Happy Holidays!

As we wrap up the year, we wanted to keep this week’s newsletter a bit lighter and more reflective. The end of the calendar year has a way of creating a natural pause, and rather than force a full issue, we thought it made more sense to share one idea we’ve been thinking about as we head into the offseason.

This week’s Weekly Thought is less about lacrosse and more about perspective. It’s a short reflection on the value of stepping back, taking stock of where you are, and using that clarity to make better decisions about where to go next.

Let’s get into it. Happy Friday ☕️,
Matt & Deemer

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This is a defenders-only event built to give players clarity, context, and exposure to how elite college defenses are taught. We have an outstanding coaching group locked in, and we hope you can be a part of it!

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I’m (Matt) not a huge one for New Year’s resolutions, but I’ve always loved using the year end as a built in milestone to pause and assess life.

It’s hard to decide where you’re going if you haven’t taken a clear look at where you’re standing. And most of us skip that step. We roll straight from one season into the next, carrying the same assumptions, habits, and frustrations with us, hoping things somehow feel different.

Recently, I came across a year-end exercise from Mel Robbins that I thought was worth sharing. You don’t need to do this exact exercise, but the structure behind it is solid and practical.

The core idea is simple: treat the past year as data. Avoid the emotional attachment and judgements that may come along with it — try to view as if you were reading somebody else’s story.

Mel Robbins’ Year-End Exercise

I’ll highlight some points of the exercise below, but if you’re interested in going to the source you can find the guide here.

The exercise starts by walking back through the year month by month. Mel recommends using your camera roll or calendar to refresh your memory. See if you can get a real grasp on the last 365 days.

From there, it asks three foundational questions:

That framing matters. The highs and lows are useful data to guide you, not just memories. When you slow down and name the patterns, experience turns into something useful.

After that reflection, the exercise shifts forward and asks three more practical questions:

Stop, continue, start is a classic exercise, and it can be quite helpful.

The final step is choosing just one thing to focus on. Defining what success would actually look like and what a small, realistic first step could be.

FCL Perspective

We always pull on great resources and ideas from beyond lacrosse. One of our core pillars is to keep a growth mindset and be lifelong learners. A huge part of that is the ability to have milestones or checkpoints built in to assess how things are going and determine where we want to go next.

We believe exercises like this are great for your personal like, business, sports or all combined. If you have any great year-end habits you want to share with us please reply and let us know. We always love hearing from our audience.

Coach Class and Coach Dunn

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