Count On It

by Ryan Krzykowski

“What gets measured, gets done.”  I don’t remember the first time I heard that expression, but each time I do it seems more and more true.  At least in my life it goes right next to other expressions/sayings such as “If you aim at nothing, that’s what you’ll hit”.  Ideas like these are one reason why we at Community for Coaches place such great emphasis on an individual’s Coaching Purpose Statement.  I’ve said many times, that coaching became an entirely new experience for me once my purpose was crystallized.  Having in the front of my mind, every day, in every interaction that my goal as a Coach is to help young people develop a love for sports and for others has proven to be invaluable over the past 5 1/2 years.
At the same time, if the goals we can set are supposed to be measurable and attainable, it’s really hard to gauge how much love for sports and love for others I am helping young people develop.  Clearly, it’s going to take many years before the achievement of the stated purpose can be determined.

There’s a balance here.  It feels like a cop out to say that since my goals can’t truly be measured for another 15 years or more, then I won’t worry about them today.  And yet, that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t measure them for another 15 years or more.  So I’m back to that question, what can I be counting today that will facilitate love for sports and love for others?  I can make it a goal to have two conversations each week with every player on our team, (maybe even making sure that one of those conversations has nothing to do with sports).  That seems like a pretty healthy short term goal.  Here’s another — I can make it a goal to tell ten kids each week that I’m really happy I get to be their Coach.  Or maybe let ten parents know each month that their son is a valuable part of the program.

Obviously, this is a work in progress and I need to do more thinking on the subject.  I just know that for many/most of us, having short term goals that feed into a long term vision makes a lot of sense.  What about you?  What is your stated purpose?  Long term vision for players?  Short term measurables that drive the long term vision?  Think about it.