The Law of Coachability

Some people are born with natural talent and athleticism. Others hone it with dedicated practice (as the saying goes, hard work beats talent). Regardless of your natural abilities or hard-earned athleticism, there's still one critical piece to becoming an elite athlete: Being coachable.

This was Michael Jordan's number one tool to becoming the basketball legend and household name we revere. But it's not just Jordan. Being coachable is any high-level athlete's secret weapon for reaching even greater heights. Do you want to become the ultimate student for your sport?

"My greatest skill was being teachable. I was like a sponge." — Michael Jordan

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Here are our top ten tips for becoming your most coachable self. This is the Law of Coachability.

1. Respect Your Coach

You don’t know what you don’t know. While some coaches might be complete hard-asses, and you may butt heads from time to time, you always need to approach your coach with respect. Acknowledge their experience and expertise. Trust in their guidance and be receptive to their feedback. Each new coach is an opportunity to learn something new or deepen your current knowledge or skills, but you have to be open to it.

2. Open-Mindedness

Speaking of being open to things… Open-mindedness is the next critical aspect of the Law of Coachability. When Phil Jackson took over as coach for the Bulls, he started incorporating mindfulness and meditation into his athletes' regimes. In time, Jordan (and emotional players like Scotty Pippin) benefited greatly from what was initially considered eccentric practices. As a coachable athlete, you need to be willing to try new approaches suggested by your coach, even if they challenge your current methods. Keep an open mind to new ideas, techniques, and strategies.

3. Active Listening

There's a difference between just listening and active listening. When practicing active listening, you're paying close attention to your coach's instructions during training sessions and games and then putting them into action. Listen to any feedback and focus on understanding and internalizing their advice. Back to Michael Jordan, Dean Smith said he'd never seen someone listen to coaches so closely and then go on the court and do what they'd said.

4. Accepting Criticism

We won't sugar-coat it… Criticism sucks. It's hard to hear that you're not doing as well as you want to at something you love. However, having something to improve on can be a good thing, and one way to identify those areas is through criticism. View it as constructive feedback helping you improve rather than a personal attack. Skills can be improved. Put that ego aside and be open to receiving feedback, even when it's challenging to hear.

5. Keep a Positive Attitude

Failure will happen. Injuries. Key moments fumbled. Losses… It’s all part of it. Part of mindfulness training is to boost mental resilience and help athletes maintain a positive attitude. Why? Because you’ll need it to keep going and to remain open to feedback—even in the face of a setback. Approach your training and games with enthusiasm and the determination to learn and grow, even from mistakes.

6. Adaptability

Being coachable means being adaptable. Adapt to new situations, coaching techniques, tactics, and game plans and plays. Especially as a game progresses, new strategies might need to come into play to find success. The better you can adapt (and keep an open mind!), the more coachable you'll be in tricky situations.

7. Self-reflection

We all know the scenes from the sports movies and documentaries: the coach sits everyone down, and you all watch the tape of the game together. Well, there's a reason for it. Self-reflection is a critical part of being coachable. You can't JUST rely on your coach to tell you what to do. Take time to think about your performance and the areas you want to improve. Be proactive in identifying weaknesses and then seeking ways to address them with your coach.

8. Communicate Effectively

You and your coach can't read each other's minds. Learning to communicate effectively with your coach is a critical component of being coachable. And it goes both ways. Foster a collaborative relationship built on trust and transparency. Communicate openly and honestly about your goals, concerns, and areas where you need support. The more you can communicate what you need to improve your game, the more your coach can work with you to ensure it happens.

9. Work Hard

Again, hard work beats talent. Always give your best in training and competition. Show dedication and commitment to your development as an athlete. You only get better by putting in the work. As one coach reminded Michael Jordan, if you want to be the best and achieve great things, you don't have to work as hard as everyone else; you have to work harder.

10. Accountability

The last critical piece to being a highly coachable athlete is taking responsibility for your actions and performance. Show up every time. Be accountable as a teammate, player, or athlete. Follow through on instructions and implement feedback. At the end of the day, your performance comes down to you.

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Embodying these ten tips will help you maximize your coachability and set yourself up for success as a high-level athlete. The Law of Coachability means you recognize that others can help you improve and that much of your success lies in being open to feedback, communicating effectively, and being motivated to move forward positively, even after a setback. By owning your actions and motivation while listening deeply to those around you, you can achieve even more outstanding results as a highly coachable athlete.

“Average players want to be left alone, good players want to be coached, great players want the coach to tell you the truth every day on every play because they want to be perfect.” — Doc Rivers