Kara Lawson coached Jayson Tatum at Boston Celtics and has a message for her young players at Duke…
Consistency…consistency…consistency…
Consistency of work ethic!
But let’s be clear - consistency of work ethic requires consistency of rest. It requires consistency of recuperation.
Rest and recuperation - perhaps the most underestimated tools for high performance!
To practice and train effectively - with attention, high activation, and a positive and proactive sense of action-execution so that learning is embedded and performance is promoted…players need a clear mind. They need energy - for physical readiness and mental alertness. They need a fully charged brain with the capacity to reflect in the moment, analyse, adjust, persist through frustration, and go again and again and again.
What Kara Lawson demands - consistency - requires a big supply of sugars and glucose to power the brain…if for no other reason than to actually make consistent hard work actually worthwhile. Consistent hard work is wasted if it is consistently hard yet sloppy work. One hour of good quality work is better than two hours of distracted, disjointed work.
Jayson Tatum didn’t just turn up consistently. He turned up consistently energised to get the most from his consistent practice. And that requires consistent, quality rest and recuperation…