Results are not the Only Reward by Olivier Leroy

Hello! While I was doing some procrastinating while supposedly working on a side project that I am launching next year (I’ll let ya know about it when it pops off), I stumbled across an article that outlined how to be a harder worker. It had all the usual rah-rah stuff that you would find in a “10 Ways to be Awesome” type of list that litters the internet (and that I have had regretfully written in my earlier, youthier days on the web). But there was one point in particular that kind of made me a little annoyed… It went: “The reward is the result.” Which, the more I thought about, is ridiculous. It’s, well… bananas. (And usually I love bananas.) Look… Olympic champions spend 20 years training their butts off for one chance. Just one moment. To think that they are miserable and unhappy and crabby the whole time is preposterous. Of course they are finding value and meaning in what they are doing. You don’t need to be an Olympic champion or chasing some pool-shattering record in order to get this, or to wield it for your own personal goals. The results are not the only reward. You shouldn’t have to slave away in a state of misery day after day to accomplish something. In fact, if you aren’t finding ways to make the journey rewarding, then really… what’s the point? Here’s what I mean… Making it to morning workouts is hard, but you do it because the way you feel afterwards is rewarding. Doing the main set is tough stuff, but you do it properly because you feel proud of yourself for doing so. Spending extra time working on your weaknesses isn’t easy, but you do it anyway because improving at something is motivating. If you don’t feel like things are that rewarding anymore for you and your swimming, consider writing down what makes you feel good about the sport. Seriously. Write down the moments that are super difficult and trying…and the positive stuff that you get from it when you stick with it. Conventional thinking goes that the end result is the only reward that matters. That’s baloney. (And I unabashedly love baloney, too.) The reward is in a workout well done… In a main set where you conquered that interval… Doing the whole practice with 10m breakouts. The reward is in the tiny improvements, those small moments that might seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of things but matter in a big way today. And will matter when you do it tomorrow… And then again the next day. Sure, these little bursts of reward and motivation will never compare to the massive injection of reward and pride that comes with the big, career-end goal… But if you accumulate those countless little moments where you did it right and did it better, it soon dwarfs that greasy gold medal. And that big pile of little moments where you were awesome? Where you worked your butt off? Where you did the practice even when coach wasn’t looking? That is the reward. One more thing… Something funny and extremely powerful happens when you collect little slivers of awesome consistently over days, weeks, months and years of training… You become simply extraordinary. See you at the pool my chlorinated homies, Olivier P.S. The newsletter has grown by leaps and bounds over 2016, and is ever increasingly picking up speed, with nearly 20,000 readers to date. (That is a lot of saggy swim towels.) To me that is staggering. And awesome. And unbelievably humbling. Thank you very much for allowing me to be a part of your swimming journey. No selly sell this week. Just a heartfelt thank you.