What if I told you I had the secret to becoming elite?

It’s simple, really. But the most important thing about this secret is that you have to be completely honest with yourself. 

The secret to becoming elite at anything is to understand your weaknesses. The reason why it’s so hard is that we are too close to it. And also, sometimes it’s hard being honest with yourself. It’s important to be more objective, less emotional when auditing your strengths and your weaknesses. 

Self awareness is key. Can you take an honest look at yourself and your talents and identify where you could be better? Most people just work on what they’re already good at. They want to feel good at practice. They want to do what feels comfortable. But if you do that, you’re never going to power up to the next level. You’ll maintain but you will not grow.

Those who spend more time focusing on their weaknesses, put in the time and find someone who can turn those weaknesses into strengths-…those are the ones who are unbeatable. An elite achiever realizes that there is no need to feel bad about weakness because everybody has something that they need to work on and they just keep improving. An elite achiever prioritizes the weakness in every practice session.

When you are afraid of your weaknesses, you are giving them power which takes away your overall strength. If you push it away, it grows bigger. When you face your weaknesses, you gain your power back and overcome them. 

This week I seeked out a new coach for Madden. Madden is a very talented baseball player at just 10 years old. The thing is, he is playing up 2 years. The difference between 12 year olds and 10 year olds is pretty apparent. They are bigger. They are stronger. They are faster. Madden had the unlucky fortune of not-so-fast speed courtesy of John and I. I’m not fast. John’s not fast. Therefore, Madden? Not so fast. He’s very flat footed and to be honest- just really doesn’t know how to run properly. The truth is.. I don’t either! No one ever taught me the mechanics of running. Maybe if they had, I wouldn’t mind it. I never know how to breathe or what to do with my arms. I can’t help Madden be faster and it’s obvious that it’s his weakness on the field. 

Talking with my chiropractor, Dr. Risher from the Rehab Lab in Chicago (who works on many athletes including Chicago Bears players and baseball players) he mentioned the best speed and agility coach in Chicago. Carmen Del Mastro who works out of Bracey Performance. Instead of talking to Madden about how he needs to be faster on the field with no real solution, I did what I do. I found an expert to help him strengthen his weakness. 

Madden had his first speed and agility session this Tuesday and LOVED it. It was hard, yes, but he is so eager to learn and to work on what he’s not good at. What a great quality to have! Also a side note on the Bracey Performance Center– When I walked into this place I was greeted with the kindest owners on the planet. Kyle and Erin. They took us on a tour and every single trainer we passed by on the gym floor greeted us with such kindness. The place was beautiful but the vibe was extraordinary. I noticed the people leaving this gym after they worked out. All of them were just gleaming. Smiling. So happy. I even mentioned to one woman as she was leaving and we were coming, “wow, everyone here seems so happy.” She responded with, “This place changed my life.” I just wanted to point out that the universe just sends you in the right direction. I have a feeling I was meant to bring him here and cannot wait to see the speed he gains. 

Ok- back to weaknesses…

If you want to elevate to the elite level, be suuuupper  honest – and I mean unapologetically so – about what you need to work on. I need to work on this because of this. Okay, time to figure it out and fix it. Find someone to help you in the pursuit to turn your weaknesses into your strengths.

It takes a certain type of person to be okay with that. It takes a certain strength in a person to take a really honest look at your life and audit yourself because the first thing you need to do is put your ego aside. It’s the ego that usually gets in the way because you have to admit to yourself that you’re not good at something. And the ego sure doesn’t like that. Are you secure enough to take an honest look at your life and find the areas that need improvement? (Just a reminder that this goes BEYOND bowling.)

I don’t want you to let ego stop you from reaching your greatest potential though. I wish for you to empower yourself to overcome whatever weakness you may be facing. Say to yourself, I know I have this challenge and if I don’t know how to fix it, it’s okay if I ask for help and seek the tools.

Make facing your weaknesses your new goal.

So what about me? Thanks for asking. I’ve always been a very honest bowler. Honest in the sense that I can watch myself bowl on video, or feel myself bowl and not pretend things are going well when they just really aren’t. More specifically: I have always kind of struggled with having enough ball speed. My rev rate compared to my ball speed was not aligned. My rev rate was too high and my ball speed was too low. So that made my ball reaction not ideal. I understood that my weakness in my game was that I didn’t throw hard enough. A lot of the girls that I bowled against threw the ball harder. (Especially after I had kids.) So about five years ago, I finally acknowledged this as a weakness. And I asked myself, what am I going to do about it?

My entire career up until then, I used a 15 pound ball. I did some research on the difference between a 14 and 15 pound ball and I realized that in terms of hitting power in the pins, there wasn’t much difference.

When I was deciding what was the right move for me, I had a bunch of conversations with Jason Belmonte. He came up with the idea to reduce my ball weight to get more speed. If I dropped the pound, I could throw it faster. And then my rev rate would match my ball speed. I was a little reluctant to do it. I listened to him and he made a lot of sense. And I trust him.  He is the best bowler in the world. When he mentions what he believes would help me, I listen. I also consulted with others such as Storm representatives like Steve Kloempken who I really trust. Everyone said that it’s definitely worth a try. That was all part of my process. And that’s part of working on your weaknesses. You need to find the experts and have those discussions about how to build from your weakness and turn them into your strength.

I took the chance. I got all new equipment and I just kind of jumped in the deep end. That was a really big change to my game. When you’ve been doing something for your entire career and you’ve had success with it, that’s a huge risk. I could have been too scared to take the risk. But it was definitely the best move for me. And now I can throw it harder and I hit the pins with more power because my rev rate matches my ball speed. I improved it a lot. People wouldn’t be able to see the steps I took to get there. They’ll just see the results. The improved speed and power.

Whatever weaknesses you may be facing, I hope you’ll have the courage to identify them too so that you can take the steps to overcome them. It really will empower you to reach new levels, even when it is uncomfortable to admit them at first.

Being vulnerable – to ourselves as well as to others, is key. In any area of life. Remember the misophonia story I told you a few months back? That was also about this. It took a lot of vulnerability for me to open up about that step. But it was an important part of me addressing a weakness in my overall health and wellbeing. I knew I had a weakness to be addressed even though it was an embarrassing one. But it’s important that we just step up and acknowledge our weaknesses in any area of our lives and not be embarrassed about them.

You, and your game, will only get stronger when you accept and face your weaknesses too.

Are you ready to take an audit of your weaknesses?