BellaZinga.Blog

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  • A Book Review of “Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

    A Book Review of “Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success

    Product: “Smartcuts:  How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success” by Shane Snow

    Price:  Kindle Price $17.99

    Cheapest Place to Buy:  Amazon.ca

    Note: I do NOT currently receive any perks or money from my reviews. My goal is to give my HONEST opinion about books and resources that can help anyone be a better coach, administrator, mentor or parent.

    In time when I build up membership, I may participate in affiliate marketing, but, I will only recommend products on my site that I believe to be the best quality and the most educational.

    My Rating for “Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators and Icons Accelerate Success“:  9/10

    Overview:  For any coach who has wondered if there was a better way of teaching a skill, or for any club administrator who spends hours trying to find new and innovative ways to schedule programs for maximum efficiency this book is for you. 

    For those of you who don’t like to challenge the status quo, and who believe in doing things as they have always been done….. well…. this book may change your mind.

    As the author, Shane Snow, writes: Smartcuts is a book that studies the “patterns through which rapid successes and breakthrough innovators achieved the incredible.” Snow explains that through his studies of pioneers in various fields, he has created a “framework for breaking convention” which “explains how people do so much with less.”

    Sound interesting? Perhaps appropriate for youth sport organizations?  Read on.

    As coaches, we all ascribe to the conventional wisdom of working our way up the ladder, both in our careers and in how we train our students. Smartcuts debunks this theory, suggesting that instead of climbing the ladder, we should create our own ladder and develop the self-awareness to determine when it is time to make our lateral move over to it.

    This is only the first method Snow uses to illustrate all the ways people can create spectacular successes in their lives and each consecutive method will spark light bulb moments of either recognition from your own experiences of past triumphs, or discovery of new ideas that may propel you to the next level in your career or life.

    For those of you who feel constrained by our conventional systems of learning in sport, and in life, this book outlines why YOU may actually be the next great pioneer simply by challenging the status quo.

    Smartcuts speaks to the rebel in all of us.

    Best Feature of this Book:  Snow has whittled this book down into 9 basic strategies for creating a smarter, more efficient way to success, and explains each strategy through entertaining anecdotes of real success stories.  This personal touch allows the reader to become engaged in each tactic, and identify with each story, driving home the lesson encased in each chapter.  

    Pros:  Snow is obviously an expert in the subject matter, and his intelligence and passion for the subject matter reaches out from the page and captures the interest of the reader from start to finish. Every person can find a little bit of themselves in the narrative, and will finish the book feeling inspired for their next adventure or project.

    Cons: Many of the principles in this book relate more to business practices than athletics, however all of the theories listed for success are easily modified and adapted in order to increase chances of success, and decrease the time it takes to achieve that success for coaches, skaters and organizations alike.

    Conclusion:  Smartcuts is an excellent and eye-opening read that will leave you inspired, invigorated and chomping at the bit to create your own Smartcut to a more successful you. I highly recommend Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success for anyone looking to take a firmer hand in their own destiny.

    Have you ever had to create your own ladder? Share stories of your SMARTCUTS in the comments below!

    If you like my blog, share with your friends!

  • A Product Review for the Fitbit Alta HR Monitor

    A Product Review for the Fitbit Alta HR Monitor

    Product:  Fitbit Alta HR Monitor

    Price:  $129.29 CDN

    Cheapest Place to Buy:  Amazon.ca

    My Rating:  10/10

    Overview:  I’ve seen the Fitbit monitors around for a couple of years, and finally decided it was time to find out what all the fuss was about.  I’m so glad I did.  I love my Fit bit with all of it’s many features. In the tap of a finger I can see the steps I have completed each day, my heart rate, the calories I have burned, my activity per hour and even the different sleep cycles I had the night before.  As a single mother and busy coach, sometimes we put our needs last when it comes down to taking care of our health and the Fitbit Alta HR Monitor is the perfect antidote to this.  In addition, there is a handy app you can download that gathers and assimilates all the information from your device wirelessly, gives you an incredible amount of information, provides goals and motivation, AND connects you with other users.  What’s not to love?

    Best Feature: This device works because it increases your AWARENESS of your daily habits and gives you the tools and information you need to lead a healthy lifestyle.  If you aren’t moving enough each hour, you will get a gentle reminder from your device to move.  If you reach your step goal for the day, your Fitbit Alta HR celebrates with you.  This device is the best way to condition your behaviour, create healthy habits, and maintain those habits.

    Pros:  As a newly diagnosed Fibromyalgia sufferer, the sleep stages function has been invaluable to me.  As anyone with Fibromyalgia, depression or both knows, there is a direct link between sleep, chronic pain and illness.  Being able to track the hours I sleep, the time spent in wakefulness, light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep is invaluable to me.  I can greater predict flare ups when I know I’ve had a bad night and very little deep sleep.  And the app takes this data one step further, by giving me a 30-day average for my sleep, as well as comparing my data with the average percentages for my age group.  On top of this, both the device and the corresponding app are incredibly user-friendly and easy to navigate.

    Cons:  Sometimes I don’t like to wear a watch or bracelet, which makes it difficult to track my habits.  I would love to see a version of this device as a necklace or choker. Also, I find sometimes you must tap the screen in J-U-S-T the right way to get it to respond, however, this is not a problem that takes away from my enjoyment of the device.

    Conclusion:  There is a reason this device and corresponding app is so popular.  The Fitbit Alta HR is a great way to monitor your lifestyle and adapt your habits for a healthier you!

