Be where your feet are.
When I first got involved in professional sports, I had someone tell me, "there are only two realities as a coach, you are either winning or getting fired".
Though the advice was well-meaning, it hurt my work for the first decade I was in the industry. Here's why, by nature, I can be ambitious; there is a light and dark side to this. The light side is that I am always looking to get better at what I do and know there is much more to learn and apply. The dark side is this temptation to look for the "next thing" and not be grateful and fully engaged with the current assignment.
Part of this is my ego, but the other aspect was this passing comment that generated a mindset where I needed to protect myself; one way of doing this was to look for what was next, so I didn't have to face the potential embarrassment of not being good enough and getting fired.
About ten years ago, a mentor told me, "Walshy, you need to get better at being where your feet are". They we right. By looking for the next thing, I wasn't giving the energy required to be effective at the current thing.
When I have talked to coaches, this is common and is a real conundrum. Part of what makes a coach successful is an internal drive to be the best they can be. The danger is that we lose connection, engagement and, ultimately, impact by looking too far into the future.
A few years ago, I worked with a coach who was applying for many roles. The players and staff didn't take long to pick up on this; they felt they were just a step on a ladder. This competent coach was doing a good job, but this perception of not being fully committed or present placed significant stress on relationships and the environment.
I observed and learnt from this how paramount it is for leaders to be fully engaged with the current opportunity and not distracted by opportunities that may or may not exist. It seems logical, after all, doing a great job now is the only way opportunities may emerge in the future.
This is where coaches need to access and use mental skills. We ask our athletes to be present, to live the moment in front of them and not be distracted by outside realities. As coaches, this is why it is critical to "be where your feet are"; we encounter many potential distractions daily. Some are short-term, but we must monitor if we are subtly distracted by looking for what's next.
HP sports feels like a fickle business, and we all know people who have been "spat out" by the machine. We want to protect ourselves and hedge our future. However, losing connection to the present robs us of impact with people that matter, appreciation of what we get to do and putting down our roots to engage in the task at hand entirely.
Every few days, it might be worth stopping, checking in with yourself and asking if you are where your feet are. The best version of ourselves is the one who is fully present.