The Little Things Are The Big Things
I have read a lot about and learned so much from Coach John Wooden, but perhaps one of my favorite stories is the very first lesson he would always teach his new players at the beginning of every season. What do you suppose this legendary, multiple championship winning coach considered to be a most important lesson to give to his players on DAY ONE of the season?
How to put on your socks and shoes.
What!? That is correct. Coach Wooden is actually very well-known for his "socks-and-shoes" lessons he gave over the years. If you've never heard about it, here is how it went.
Coach Wooden would stand before his players and say, "You know, basketball is a game that is played on a hardwood floor. To be good, you have to change your direction, change your pace, move quickly from side-to-side... All of that movement is really hard on your feet. Your feet are very important. And if you don't have every wrinkle out of your sock, then bad things could happen to your feet."
Coach would then have one of his players demonstrate how he puts on his socks. He'd walk over to him and say, "Now, pull it up in the back, pull it up real good, real strong. Now run your hand around the little toe area and make sure there are no wrinkles and then pull it back up again. Check the heel area. We don't want any sign of a wrinkle anywhere in the sock."
Let's pause here for a moment. Some of you might be thinking, "Okay, this is ridiculous and a waste of practice time. What is the point of this? What is it actually accomplishing? This is just theatrics..." I would imagine that his college players, some of which would go on to be among the greatest basketball players in the world, probably also thought he was a little bit crazy for these "how to put on your socks" lessons.
So, why did he do it? What was the point?
As the lesson continued, Coach Wooden would say something like this: "Wrinkles in your sock can lead to you getting blisters. Blisters can lead to you getting injured. Getting injured leads to time off and loss of playing time. Time off and loss of playing time can lead to our team losing games."
Next lesson, how to tie your shoes... Coach Wooden would have them open their basketball shoes very wide and slide their foot in. Then he would say, "Now don't grab the laces way up by your ankle, go down to the beginning, eyelet by eyelet... grab each one and tighten it. Now pull the laces and tie them like this..." The coach would walk every player through how to double-tie his shoelaces so they wouldn't come undone. "There's always a danger of your shoes becoming untied when you are playing," he said. "If they become untied, I may have to take you out of the game. If they become untied during practice, I may have to take you out. You miss practice, you're going to miss playing time. You miss playing time, then our team could suffer."
If you feel like this example is just a little extreme and maybe even a bit ridiculous, then you are the very person who needs to pay close attention to this article. That is, if you desire success.
Lack of attention to the small details, those things that seem "meaningless" or trivial, will ultimately lead to disappointment and unreached potential in the bigger things. I shared Coach Wooden's socks-and-shoes example to illustrate that the LITTLE things ARE the BIG things, because they are directly connected. Little things influence your success (or failure) in the big things.
Don't miss what I am saying. I am not speaking abstractly here. How you go about the little tasks is not merely an illustration of how you go about the bigger tasks. But, how you go about the little things will directly impact your actual experience in the bigger things. Everything is connected.
Simply put, you do not enjoy the full potential of the big things you desire when you are too relaxed in the small things, assuming they do not matter as much. In light of this, we must change our perspective of the small things. If we want to be the best we can possibly be, then the small things ARE the big things.
You cannot claim to be pursuing excellence in a big and prominent area of life but then slack off in other smaller, less noticeable areas of life. Excellence is a lifestyle, not a one-time event. True excellence is found in the way you go about the mundane routines of daily life – the little things. Being the best you can be is a way of life, not just something you do when you know someone is watching, or whenever you are doing something that you happen to enjoy. The difference between GOOD and GREAT is in how you choose to go about doing the things that are less enjoyable, less glorious, and less obvious.
In sports, a good and relevant topic to consider as an example of going about "little" things in the same way and with the same effort as the "big" things is HUSTLE. Some players choose when they should hustle and they select certain times that they determine are not as necessary to hustle. For these players, hustle is something that gets turned on and turned off as needed. Some plays obviously require hustle, so they turn hustle on for those plays. Other times hustle does not seem necessary. These are players who hustle during the "big" moments, but feel it is unnecessary (and perhaps even a little silly) to hustle during the "little" moments.
