Push The Button

Without doubt some of the best books that I've read have been written by Seth Godin. If you've not read any of his material I suggest you take a look.

Last week I read one of his blog posts that struck a cord. In his post 'Buzzer Management' Seth talks about the need to 'crack on' because often when you wait around to know exactly what the answer is, someone else has beaten you to the punch.

'no musician is sure her album is going to be a hit. No entrepreneur is certain that every hire is going to be a good one. No parent can know that every decision they make is going to be correct.'

In performance sport we often hear the term 'evidence based' practice. Some practitioners are almost paralysed by it and won't apply a new training strategy until the scientific community have validated it. Whilst this may be a sensible approach, there are times when you need to 'hit the buzzer' and get in there first. Sometimes you need to 'press the buzzer' before you know the answer.

Much of what we do is backed by science but there are times when 'practice based evidence' is far more helpful than evidence based practice. If you wait for science to confirm the theory, the competition will have moved on and you will have been left behind.

I'll leave Seth Godin to give you his final thought on the matter.

'The act of buzzing leads to leaping, and leaping leads to great work. Not the other way around'.