by Coach Mike

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” -Ferris Bueller

We are in our second month of competing now and we have been teaching how to develop your own process. At our last swim meet I had two contrasting examples of this. This swimmer who we will call Process made up index cards with the events she was scheduled to swim and little reminders to herself on what to focus on during the race. I like to refer to this as the plan. Contrast this to another swimmer who we will refer to as Outcome, was really upset after his races because he didn’t get the result he wanted. When I asked him what his plan was, he stated “I just wanted to go faster!” In turn I asked him did you do the things that you have been practicing? Outcome stated, “No…I just wanted to go faster!”

Process was focused on the process while Outcome was focused on the outcome. After speaking with Process at the end of the meet she knew where improvement could be made and how to modify her plan for the next time she raced and what to focus on during practices. After speaking with Outcome he changed the way he raced the following day and made plans for each of his races and executed them leading to an improved day of racing and now he knows what to improve upon moving forwards as well.

Moving Pebbles

A while ago I had this vision pop into my head which mirrored what Confucius said, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Then I pictured what people today might do when trying to move a mountain. Can you guess?

• They look for a better mountain to move because this one is too difficult.
• They look over at everyone else’s mountain and start comparing and second guessing should I even be spending my time on this, their mountain looks so much better, FOMO.
• They try to move too much at once when they are not ready because it isn’t happening fast enough and quit or hurt themselves.
• They just start hurtling stones because they fixate on “I have to move the mountain” and when they are done the mountain may have been moved but look at the mess, they made.
• They stand there looking at the stones wondering which one is the best one to move first because they don’t want to make the wrong choice, and nothing gets moved.

There is a saying that I like to keep in mind when things get complicated in life, it is…

K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid

Einstein stated once; “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

How I look at what Confucius stated, is to start small by moving the smallest pebble you can find. It may seem insignificant now and you may question how will I ever get this mountain moved? Remember that by starting with that one pebble you have begun. Moving that one pebble is easy and you will go back and grab another and another. Now you have started to build the habit necessary to move the mountain. As you progress, you start taking bigger stones and rocks because you have gained the strength to do so. With momentum you start to see the mountain moving and you don’t look at what other people are doing because you see your progress. Because you started small you learn from your experience and pick up so many more skills like the most efficient way to carry bigger and bigger loads, you develop relationships, processes to move everything better, all because you started by moving one pebble at a time. Since you have developed the habit of moving pebbles, even when you come across something bigger than you can currently handle you break it down into pebbles once again allowing yourself to keep moving forward and learning from each pebble.

This goes back to the swimmer we called Process. Her events are the mountains and practice are her pebbles, while the notecards are her reminders on what she has learned thus far to keep her focused on her own mountain.

Next time you see a mountain you want to move, look at the pebble at your feet and pick it up.

What mountain are you looking to move today?

Tabono is Dedication

By Coach Mike

So far we have explored kaizen and how it symbolizes our team’s core value of mental toughness and ‘ohana which symbolizes our value of family. This time we are delving into our third core value of dedication. When researching this I came across an African Adinkra symbol called tabono. Tabono means “oar” or “paddle” in the Adinkra language of Western Africa. It is a symbol of unity of purpose, strength, confidence and hard work to reach a destination or goal. Drawn as four conjoint paddles/oars, tabono symbol means that one cannot simply achieve greatness without sacrificing, working hard and staying strong.

How does this parallel our core value of dedication?

What does dedication really mean? Defining dedication will allow us to uncover the true meaning of tabono and how it relates to the team.

The dictionary states it is the quality of being dedicated or committed to a task or purpose. I don’t think this does the word justice. There are about 16 different synonyms listed in the dictionary such as commitment, devotion, faithfulness and loyalty to just name a few. It can be interpreted many ways and it truly depends on many different circumstances. I think a better way to go about defining this complicated word is through experiences and people. The experiences I’ve had myself and watching people that inspire me to go deeper into the meaning of what it truly means to be dedicated or have tabono.

Purpose

Why do you do something? By joining BLUE WAVE, you share the team’s purpose on becoming the best person you can become through the dedication of mastery in the sport of swimming. Dedication to this purpose gives us common ground to stand upon in our individual journeys. When we have purpose, it helps us navigate the choices we must make each day. From what to eat, when to go to bed, how we treat each other, etc…

This states that none of us are just here to be better swimmers but by dedicating ourselves to this one unifying purpose we develop the tools to be the best version of ourselves. This team and sport give us a playground to test ourselves and learn from each other with the support of our ‘ohana. It will allow us to develop the strength, confidence and work ethic through kaizen.

