Extreme Sports Checklists

When you’re a performance junky, you tend to gravitate to the sexy stuff. Shaun White’s most recent gold medal performance comes to mind. What you saw was a man’s life work showing up on demand when it counts. There are no “do overs” in high performance expressions.

In my leadership seminar I outline the fundamental mechanics  of performance, which is a commitment to the elements in our control. When Shaun White awaited the start of his final run, there were somethings he could control and some he couldn’t. The outcome of his Olympics never was something fully in his control. As he dove into his run, he was managing the same uncertainty that we all face.

When it comes to real world business, we become lustful for results in the same way that we do in sports. Nonetheless, business results follow the same rules as sports like Olympic snowboarding: the best chance for success comes from mastery of process. .

One of these controllable elements in our process is how we prepare. Almost no one who is a performance junky is also an administrative junky. These people who are hungry for trophies and success are rarely hungry to fill out a checklist. So, we don’t. Part of what lets us off the hook is that guys like Shaun White dominate the competition with their performance. There’s no checklist for that. There’s nothing boring or routine about Shaun White barreling down the mountain in 1080 degree spins and flips, right?

Wrong.

Checklists are critical to peak performance. They are a controllable element to performance that one can’t afford to miss at the highest level. After all, this is how pilots fly jet planes and surgeons perform brain surgery. As much of their process that can be controlled via checklist is controlled.

Where’s Shaun’s checklist, you ask? Rewind the tape. He’s standing up there visualizing his run seconds before he begins. His eyes are closed and he’s throwing his shoulder as if mimicking his moves. Watch again. He meticulously sets his face protection the same way every time. There are countless “checklist” items that are bringing as much certainty and familiarity to his uncertain performance as humanly possible.

If you’re into performance, you aren’t above checklists. When you watch a batter’s pre-pitch routine, you’re watching a checklist. When you observe a player at the free throw line, two dribbles, a spin of the ball, a triple bend in the knees, you’re watching a checklist.

Where can you add high performance checklists into your performances?

Logan Gelbrich

@functionalcoach