What Else You Should be Doing at Practice

What is The January Project? Courtesy of PBNation.com In 2016 Ben Carroll (featured in the above video) played every day of January. A week later he won a Twister CS1 in a one on one tournament. Since then he has gone on to have a successful season with the New York Outlaws, winning the 2016 Nashville Open, getting to travel to Colombia as a guest on Cali Paintball and many other events and adventures. He attributes that success and enjoyment through a philosophy of admiring paintball as a valid path of human potential. He says when you look at it through that lens you see beyond the wins and the losses, you see that somehow, in someway everything is working to catalyze your highest evolution. In that theory he believes heart and hustle can get you forward quite fast. “Not a lot of other people want to grow as bad as they want to win. When you focus on growth you transcend the highs and lows of winning and losing. The fear of losing, the fear of going into those uncomfortable places that you’re not good at, all dissipates. Your character starts to grow fond of going into what is uncomfortable until it is comfortable. That path takes you far, fast. But you have to fall in love with missing. Losing. Failing. When you do, you grow. And the funny thing? It seems like it’s the backdoor to getting what we all want. The elation of the win, but it’s done in a healthy way. One that helps you enjoy the whole process.” This year, he is at it again, although this time, he is inviting you to join him on the journey. Setting the tone early and often is a very important principle to Ben. He believes showing up to practice early, stretching, preparing mentally, doing those little things early and often, sets the tone for the whole day. He calls those things “Inches”. Those little things that are easy to do, and easy not to do. He says, “You’ll get a lot more from the time you have on and off the field. You only have one maybe two days on the field per week. If you just start hustling a little smarter, doing those little things early and often, you’ll get a lot more out of the time you already spend at the field. When you do this, you grow a lot faster. Imagine you get just 10% more out of your day, week in and week out. At the end of the season, that adds up, and can be the difference between Sunday or getting knocked out early.” This year, he wants to set the tone early. He’s doing the January Project again, and is inviting you to join him. —— Welcome, Ben. Q - How does it work? Quote: Originally Posted by benpb03 This is a 31 day challenge to give yourself the gift of preparation in 2017. Pick one thing that you want to do every day in January. If you see this January 5th, just start it that day or the next. Then do the project through February 6th. If you fall off, and miss a day or two. Just recommit and go forward. Avoid beating yourself up, discipline is a step by step process of recommitment. We will inevitably falter until our resolve becomes bold enough and strong enough that the journey has taken root, and the long game come into focus. I missed a day last year. It taught me a lot about myself and about commitment. Ironically when I just recommitted it helped me more than it hurt me. It actually added to the project lol. So take that philosophy, let your enthusiasm fuel a commitment. Then everyday recommit. If you slip? Breath deep, recommit and begin again. That is the path to mastery. Just keep moving forward. Handle business young king. TIP - Try to pick something you could see yourself doing everyday or quite often, beyond the project. Options: Running, yoga, Movement Practices, Martial Arts, whatever it is, whether it’s a physical class, a video from youtube or a mix of your own stuff… Do it everyday. And if you want to switch it up or change it, go for it, just make sure you continue to do SOMETHING, everyday. Then, add drilling and playing whenever you can, say every Wednesday night.

The primary goal of my ‘system’ is to disperse responsibilities so that each part of the organization can focus on just one thing, and do that one thing to the best of its ability. This creates an environment where players need focus only on playing, so they can do that to their full and best ability. This also creates pits that are compartmentalized, organized, prepared and depressurized. Take the Bandits team as an example. Players The players play, that’s all they do. Team Captain The team captain helps to move the team where they need to be at different times. Getting the team together to stretch, organizing a huddle to motivate players, having conversations from a peer to peer standpoint. A captain is a positive leader usually elected by the player whether officially or naturally. Pit Boss There is a “pit boss” who runs the pits. I explained how I wanted things to run and he took it and made it his own. It is his only responsibility and he has complete authority. No one (but me) overrules him and I very very rarely overrule him. C oach There is a coach who owns the X’s and O’s of paintball. That is his only responsibility and he has complete authority. No one, including myself, overrules him (although he usually listens to my suggestions when I make them). General Manager This person is in charge of organizing the team logistics. Flights, hotels, rental cars, entry fees, itinerary and collecting fees from the players. The GM usually has financial skills and the ability to pay for things without having to collect all the dues. The GM is also involved with personnel selections and team decisions. Nobody is trying to eat the elephant. Everyone is taking just their individual bite. The end result is a system and organization that has dispersed responsibilities and tension and is better prepared to deal with the unexpected screw-ups and general stressors of a tournament. Not everyone has a pit boss and a coach at their disposal. So I would suggest to most teams that you target the 80% of the 80/20 rule.