"Bring your A Game" is NOT helpful advice

You hear it all the time.

We all want to be our best, to perform at our highest potential everyday, in every game. But can we really expect that? Certainly there is merit is aiming high and setting audacious goals. Attainable goals are important too though. Achieving goals provides positive reinforcement which keeps us motivated. So while we continue to strive to be our best let us consider a different framework as well.

The Inchworm

The "Inchworm Concept" was introduced to me by Jared Tendler in his book The Mental Game of Trading.

Get a mental image an inchworm. Now consider the way it walks. What if it is stretched out flat? What must it do to move forward?

Now think of the inchworm at mid-stride. It's like bell curve.

Separate the curve into three parts. Your B Game is in the middle, at the peak. Your A game is on the right and your C game is on the left. Like the inchworm when stretched out flat, you can not improve while flat. You have to bring the C Game in closer. Only then will you be free to propel the A Game further ahead.

So shift focus from your best and consider your worst.

• How does it look?

• What mistakes were made?

• Is there a pattern?

While improving your C Game you will simultaneously improve your A Game.