Why Symbolize Our Team’s Values?

Human cultures use symbols to express specific ideologies and social structures and to represent aspects of their specific culture. Thus, symbols carry meanings that depend upon one's cultural background; in other words, the meaning of a symbol is not inherent in the symbol itself but is culturally learned. A cultural symbol is a physical manifestation that signifies the ideology of a culture or that merely has meaning within a culture. Culture is an accumulation of the beliefs, traditions, language and values of a group of people. Generally, it is an object representing another to give it an entirely different meaning that is much deeper and more significant.

When we combine all these together we get this powerful symbol. It reflects who we are and what we stand for. It’s a symbol that speaks our language and is as unique as the people who make up this team.

BLUE WAVE ON 3…BLUE WAVE ON 3…1...2…3

GO BLUE WAVE!

‘Ohana Means Family

by Coach Mike

Last time we explored Kaizen and how it symbolized our team’s core value of mental toughness. This time we are delving into our second core value of family. When thinking of this the first thing that popped into my mind was the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch and its famous quote from the movie

“ ‘Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”

I had an opportunity to experience Hawaii years ago and the culture really brought this to life. Right off the plane I felt a sense of belonging, a sense of ‘ohana. This is what the essence of our team’s core value of family is all about!

‘Ohana extends beyond your core family to include both blood and other people such as friends, co-workers, teammates, classmates, teachers, etc…basically your informally adopted kin. Being part of an ‘ohana comes with the responsibility to act with integrity and to bring honor to them.

Responsibilities of ‘Ohana...

Being a part of the BLUE WAVE Swim Team makes you a part of the BLUE WAVE ‘ohana. In turn we share in the responsibilities of our ‘ohana and some of these responsibilities include: care for, relate to, lead, direct, build relationships, plan, organize, teach, mentor or be a role model. It means being accountable for the consequences of the choices we make.

When you are a part of an ‘ohana, it includes everyone in that family: those accepted into the family, those of the past, and those of the future. The people who make up our ‘ohana are bound together by genuine compassion, culture, support, loyalty, and love for each other. These relationships cultivate growth with an eye toward the future. At BLUE WAVE we want to see relationships grow, sustained for the long haul. For this reason, we are focused on community. There’s a saying: “Prepare for the seven generations ahead.” That means do your work so that those seven generations from now, will also benefit.

Preparing the Seven Generations Ahead…

We each have the responsibility to mentor and cultivate the next generation of team members. Therefore, knowing and sharing the team’s values of family (‘ohana), dedication (tabono) and mental toughness (kaizen) is so important for the next generation of youth. We all have a responsibility to share and teach these cultural values which prepares for the “seven generation ahead”.

Cultivating Our ‘Ohana…

Being mindful of our ‘ohana we look outward and include others. There is a strong desire within to find connection with others. We are all interconnected and once the connection is found there is acceptance. BLUE WAVE Swim Team is full of unique individuals that are bound together by the common desire to swim. From there we can make powerful waves of positive encouragement, support and love—all aspects found in ‘ohana.

Now how do we symbolize this very powerful word?

Of course, I went to Google. Many symbols came up for “symbols for ‘ohana”, but something that was used quite often was the honu or Hawaiian green sea turtle. Turtles are one of the oldest creatures on earth. The honu symbolizes good luck, endurance and long life. This really spoke to me and felt this encompassed the meaning of our BLUE WAVE ‘ohana.

I’m looking forward to delving into the symbol of dedication the next time and unveiling the combined symbol of our team’s core values.

We are all in this together, so let’s make it great! Although our swims are individual, our team ‘ohana helps push us along to reach new levels of personal achievement. The growth within each of us creates a powerful ripple effect that can reach far beyond the pool. Personally, I think the world could use more ‘ohanas and that everyone should know the comfort and support with being a part of one. Who is part of your ‘ohana? Everyone on the BLUE WAVE Swim Team is mine!

by Coach Mike

When I was at a swim meet the other day, I saw a team’s shirt with an ancient Greek word άρετή, (Arete’) which means excellence or virtue; being the best one can be. My college coach loved this word for its philosophy and it sparked an idea to symbolize our team’s core covenants of FAMILY – DEDICATION – MENTAL TOUGHNESS. As the old saying goes a “symbol” speaks a thousand words.

