality and specificity of it, to develop yourself in the most thoughtful and intentional ways.
• At the simplest level, encourage your athlete to do some research to understand the specific roles and responsibilities for their sport and position. Then invite them to evaluate how they’re currently doing in those areas using the green, yellow, red ranking system. Are they consistently executing in practices and games, or very inconsistent, or somewhere in between? Then decide on the most important areas/skills to gradually develop over time. This is one way to increase the likelihood of having the playing time and impact you most desire!

It is an honor to have you here, reading the words I write, and watching the videos I create.

If you’re still wanting more you can go check out our Evolving Athlete Academy & Her Power Academy YouTube Channel & learn more about working with us 1-1 here.

We offer mentorship, mindset & performance coaching, health coaching & life coaching for student-athletes.

While we primarily work with soccer players these days, we’ve worked with a variety of athletes such as taekwondo, softball, track, cross country and counting!

Warmly,

Jen

P.S. – Know a parent or family who you think would resonate with & benefit from this newsletter? Please forward it to them :-) And let them know that they can join our newsletter directly by going here.