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Guest Post Dave Allanson Why does thinking critically matter?
If you fail to forge your own opinions and views, you will be the thrall to someone else who does. That's the life of a coward.
If you fail to examine the ideas and opinions of others, then you will miss out on important concepts. That's the life of a fool.
If you fail to return to your own ideas and opinions and reevaluate them, then you will hold ideas that are no longer true or useful. That’s the life of an idiot.
Mental wellness comes from this concept of living an examined life, a “good” life or a life “well lived”. There is no way to do this without using our capacity for critical thought.
The stoics, and many modern religions, believe this capacity is what sets us apart from the animals. Neuroscientists agree that we appear to be thje only animals aware that we are capable of thought. (Look up) it is also true that the parts of our brain that allow us to do this are more recent to our evolutionary history and are slower to develop than our “older” parts of our brains.
Stoics hold that this critical capacity is the only thing that allows us to lead a good life, because the ability to separate ourselves from our initial emotional responses relies on us thinking things through logically. This is also a key aspect of CBT, a highly successful form of therapy.
Instead of being like a bull, led around by the nose by our own emotions, we become capable of stopping, taking a breath, thinking things through and then choosing how we actually want to act in the world.
Why does this matter for coaches?
If you don't examine and challenge the ideas that sit behind your coaching philosophy, then you just become a copycat falling for whatever the latest influencer or seasoned veteran “coach-daddy” tells you is their answer. Just because they're “successful” it doesn't mean they're right.
Moreover, actual coaching is about problem solving the whole individual in front of you. Not copying the latest super secret Soviet training manual shock method some guy claims he based his training on. He probably wears a Punisher rash guard as a tee shirt in public, because his mental development stopped at 12. He is lame. Ignore him.
It also allows you to decide what tools a renowned coach uses are appropriate for you to try, and what ones don't suit your athletes or context at all. That's your job. You shouldn't be using someone else's tools because “he seems like a nice guy” or “he is my friend”, you should be choosing them because they work for the people you work with in the environments you work with them in.
There are indeed many roads to Rome, but some of them are long and fucking stupid.
Further, if you decide you want to use AI to help in your decision making, then you'd better be confident enough in your own critical thinking to know when it's wrong and ignore it, otherwise you run the risk of letting your athletes pay the price of your own shortcuts.
In short, be a dick. Challenge ideas. Ask why. Push people when they change their argument in the face of criticism, but be open to having the same done to you.
Why does this matter for athletes?
At the highest levels, very little sets athletes apart. Performance is a fickle beast, and sport psychology has been a huge boon over the last 30 years for those who have had the sense to adopt its better ideas.
A well examined life or a life well lived provides a sound foundation to strive for your best from. Basing your performance on things outside of your control is incredibly high risk.
There is a dark side to high level sport. From corrupt governing bodies to managers with no interest in the welfare of their athletes. There are sharks in every human endeavour, especially the ones that make money. Many of these leverage emotion to get what they want, because they know the logic of what they do would make their bad intentions obvious. Being able to think critically and rationally before making a decision empowers you to spot these bullshit artists for what they are.
It will also allow you to judge when a coach or training environment no longer improves you. Sadly, it is rare that our first or favourite sport coach is the one that can develop us from youth into professionalism. It is much better to make these decisions logically, than to rely on our emotions.
Uncertainty can be physically uncomfortable, this is due to a phenomenon called “cognitive dissonance”. This is when the answer, or reality doesn't match our beliefs and/or expectations. The more you use your critical thought the more comfortable you will get with this uncomfortable feeling because you'll be dealing with it regularly. Think of it as a training programme that makes you more robust when uncertainties arise.
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Guest Post Dave Allanson Why does thinking critically matter?
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