Kaizen – Change Is Good

The Japanese word Kaizen came to mind to symbolize our core covenant of mental toughness. Mental toughness means so many things but at its core is the concept of adapting to change with no loss of enthusiasm. Kaizen is all about change, the practice of continuous improvement. One of the most notable features of kaizen is that big results come from many small changes accumulated over time. It is about aiming to find small changes or actions you can make starting today. This is the foundation for making habits stick.

Kaizen can be applied to almost anything we want to be better at in our lives. It goes from day to day actions, work/school environment, social relationship, and sports. It is about becoming a better version of you over time. Change in order to be more capable, efficient and successful in the things you do. This requires discipline, concentration, knowing your strengths and your weaknesses. Getting better at the sport you play requires following the kaizen philosophy and to be patient with yourself.

“Be patient with yourself. Self-growth is tender, it’s holy ground. There’s no greater investment.” -Stephen Covey.

Kaizen teaches you to embrace the process of becoming an improved version of ourselves. The reason to this is motivation. Motivation comes:

• When you realize you can become better at what you do.
• When you are able to detect what you are doing wrong and identify what you need to do in order to fix it.
• When you start seeing the results and your body reacts differently to the same stimuli.

The good thing of kaizen in sports is that it allows motivation to stay because we are not perfect; we are all a work in progress. James Clear explains, “We place unnecessary stress on ourselves to lose weight or to succeed in business or to write a best selling novel. Instead, you can keep things simple and reduce stress by focusing on the daily process and sticking to your schedule, rather than worrying about the big, life changing goals. When you focus on the practice instead of the performance, you can enjoy the present moment and improve at the same time.”

There is no final destination on this journey, there is just improvement.

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.” -Mike Murdock

We are lifelong learners who always have room for improvement. Embracing kaizen in your life it will never go away. It joins you through your training, diet, practices and everything you do. It becomes a dynamic part of your life because you will have it ingrained in your mind.

The general idea is to focus on consistent improvements in your life, every day, no matter how small the step you take to be a better you than you were yesterday. Kaizen is an amazing practice that yields extraordinary results with virtually no effort at all!

Why Kaizen Works

John Wooden stated “When you improve a little each day, eventually big things occur. When you improve conditioning a little each day, eventually you have a big improvement in conditioning. Not tomorrow, not the next day, but eventually a big gain is made. Don’t look for the big, quick improvement. Seek the small improvement one day at a time. That’s the only way it happens — and when it happens, it lasts.” 

Think of the smallest step you can take every day that would move you incrementally towards your goal. This is a simple, practical way to achieve big goals but it feels less intimidating and more manageable. It might feel less exciting than chasing huge wins, but its results will be stronger and more sustainable.

A kaizen mindset turns a problem into an opportunity - we learn and become better. By focusing on continual improvement, we form a habit of asking why something didn’t work which leads us to discovering the root cause. When we reach out to others and seek their wisdom, we relinquish our pride and make greater gains of improvement. Taking critique is no longer personal but an opportunity for growth.

Keep your eyes out for the next one as I delve deeper into the symbols for FAMILY & DEDICATION.

The most important skill nobody taught you

Written by Zat Rana This post was originally published on Medium.

Before dying at the age of 39, Blaise Pascal made huge contributions to both physics and mathematics, notably in fluids, geometry, and probability.

This work, however, would influence more than just the realm of the natural sciences. Many fields that we now classify under the heading of social science did, in fact, also grow out of the foundation he helped lay.

Interestingly enough, much of this was done in his teen years, with some of it coming in his twenties. As an adult, inspired by a religious experience, he actually started to move towards philosophy and theology.

Right before his death, he was hashing out fragments of private thoughts that would later be released as a collection by the name of Pensées.

While the book is mostly a mathematician’s case for choosing a life of faith and belief, the more curious thing about it is its clear and lucid ruminations on what it means to be human. It’s a blueprint of our psychology long before psychology was deemed a formal discipline.

There is enough thought-provoking material in it to quote, and it attacks human nature from a variety of different angles, but one of its most famous thoughts aptly sums up the core of his argument:

“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”

According to Pascal, we fear the silence of existence, we dread boredom and instead choose aimless distraction, and we can’t help but run from the problems of our emotions into the false comforts of the mind.

