How many times have you tried to sit down at a brainstorm session to solve a problem with no real viable solutions. Yet, in the shower the next day an idea better than anything you and your team had thought of pops up in your mind. What if I told you that there was a way to access this state of mind every single day? This is where mindfulness and meditation comes into play.
When we can create stillness in our mind we create the space for ideas to unfold. For creativity to take place.
It’s a state of almost non-thinking. When an artist creates his best piece of work he is accessing a state of mind that is letting his paint brush flow. When a writer develops a great article or entire book his words are coming from a state of flow. He’s not consciously thinking or strategizing what to put on the paper. Yes, you have to have an intention of what you’re trying to solve or write, but it’s about putting in the work from a state of flow and trusting the process. When I was writing my book the best stuff that I wrote always came from that place. The best pieces in the book I have no recollection of even writing.
In basketball players make the best moves when they are playing in the zone. They aren’t thinking about what move they are going to make when trying to beat their defender to the basket. It completely comes from a state of flow or being in the zone. And, almost all of the time, the moves that make Sportscenter arent’t the ones that were practiced. They are the most creative plays of all because they come from a place of empty mind.
Of trusting your training to build a foundation for which you can then innovate.
Most coaches and skill development trainers try to control every single aspect of the game, practice or workout. They want to know everything that’s going to happen. But, players don’t perform their best under those circumstances. They need the freedom to make mistakes and to grow from them. Without freedom there cannot be growth. So one thing we do in our workouts is mix in drills where there is no specific instruction as to what kind of move to make. This allows players to practice that creativity.
It’s not so much about practicing the move rather than practicing the state of mind from which the move came from.
When we have a mindfulness practice we are training our mind to be “in the zone”. The state of non-thinking to allow our best ideas, work and moves to flow from. Join us at our Coaches Skills and Leadership or Point Guard Blueprint Academy this spring to learn how to implement this practice for yourself or your team.