I just finished a book in which the author told a story about when he was a kid and he and his brothers played sports. Every time he was being dropped off at practice or a game, his father would say, “Listen to your coach.” He never failed to tell him. Even when he was traveling, he would call and remind him — “Mathew, listen to your coach.” When he was about 16 years old, he was being dropped off for a soccer game, while his father parked the car. As he walked away from the car, his father rolled down the window and said, “Mathew, don’t forget….” Mathew interrupted his dad and said, “I got it, Dad. Listen to my coach, listen to my coach.” A few weeks later, Mathew asked his dad, “Why do you always say ‘listen to your coach?’” His dad looked him straight in the eyes and said, “Because nobody achieves excellence at anything without coaching”.
You can get good at something just by working hard at it. If you’ve got some talent at it and you work hard, you can get really good. But excellence, peak performance, being the best you can be at something — that doesn’t happen without a coach.