The issue at the root, essentially, is that we never learn the art of solitude.

The perils of being connected

Today, more than ever, Pascal’s message rings true. If there is one word to describe the progress made in the last 100 years, it’s connectedness.

Information technologies have dominated our cultural direction. From the telephone to the radio to the TV to the internet, we have found ways to bring us all closer together, enabling constant worldly access.

I can sit in my office in Canada and transport myself to practically anywhere I want through Skype. I can be on the other side of the world and still know what is going on at home with a quick browse.

I don’t think I need to highlight the benefits of all this. But the downsides are also beginning to show. Beyond the current talk about privacy and data collection, there is perhaps an even more detrimental side-effect here.

We now live in a world where we’re connected to everything except ourselves.

If Pascal’s observation about our inability to sit quietly in a room by ourselves is true of the human condition in general, then the issue has certainly been augmented by an order of magnitude due to the options available today.

The logic is, of course, seductive. Why be alone when you never have to?

Well, the answer is that never being alone is not the same thing as never feeling alone. Worse yet, the less comfortable you are with solitude, the more likely it is that you won’t know yourself. And then, you’ll spend even more time avoiding it to focus elsewhere. In the process, you’ll become addicted to the same technologies that were meant to set you free.

Just because we can use the noise of the world to block out the discomfort of dealing with ourselves doesn’t mean that this discomfort goes away.

Almost everybody thinks of themselves as self-aware. They think they know how they feel and what they want and what their problems are. But the truth is that very few people really do. And those that do will be the first to tell how fickle self-awareness is and how much alone time it takes to get there.

In today’s world, people can go their whole lives without truly digging beyond the surface-level masks they wear; in fact, many do.

We are increasingly out of touch with who we are, and that’s a problem.

Boredom as a mode of stimulation

If we take it back to the fundamentals—and this is something Pascal touches on, too—our aversion to solitude is really an aversion to boredom.

At its core, it’s not necessarily that we are addicted to a TV set because there is something uniquely satisfying about it, just like we are not addicted to most stimulants because the benefits outweigh the downsides. Rather, what we are really addicted to is a state of not-being-bored.

Almost anything else that controls our life in an unhealthy way finds its root in our realization that we dread the nothingness of nothing. We can’t imagine just being rather than doing. And therefore, we look for entertainment, we seek company, and if those fail, we chase even higher highs.

We ignore the fact that never facing this nothingness is the same as never facing ourselves. And never facing ourselves is why we feel lonely and anxious in spite of being so intimately connected to everything else around us.

Fortunately, there is a solution. The only way to avoid being ruined by this fear—like any fear—is to face it. It’s to let the boredom take you where it wants so you can deal with whatever it is that is really going on with your sense of self. That’s when you’ll hear yourself think, and that’s when you’ll learn to engage the parts of you that are masked by distraction.

The beauty of this is that, once you cross that initial barrier, you realize that being alone isn’t so bad. Boredom can provide its own stimulation.

When you surround yourself with moments of solitude and stillness, you become intimately familiar with your environment in a way that forced stimulation doesn’t allow. The world becomes richer, the layers start to peel back, and you see things for what they really are, in all their wholeness, in all their contradictions, and in all their unfamiliarity.

You learn that there are other things you are capable of paying attention to than just what makes the most noise on the surface. Just because a quiet room doesn’t scream with excitement like the idea of immersing yourself in a movie or a TV show doesn’t mean that there isn’t depth to explore there.

Sometimes, the direction that this solitude leads you in can be unpleasant, especially when it comes to introspection—your thoughts and your feelings, your doubts and your hopes—but in the long-term, it’s far more pleasant than running away from it all without even realizing that you are.

Embracing boredom allows you to discover novelty in things you didn’t know were novel; it’s like being an unconditioned child seeing the world for the first time. It also resolves the majority of internal conflicts.

The takeaway

The more the world advances, the more stimulation it will provide as an incentive for us to get outside of our own mind to engage with it.

While Pascal’s generalization that a lack of comfort with solitude is the root of all our problems may be an exaggeration, it’s isn’t an entirely unmerited one.

Everything that has done so much to connect us has simultaneously isolated us. We are so busy being distracted that we are forgetting to tend to ourselves, which is consequently making us feel more and more alone.

