Goals & Process
Somebody in this room is going to question the standard at some point this season.
Maybe they already have. The standard is high. It’s demanding. It requires something that is genuinely difficult to sustain. And when things are hard or the results aren’t there, the temptation to lower the bar — to make the standard more comfortable — is real.
I want to talk about why we hold it anyway.
Read this passage slowly.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.
1 Corinthians 9:24–25 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Strict training. The standard that produces championship-level performance is not comfortable. It was never designed to be comfortable. It was designed to produce the highest possible level of development — and that requires a level of demand that goes beyond what is comfortable.
The standard exists for a reason. And the reason is not to make people feel the organization is serious, or to demonstrate the coach’s authority, or to create a culture of suffering. The reason is that the performance you are trying to produce requires the preparation this standard creates.
Lower the standard and you lower the ceiling. Not immediately — the short-term relief of a more comfortable standard can feel like progress. But over time, the team that stops demanding the highest level of preparation produces a lower level of performance than the one that held it. The ceiling drops with the standard.
Hold the standard because of what it produces. Not because it’s the rule. Because it’s the mechanism. The discomfort is not the point — the performance it enables is the point. And the performance is worth the discomfort.
Lower the standard and you lower the ceiling. Not immediately — over time. The performance is worth the discomfort the standard requires.
Where is the standard in this program being tested right now? And what’s the case for holding it — not because it’s required, but because of what it produces?
Makes the team articulate the reason for the standard, not just acknowledge it. Understanding the why makes the standard more sustainable.
Hold the standard because of what it produces. The performance is worth the discomfort.
Most useful when the standard is actively being questioned or when the team’s commitment to it has dipped. The why question is more effective than the authority argument.