photo credit: diongillard

If you want to know where you are going, a map is a good place to start.

That's what these elements of success are all about: The philosphy that drives this site. Hopefully you will understand a little more where I am coming from. Hopefully you will be able to start creating your own map.

Put skill in context

Technique is a critical element of cricket success and should be worked on as a priority. However, skill is just one part of the picture. Cricketers need to be strong, fast and mobile to get the best from their technique.

You also need bags of self confidence. It's often said cricket is a mental game, yet we don't work on our mental skills as much as we do our physical ones.

Be professional in spirit

We can't all be professional cricketers. My question is this: Why can't we adopt a professional spirit to our playing and practice?

There is no difference between you and a professional player when you are in the gym, practicing or playing. You are both essentially doing the same thing, just with less time in your case. But while you are there: on the pitch, in the weight room or in the net you can still be the best you can be.

Question everything

Just because you have always done something, does it make it right? Are we as club players happy to sit in our comfort zone or are we looking to question everything we do to become better players (or coaches)?

Here are some examples of club cricket things I have seen that should at least be questioned and probably changed. How do you fare?

• Net sessions
• Warming up
• Fielding practice
• Practice matches
• Fitness training
• Nutrition
• Coaching for adults

Write stuff down

As we have found out before, you can't improve what you can't measure. That's the main reason writing stuff down is important. Not just averages either. Tracking your workouts shows how you are improving over time.

Your brain is very good at having ideas but, as David Allen says, it's terrible at holding them. If you are constantly questioning things and looking to improve you are going to have some ideas along the way. They may rock, they may be terrible but if you don't write them down you they will be drowned out by all the other million things that you try and remember every day: Pay bills, where are my keys, go to the shops... what was that idea again?

Anything that's worth remembering gets written down. Simple.

Accept you can be wrong

When I started this site I thought I knew most of this stuff. The more I do it, the less it seems I know and the more brilliant people I find to prove me wrong.

It's important to be open to the possibility you can be wrong. This leads you to be able to try new methods you never though would have worked. What's the worst that can happen anyway, you are proved right in the first place?

Politeness costs nothing

I get a lot of emails through this site. I do my best to answer them all in as polite and friendly a way as I can. I almost always ask for feedback from my suggestions to see how it went for that person (everyone is different after all).

Most people never get back to me, some are not even polite in their original email.

Don't get me wrong, I love getting reader feedback and I encorage you to contact me as much as you want in whatever way you like. Just promise to be nice and I'll be extra nice back. Thank you!

I'll add to these over time as I come up with more. For now though I want to ask you, what's your tip to add to this list? Leave a comment.