Interestingly, the main culprit isn’t our obsession with any particular worldly stimulation. It’s the fear of nothingness—our addiction to a state of not-being-bored. We have an instinctive aversion to simply being.

Without realizing the value of solitude, we are overlooking the fact that, once the fear of boredom is faced, it can actually provide its own stimulation. And the only way to face it is to make time, whether every day or every week, to just sit—with our thoughts, our feelings, with a moment of stillness.

The oldest philosophical wisdom in the world has one piece of advice for us: know yourself. And there is a good reason why that is.

Without knowing ourselves, it’s almost impossible to find a healthy way to interact with the world around us. Without taking time to figure it out, we don’t have a foundation to built the rest of our lives on.

Being alone and connecting inwardly is a skill nobody ever teaches us. That’s ironic because it’s more important than most of the ones they do.

Solitude may not be the solution to everything, but it certainly is a start.

Want to think and live smarter? Zat Rana publishes a free weekly newsletter for 30,000+ readers at Design Luck.

This post was originally published on Medium.

WHEN YOU WORK HARD BUT AREN’T SWIMMING FASTER

by Olivier Poirier-Leroy. Join his weekly motivational newsletter for competitive swimmers by clicking here.

Reposted from swimswam.com

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I work hard every day at practice but don’t seem to be getting faster. How do I stay motivated when this happens?

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Sound familiar?

I bet it does.

I’ve experienced it, continue to experience it, and judging by the number of emails I get from swimmers frustrated with this exact thing, a whole chlorinated bunch of you do as well.

The dreaded plateau.

We all experience it. For those of us who have been around the block a few times we might even know that it’s coming, but this doesn’t make it any easier when it does happen.

• Am I doing this all wrong?
• Have I maxed out my abilities and talent in the water?
• Will I never get any faster than I am right now?
• What if I keep working hard in the water and nothing ever gets better?

There are about a thousand different reasons that things have flat-lined for you in the pool.

But there are a handful that I see pop up over and over again both with other swimmers and in my own travels around the black line.

Here are some of the more common reasons your hard work doesn’t appear to be paying off:

THE ILLUSION OF THE CLOCK.

The way we judge our swimming, both in practice and in competition, is usually based completely on the scoreboard and pace clock.

Best time? Great success.

Slower than our PB? Booooo.

Using the clock as the only marker for whether a swim was good or not is a problem because the clock isn’t the only marker of improvement in the water.

Not even close.

The time on the clock doesn’t lie, but it doesn’t tell the whole truth. If we base how feel about our swimming completely and totally on what we see on the clock, then we are ignoring the millions of other things that are happening in the water.

Improvement in the water isn’t always reflected by the clock.

When you think about it, becoming a faster swimmer is a transformation—your body is literally adapting and learning to move through the water with less effort.

Not all of the changes you want to happen are going to happen at exactly the same time, and they don’t happen at the same rate.

Read that again, because it’s important to understand. Change and improvement doesn’t happen uniformly.

That being said, even though the clock might not be telling us what we wanna hear that day in the water, what are you doing to improve today?

Are your turns improving? Is your breakout getting better? Are you getting better at holding the breathing patterns? Are you being mindful of your stroke rate on every lap? Are you crushing the high elbow pull? Not rolling your head too much to breathe?

See where I am going with this?

The clock is just one measure of getting better in the water.

Being “faster” means doing countless things better. Just because your overall rate of improvement isn’t there today doesn’t mean you can’t hammer away at those other little aspects of your training.

The most powerful side-effect of this mindset change is realizing that there are always things you can control and focus on during workouts when you feel like your hands are slopping through Jello.

We can’t always control how we feel in the water, or what the results are, but we can choose to work on something today that has nothing to do with either of those things.

And of course, the fact that there are so many things you can be working on means that there are countless ways for you to take control of your swimming (and consequently, feel motivated again).

THE FASTER YOU GET, THE SLOWER YOU IMPROVE.

This is one of the less-talked about aspects of high-performance swimming—when we first commit to getting better we improve quickly. Everything is gravy during this phase.

But as we master it (whether it’s a skill, a conditioning level, or a higher elbow catch), and those first few waves of adaptation pass us by, improvement starts to slow down. It might even completely stall out.

Even though we are still working super hard and doing everything right.

It’s just the nature of improvement.

