500 Words a Week - Stimulate - Adapt - Stabilize - Actualize

Stimulate – adapt – stabilize – actualize is a phased 4 stage model we could use to plan how we implement the work we do with our athletes. Essentially what it means is that we stimulate through training, which leads to an adaptation in performance. Then we allow time to stabilize this new adaptation so we can repeat it every week, and then we actualize this new adaptation by displaying/ producing it in our competitive sporting environment. This was originally highlighted to me from one of Mike Guadango’s newsletters and the ALTIS foundation course.

Both arguing a similar component in that we tend to rush through the stabilize and actualize phases in looking to increase performance or forget about them altogether. Mike was mainly discussing this from a physical adaptations perspective and ALTIS from a skill development perspective. Far too often we get caught in the cycle of stimulate – adapt – repeat endlessly. Once we feel our athlete has learned a new skill or achieved a new increase in physical capability, we immediately look to where next to improve. We can be guilty of not allowing our athletes time to stabilize their new levels of performance so that they can produce this new level in training every week. Then we must allow our athletes time and freedom to actualize this new level of performance, meaning do we allow them the time and freedom to work on expressing what they have learned/ developed in competitive situations.

The point of this blog is to also raise the question about should we also do this with our own learning and development? I think here we are stuck even more so into the stimulate – adapt – repeat cycle. Once we have done a course or read a book, we are immediately looking for the next thing. We need to allow ourselves time to digest what we are learning or working on, and then see if we can implement it. A note of importance, implementing something new from what we have learned might actually look like removing something we were already doing that we now deem unnecessary and refining our process’s. Implementing doesn’t always have to be bringing in more things.

“Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

There should be a no more so important time than the holidays for this calming down and allowing us to reflect. We should wholeheartedly enjoy our time off and allow ourselves time to process the busy weeks/ months that have gone on before this time.