by Coach Mat | 3 Nov, 2018 | Attention/Focus, Boredom, Distraction, Kaizen (Continual Improvement), Mastery Process, Meditation, Practice Examples, Student Stories
Finding Acceleration Again The other day I was helping one of my students, whose challenging life circumstances in the last few months had regretfully kept him away from the pool too much. He was in need of tune up on some skills that were progressing previously, but...
by Coach Mat | 19 May, 2018 | About Coach Mat, Boredom, Burn Out, Design Principles, Distraction, Failure, How To Train?, Kaizen (Continual Improvement), Mastery Process, Motivating Swimmers, Motivation, Plateau (No Progress)
In the Positive Psychology realm, ‘engagement’ (Seligman) is another term for ‘flow state’ (Csikszentmihaly) which I’ve written quite a lot about in a previous series of posts. An aspect of this engagement or flow is being absorbed in a...
by Coach Mat | 18 Apr, 2018 | About Coach Mat, Boredom, Flow State, Kaizen (Continual Improvement), Meditation, Other Related Sports, Plateau (No Progress), Recommended Reading
This post is Part 4, the last of a 4-part series on The Habit Of Exercise. A cheat-sheet and stripped-down version of what I’ve done to develop a robust habit is provided at the bottom. Keep It Skill-Oriented Activities that don’t require much skill, or...
by Coach Mat | 1 Apr, 2018 | About Coach Mat, Boredom, Burn Out, Fitness Training, Motivation, Other Related Sports, Practice Series, Running, Training Theory, Triathlon, Triathlon Swimming
We are continuing our discussion of The Habit Of Exercise. This is Part 3 of 4. Consistency Is Key We do need variety to keep it interesting and to keep the nervous system stimulated for growth. But it is also very important to be consistent in a regular routine....
by Coach Mat | 11 Feb, 2018 | Aging and Improvement, Boredom, Burn Out, Flow State, Motivation, Student Stories, Training Psychology
I took my boys to the local skate park on a rare sunny winter day recently. They like riding their pro scooters there and practicing mild versions of the tricks they’ve seen on Youtube. I was watching them practice as well as the dozen other boys gathered there,...
by Coach Mat | 24 Sep, 2017 | Boredom, Flow State, Kaizen (Continual Improvement), Motivation, Recommended Reading, Training Psychology
We come to the final part of our discussion of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s eight “characteristic dimensions of the flow experience” outlined in his book The Evolving Self. Let’s review… Why pursue flow state? Because flow makes it feel...