Other (fewer) players, choose to hustle ALL THE TIME. These are the ones who are easily noticed because they are giving 100% effort during times when the common player is relaxing. These are the ones who never have to be reminded to hustle. Why? Because they always are anyway. There is no "gray" area for them. Every moment is a 100% maximum effort moment. Therefore, they will never be caught off-guard during the game on a play that required hustle in order to succeed. They instinctively hustle on every play, so they don't have to wonder, "is this a play on which I need to hustle or not?" The answer is always, YES.
These players get talked about. Often, by their peers they are talked about in a derogatory way. They get made fun of because they sprint on plays that don't "require" sprinting. They are just not as "cool" as all the other players, I suppose, who decide for themselves when it is a good time to hustle.
Players who hustle at all times also get talked about by those who have the power to decide when they play or if they are going to get to play at the next level. There is a significant difference, however, in the way these people talk about such players. They speak with high praise of the player who hustles at all times. This is exactly the kind of player they are looking for. "Cool" guys come a dime a dozen. They are COMMON. And the common never stand out or impress. They just blend in with everyone else. People who excel, who turn heads, who reach new heights of excellence... are people who treat the LITTLE things as BIG things.
Coaches, until you believe in and embrace the reality that the little things ARE the big things and you are intentional about practicing those little things and holding your players accountable to the little things, then your team will not reach its full potential. For example, in baseball what are some things that seem like little things? I'm talking about things that we often feel are a "given" and don't need as much of our focus and attention. I'll suggest a few:
Pregame and pre-practice warmup (a time that is too often a "shoot the bull" session for coaches while players are part socializing and part getting loose in the outfield)
Throwing and catching the ball properly (the two most important skills for excellent defense, yet the two most taken for granted)
Base running (leadoffs, secondary leads, dirt-ball reads, reads on batted balls, watching the ball and/or looking for base coach, proper path when running around bases, etc.)
Non-active moments (on-deck, in the hole, in the dugout, etc. – these are some of the most underutilized times because we rarely think about their importance)
Players, until you believe in and embrace the reality that the little things ARE the big things, then you need to understand that you are seriously limiting your potential and if you have BIG goals, you are probably going to need to adjust them because in order to reach big goals you have to be excellent in the little things. It's not an option. But the good news is, it IS a choice. It is always your choice. There is never an acceptable excuse for your lack of effort. You either want to or you do not. Effort is a choice that is 100% within your control. So when you get called out for a lack of effort, there is no one else to blame. YOU are the very person who was in control of that effort.
Whenever I have had a player who treated the little things the same as the big things, I knew that was going to be a special player. What are some examples of the kinds of "little" things I am talking about? Here is a brief list (BEWARE: when you read some of these things you might be tempted to roll your eyes and think, "Seriously?!" Yep, seriously!). I will list them in the form of questions:
Do you make yourself get out of bed in the morning?
Do you make your bed every morning?
Do you choose to get more sleep or play more Fortnite (or include any other time-wasting activity here)?
Do you turn down sugary drinks that are unhealthy for your body?
Do you choose the healthier selection of foods?
Do you resort to eating fast food?
Do you choose to work out even when you don't feel like it?
Do you choose to get in some extra practice reps even when no one else is around?
Do you show up when it's voluntary?
Do you show up early or late (right on time is late, be 10 minutes early)?
Do you read instead of watch TV or Netflix?
Do you ask questions that will help you learn more about what you want to be great in?
Do you sit in the front of class or in the back of class?
Are you intentional about being the best you can be in your school work?
When your "friends" make poor, unwise, and unhealthy choices do you dismiss yourself from them or go along with them?
Are you a leader or a follower?
Do you make your own decisions or are you swayed by others?
During games, do you "check out" when you are not playing or when you're not "in the action," or do you stay mentally focused and figure out ways to get better during those moments?
Do you take responsibility or do you blame others?
Are you intentional about being positive or do you choose complaining?
Do you receive coaching well, knowing it is to make you better or do you get defensive?
During games, do you sprint at times when most players walk or jog?
During games, do you dive, sell out and give extra effort even when the score is lopsided or when it seems like it doesn't matter?
Is your uniform typically dirty after practice and games?
I could go on with questions like these forever. The truth is, the "common" high school-aged athlete does not answer most of those questions favorably. Which is why the common high school athlete remains average. Let's just be honest. The athlete who takes seriously the little things that everyone else rolls their eyes to and says, "It's not a big deal," is an uncommon person, but he or she is one who is going to do bigger and better things as a result of their commitment to the little things.
Make no mistake. This is true 100% of the time.