  • A Product Review of the “Mindful Powers” App

    Product:  Mindful Powers App for iOS Devices

    Price:  Free with In App Purchases of $4.99

    Cheapest Place to Buy:  Apple App Store

    My Rating: 20/10

    Overview:  If I could be in LOVE with an App, I would be in love with THIS APP.  For years as a competitive skating coach, I have had to consistently research, re-write and figure out how to best apply the basics of mental training and mindfulness for my very young students with limited time and resources.  I am the type of coach who firmly believes we MUST start to sew the seeds of mental training EARLY and OFTEN for our young athletes and finding the time and the “kid friendly” material for my littlest of skaters was always a struggle.  Cut to my most recent experience of being a mom to a 6-year-old who struggles with anxiety and all of it’s physical symptoms, and this app has been a lifesaver. If I had the means and resources to open my own training centre, (I still dream of this) all my athletes would have a tablet with this app as the FIRST app to start the mental training process.

    Best Feature of the Book: This App is based on contextual behavioural science, and by using the app, students in early and middle age childhood will grow the following skills:  
    •              Calmness & relaxation
    •              Stress & anxiety reduction 
    •              Concentration & focus
    •              Navigating big emotions
    •              Getting along with others

    In a nutshell, this app covers all the most basic and critically important mental training skills for our youngest athletes in their most formative years.

    Pros:  Every single thing about this app appeals to young children.  From the central protagonist called a “Flibbertigibbet™”, who asks children to soothe him (and themselves) by using deliberate, thoughtful, repetitive, tactile stimulation, to the Mindful Stories which are, in fact, informational meditations read by a young child, designed to connect them with their feelings and thoughts, this app is colorful, engaging and dynamic in every way for young users.

    Cons:  The exercises grow incrementally time-wise from one to the next, with the first being only a couple of minutes to the next being a few minutes, and so on and so on. I felt that there should be a reduced increase in time between exercises, as the youngest users need more exercises in the 2-3-minute range and the app jumps quite quickly to the 10 minute range with some of the Mindful Play exercises. This is my ONLY small criticism of the app however, and it was hard to find even one criticism of it to be very honest.

    Conclusion:  My daughter begs to use this app and loves it to death.  I can hardly wait to start to apply it in the field with my youngest skaters in hopes it will teach them valuable tools for relaxation, emotional control, anxiety reduction, focus and mindfulness. I highly, recommend you check it out and add it to your coaching toolkit.

  • A Book Review of “The Talent Code”, by Daniel Coyle

    Price:  Kindle Price CDN $15.99

    Cheapest Place to Buy:  Amazon.ca

    My Rating:  10/10

    Overview:  As skating coaches, we spend all our time looking for talent, assessing talent, and learning how to cultivate talent.  Intuitively, we all know that talent takes time to grow, and the way to develop talent over time is through mindful practice and dedication. 

    “The Talent Code” takes a microscopic lens and scalpel to the talent myth and dissects every aspect of unlocking unseen potential, in athletes, artists and everyday people.

    As a coach with a background in Kinesiology, and a particular interest in motor learning and neuroscience, this book validated many of my beliefs about talent when I first read it.  Since that reading many years ago, I now spend much of my coaching time teaching the “why” behind skill acquisition, instead of just focusing on the how or technique behind it.  The results have been incredible. 

    If you want to learn the secrets behind skill acquisition and mastery, on both sides of the equation-coach and/or student-then this book is for you.

    Coyle centres much of the book around myelin, and its role in neural development, a theory of skill acquisition that has existed for several years, but is just now becoming main stream.  This concept explains nearly everything that master coaches have known for years such as:

    • Practice doesn’t make perfect; DEEP practice makes perfect.
    • Mastery in a sport requires commitment and passion right from the beginning, if not you won’t want to dedicate yourself to the countless hours of repetition necessary to myelinate the neural pathways required.
    • Primal Cues such as belonging, scarcity and safety can help provide ignition for passion and commitment to a sport and we can tap into these cues and use them right at the grass roots level of talent development.

    This book should be required reading for every coach.  If you want to learn how to get the most out of your students and accelerate learning, this book explains the “why” behind the “how” and will give you strategies for a more accelerated learning process.

    Best Feature of the Book:  Coyle weaves a coherent and exciting narrative thread through the book and documents his journey carefully as he breaks the talent equation into parts and investigates each with intelligence and empathy. The picture he creates of the people he meets along the way is colorful, full of humor, and packed with insight into the human condition. Along the way we get a view of the behind the scenes struggles and triumphs of many of the worlds famous over-night success stories, which we learn were NOT in fact over-night success stories. 

    Just reading the Talent Code gives all of us all hope in how we learn, and that the daily grind of practice and repeated failure does in fact pay off with more success in our chosen endeavours. The Talent Code is equal parts endearing and inspiring, and will keep you engaged until the last page.

    Pros:  The way Coyle breaks down the talent equation into it’s parts and further breaks down each part into it’s various necessary components makes it easy for sports organizations, parents, coaches and athletes to tap into the processes he describes to accelerate their learning curve and develop their talent. The benefits to be gained from utilizing these theories to maximize athletic development, particularly in skating, are incredible.

    Cons:  None.  This is a great book.

    Conclusion:  The Talent Code, by Daniel Coyle, is fun, informative, and trans-formative. The scope, breadth and depth of knowledge you will gain from it, even if it just reaffirms the instinctual beliefs you have always incorporated into your coaching and explains them, is well worth the money.

    If you are in the business of developing talent, in any medium, “The Talent Code” is a must read.

    Have you read the Talent Code? What did you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and if you liked this review, please, share with your friends!