Professional athletes sometimes get the yips – a type of performance anxiety where they can’t do simple things anymore.
In baseball, catcher Mackey Sasser of the Mets couldn’t throw the ball back to the pitcher just 60 feet away, and had to hit the ball into his glove several times before he could even throw. Steve Sax of the Dodgers also got them one season, when he couldn’t make a simple throw from second base to first.
In golf, Ernie Els had the putting yips (he yipped six putts on the first hole at the 2016 Masters), and even Tiger Woods got the chipping yips.
Basketball and football players aren’t immune to them, missing easy free throws and field goals in each of those sports, respectively.
The yips hit coaches too.
Motivated high-achievers, who have accomplished all sorts of achievements in their lives, can’t do something simple like putting a post up on social media that would take just a minute to do.
I’ve worked with coaches who fall into this trap, and when I probe to try to find out why they’ve hesitated days or weeks on something simple, it usually comes down to one of a few things:
1) They aren’t clear on what they’re offering.
2) They’re worried that people are judging them, and they’ll get negative feedback from doing the action.
So they distract themselves by keeping busy with other things, which alleviates any guilt for not doing the easy task that they should have finished.
Back in the summer, I had a group coaching client who was procrastinating on a simple piece of homework: posting something on Facebook to look for podcast hosts who would like to interview her on their shows.
So I stopped the call and asked her to open her Facebook. I then gave her a minute to type the status up, walking her through it and shooting down reasons she gave for posting it later, and waited until she published it for the world to see.
The cool part was by the time the call was completed she already heard back from two hosts who invited her onto their shows for an interview.
The coaching yips aren’t uncommon, but it’s a lot easier to beat them with help. My 10 Clients In 90 Days program will keep you accountable and make you take consistent action to be successful, so you’ll never have to worry about the yips again.
If you’d like to work directly with me for 12 weeks, the new group starts next week (and will be the last one of the year).
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