Quote:
Originally Posted by l33t_hax0r
Regardless, how does divvying up the season like this motivate players?
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As someone who has to motivate people who are in the midst of 4-6 year projects, I can tell you that this does indeed help.
In my experience these are three ways that I've noticed:
1) Poor outcomes tend to linger longer in one's head. We usually like to have a "clean slate" to move on from poor outcomes. If those poor outcomes starts piling on, it's very helpful to give someone a point whereby they feel they are restarting.
2) Motivation at the "middle" of something is always hard... whereas people tend to start and finish strong. So if the middle is game 5 of a 10 game stretch, your chance of motivating yourself to finishing strong is more reasonable over a 3-4 game stretch than it is over a 30 game stretch (if the middle is game 40 of 80, for example).
3) It makes it easier to improve. Having manageable blocks of time to perform allows one to more accurately identify strengths and gaps... which can then be focused on with the next short block. Longer blocks make this much harder.
When things go well those 3 points may not seem all that important, but when you're in the midst of struggling I think they pay off especially well. And the Flames are doing just that... struggling.