Making a big, wholesale commitment can be tough.
I am going to work hard every day for the rest of the season. I am going to never eat junk food again. I’m going to swim every stroke, of every practice, with perfect technique until the end of time.
And it’s usually the only way we frame a commitment…
As something that is totally life-changing, all-encompassing, and usually, almost impossible to stick to over the long term.
But those big commitments don’t need to be all or nothing. It doesn’t need to be black or white.
The key to making a big commitment work is chasing small moments of excellence.
Sounds silly?
Let’s unpack that.
Excellence doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing endeavor.
In fact, it’s especially not.
Excellence is developed in moments.
It’s something I’ve tried to emphasize a bunch of times before with Little Wins.
By chasing those Little Wins daily we create micro-improvements that build confidence and push the needle of progress every so slightly towards our big goal.
A mindset of relentlessly pursuing small moments of excellence is counter-intuitive.
In our rush to focus and obsess over the big goals and things that require all the planning we forget the opportunities and moments right in front of us that are not only winnable, can immediately motivate and inspire us.
Excellence slowly builds on itself, spreading itself across the rest of your swimming and life.
You don’t have to do the whole practice perfectly to make it an excellent practice.
You don’t have to eat perfectly from dawn till dusk or later (if you are a 2am-stumble-to-the-fridge type of eater like me).
You just need to make more small decisions that tilt toward excellence than you did yesterday.
After all, if you do this consistently (that’s the hard part of this “easy” advice), those little moments of excellence—which don’t seem super significant when looked at individually—will blur into one big steaming pile of awesome by the time you hop out of the water.
Bonus fun fact: The little moments of excellence eventually becomes a habit.
You just become the kind of person that is looking for the next small thing to improve. The kind of improvement and success (and free range fun!) you will have in the pool (and in life) with this kind of habit is terrifying to think about.
I know “small” isn’t what you want to hear…
You want to know how to become an Olympian in one short answer. Or how to knock three seconds off your best time in the 50.
Being consistently on the hunt for those little moments of excellence isn’t complicated, it just requires patience, consistency, and focus.
But no matter where you are at right now, where your mindset is at, where the season is, it’s something you can do and understand.
So what are a couple small moments of excellence you can chase in practice today?
Let me know,
Olivier
P.S. Working on your mindset is one of those things athletes (and coaches) that feels like it requires a massive commitment.
But that’s not how it should work.
You pick a couple things (I’d definitely recommend self-talk) and start slowly.
After a while, as your mental skills improve, you incorporate more stuff, steadily strengthening and conditioning your mental approach to training and competition.
In the same way you don’t belt out a 7,000m workout on the first day of the season, you ease into it, steadily building upon the skills and strength you develop along the way.
Conquer the Pool was written in a way that eases you into all of the tips, techniques and strategies you can use. Exercises and worksheets are included at each major section so that you can apply the stuff you are learning about and implement it into your training.
