Once, as I developed the training plans for the Svedala team, I recalled Parkinson’s Law. It goes something like this.
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
I’ve written before about the amount of time you should allocate to practice planning. Part of that discussion was how easily the task could consume crazy amounts of time if not properly constrained. I experienced that while coaching at Exeter. I could find find myself spending all afternoon making up that evenings practice plan. Then, I had to remind myself of that a couple of times the first week of training in Sweden.
It was so tempting for me as I got started with a new team in a new environment to let the practice planning suck me in and not let me go.
You may be thinking, “But you were a professional volleyball coach. That was your job!”
That’s true, but that doesn’t mean I should let one task eat of a major part of my day. Efficiency in planning is just as important as developing an efficient training plan. There are a lot of other things for a coach to do. Watching video comes immediately to mind!