The top swimmers in the world know this better than most. Think about all of the training and practices they do just in the hopes of matching or slightly improving their best times.

When we first start something the rate of improvement is hilarious—just don’t expect it to last forever.

Which transitions well into…

YOU ARE WORKING HARD AT DOING THE THINGS YOU ARE COMFORTABLE DOING.

Progress comes from doing new things.

By “new” I don’t mean suddenly switching coach and club mid-week—but by doing a new interval, a lower stroke count, or more dolphin kicks off the wall.

“Working hard” is a really subjective thing to say and just about every swimmer in the water can find a way to justify saying it.

For example, I can say that I went and swam 2,000m really hard, but that certainly doesn’t mean I swam well or even in a way that is going help me become a better swimmer.

If you are working hard at doing the same things you’ve always done you are just gonna get really good at swimming the same speeds you always have.

Effort isn’t enough.

Your effort needs to be focused at swimming better in all respects, and not just “hard.”

Those times where you experience violent bursts of improvement come from when you are swimming harder and better.

ACCUMULATED FATIGUE.

One of the biggest crises in confidence I experienced in my competitive days was around a month out from big meets.

This was usually when training was at its hardest.

The volume was high, the intensity was cranked, and I would find myself frustrated with a lack of speed in the water.

Because I was showing up and working hard every day at practice I was carrying around some serious work fatigue that had built up over the weeks and months of training.

Contrast this with other swimmers in the group who had missed a fair chunk of training. To my chagrin and frustration, they’d crush me in practice because they were essentially tapered.

It felt hilariously unfair to be getting dusted by swimmers who were barely showing up to practices.

The harder you train, the more fatigue you are going to carry around with you.

The effects of yesterday’s hard workout don’t just disappear after a night of sleep. Now imagine the stockpile of fatigue that comes from weeks and months of hard training.

This is the burden of being the swimmer who shows up and kicks butt every day.

The good news?

Have faith in the program and when you get your chance to fully rest up and recover you’ll discover a new gear in the pool you never thought possible.

YOU AREN’T GIVING YOURSELF A CHANCE TO RECOVER.

Speaking of fatigue, how hard do you work at the recovery aspect of your training? How serious are you about getting to bed early each night? How well are you eating before, during and after your swim practices?

Along the same vein as accumulated fatigue, if you aren’t giving yourself a chance to recover properly between thrashings in the water you aren’t giving yourself space to adapt to the training.

Think of your body as a big old battery. If you don’t let it charge overnight, how much battery are you left with in the morning? If you aren’t giving it sporadic charges over the course of the day how much charge does it have left by the end of the day?

With 25% juice left you are scrambling for ways to get a quick charge over the course of the day (coffee, pre-workouts, etc).

Working hard is awesome, but you should be recovering just as hard.

Think of all those recovery activities as ways to recharge your personal battery.

Stretching and foam rolling after practice. Staying hydrated over the course of the day. Doing some form of mindfulness work to help keep stress at bay. Getting all the sleep you can get your hands on.

Recover as hard as you are working in the pool.

THE HARDEST PART OF ALL… KEEP SHOWING UP.

I’ll never forget the first time I swam a :27 long course for a 50 free in practice.

I’ll never forget it because I didn’t expect it.

It came on a Saturday afternoon after a bruising week of training. It was my tenth session of the week, and it was around the 51,550’th meter that I’d swum during that span. At the tail end of a race pace set I dropped a :27 high.

Immediately buoyed by this and wanting to make sure this wasn’t a one-off or a fluke, I was able to repeat this result on the next rep.

Ka-boom. Massive breakthrough.

I certainly hadn’t planned on it that morning. But I’d shown up, done everything right in training, and gave myself the best possible chance that day for improvement to burst through.

That’s what you can do each day. Show up, give your best, and good things will happen.

Those breakthroughs won’t happen every day, and you can rarely predict the exact moment they will happen, but you exponentially increase the likelihood of those huge new jolts of improvement by showing up.

That breakthrough you want might not happen today.

Maybe not tomorrow.

But it’s coming in hot as long as you keep showing up.

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ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY

Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national level swimmer. He’s the publisher of YourSwimBook, a ten-month log book for competitive swimmers.

He’s also the author of the recently published mental training workbook for competitive swimmers, Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High Performance Mindset.

It combines sport psychology research, worksheets, and anecdotes and examples of Olympians past and present to give swimmers everything they need to conquer the mental side of the sport.

