How do you eat an elephant? One piece at a time. This is an example of what coaches say when we are stuck on simplistic. To be simplistic is to treat complex issues and problems as if they are simpler than they really are.
How do you find simple solutions out of complex issues? Chunking.
I believe all things that are simple start out as simplistic. Then, simplistic things must be intentionally challenged, complicated and chunked in order to become simple to do.
Chunking is a process by which small individual pieces of information are bound together to create a meaningful whole later on in memory.
Human perception relies on chunking up lots of information into smaller units to make sense of it. For example, you might use “homes” to remember the names of the Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, etc.) or “Never Eat Soggy Waffles” to remember cardinal directions north, east, south and west.
How many times have you heard a coach say, “Trust the process,” only for him to never tell you what the process is.
Here are a few examples of chunking that helps me coach and lead with excellence.
I have internalized our L.E.A.D. Center For Youth core values and I teach our program participants to remember them as “Every HIL Seems Tall.”
- Excellence
- Humility
- Integrity
- Loyalty
- Stewardship
- Teamwork
The methodology I created for our baseball training business, Diamond Directors is ATBATS:
- Assessment
- Training for strength
- Basics
- Approach
- Training for skill
- Situational hitting
Systematize your stuff if you want to have success:
- Identify all the stuff that needs to be considered
- Make the stuff specific which will remove all the stuff that’s not necessary to do
- Sequence the specific stuff
- Make sure that the sequenced specific stuff is simple to do
I didn’t create S.M.A.R.T. Mapping, but I use it a lot because it is so simple. S.M.A.R.T. Goals help ensure your objectives are attainable within a certain time frame.
- Make your goals Specific
- Then make ’em Measurable
- They gotta be Achievable
- They gotta be Relevant
- And if they ain’t Time-Bound, you will be relying on hope and chance
A good process will give you:
- Simplicity
- Scalability
- Efficiency
- Profitability
This may sound like good simple chunking for a business because it is. I challenge you to start treating your baseball and personal development like a business by challenging your coaches to coach you using a tried and true process.
As Alfred, Lord Tennyson once said, “Words, like nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within.”
Complexity is the state of being complicated.
Chunking is a process by which small individual pieces of a set of information are bound together to create a meaningful whole later on in memory.
Efficiency is about removing wasted actions.
Profitability is to have financial gain.
Methodology is a system of methods used to achieve a goal.
Process is a series of actions taken to achieve a goal.
Scalability is the capacity for something to be changed in size or scale.
Simplicity is when something is easy to understand and do.
Simplistic is to treat complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler than they really are.
Systematize is to create an organized system.
For more information, visit L.E.A.D. Center for Youth today.
C.J. Stewart has built a reputation as one of the leading professional hitting instructors in the country. He is a former professional baseball player in the Chicago Cubs organization and has also served as an associate scout for the Cincinnati Reds. As founder and CEO of Diamond Directors Player Development, C.J. has more than 22 years of player development experience and has built an impressive list of clients, including some of the top young prospects in baseball today. If your desire is to change your game for the better, C.J. Stewart has a proven system of development and a track record of success that can work for you.