Ready to take your mindset to the next level?

Click here to learn more about Conquer the Pool.

COACHES: Yuppers–we do team orders of “Conquer the Pool” which include a team discount as well as complimentary branding (your club logo on the cover of the book) at no additional charge.

Want more details? Click here for a free estimate on a team order of CTP.

You’re Stronger Than You Think You Are

BY WILL JONATHAN swimswam.com

June 04th, 2018

Being human is such a complex experience. It’s by no means simple. There are times when you feel like you’re on top of the world and where you feel totally invincible. There are other times when you feel like you’re stuck at the bottom and where you feel completely vulnerable.

Swimming is also a really complex experience. Again, it’s by no means simple. There are times when you feel like you’re a fantastic swimmer who can take on anyone who steps up next to you. There are other times when you like you’re never good enough and everyone else around you is and will always be superior to you.

Swimming can lift you up and make you feel incredible things. It can show you sides of yourself that you love and give you a sense of self-worth and meaning. Swimming can also throw you down and make you feel horrible things. It can expose aspects of yourself that you hate to see and give you a sense of self-loathing and hopelessness.

No matter what you experience in swimming, it’s important to understand this: You’re stronger than you think you are.

You’ve had bad races before, haven’t you? You’ve swam races that were dreadful. You’ve performed really poorly and gotten some pretty awful times. However, no matter how badly you managed to swim a race, what happened each time you swam one of those bad races? You got back up on the block for your next race and you decided to go again.

You’ve had some really bad training sessions before too, haven’t you? You’ve had some practices where you were basically worthless and couldn’t accomplish a thing. You couldn’t hold your pace at all and seemed to miss every single turn off the wall. However, no matter how bad a practice or training session was, what did you always do? You showed up the next day and went back at it some more.

You’ve also had some really painful races, haven’t you? You’ve had some swims where the physical and mental pain and exhaustion just felt like it was swallowing you up. Your legs were burning, your arms numb, and your lungs felt like they were on the verge of collapsing. However, no matter how painful a race may have been, what were you always able to do? You were able to finish that race and get your hand to the wall.

Lastly, I’m sure you’ve experienced some miserable failures during your time as a swimmer. I’m sure you’ve gone through some excruciating losses and moments of unbelievable heartache. You somehow managed to lose a race you weren’t supposed to lose or just barely missed getting that time cut you desperately wanted to get and worked hard for. However, no matter how much you’ve failed or how painful an experience has been for you in swimming, what have you always managed to do? You’ve always managed to stick with it, believe in yourself, continue to show up, and not give it up.

There’s a real power in recognizing small feats of strength and resilience. Many times, success and accomplishment isn’t the act of holding a trophy in your hand or grasping a medal that’s been placed around your neck. More of than not, success and accomplishment is simply the small act of showing up the next day. It’s having the eagerness and the willingness to suit back up, strap on your goggles, squeeze on your cap, and jump into the water despite the disappointment and pain you’ve experienced.

Perhaps you’ve just swam the worst race you’ve ever swam in your life and you still have 3 more events to go today. Perhaps that bad race has caused you to lose confidence in yourself and doubt whether or not you can swim your best in your next event. If so, just remember that you’ve always managed to bounce back from a bad race before and climb back up onto the block to go again. You’re stronger than you think you are.

Perhaps you’ve just had the worst meet you’ve ever had, where every single event you swam was really poor and the times were equally as awful. Perhaps that bad meet has caused you to doubt yourself, to think that something must be wrong, and to think that you’re going to have a bad remainder of the season. If so, just remember that you’ve had bad meets before and have always been able to get through them and turn things around. You’re stronger than you think you are.

Perhaps you’re coming off of the worst season you’ve ever had where you weren’t able to drop time in any of your events and it feels like you’ve done nothing except manage to go backwards. Perhaps this past season has caused you to question yourself; to lose the desire and determination to continue on. If so, just remember that you’ve had a bad season before at some point, and yet you still managed to continue on, to not give up, and keep pursuing your dreams. You’re stronger than you think you are.

The strength to keep going despite the pain, both physical and mental, is no small thing. The perseverance to continue onwards and stay the course despite your setbacks is not at all insignificant. It takes great courage and great bravery to WANT to keep going and push on despite everything you’ve been through. It takes real heartiness and real guts to wake up each day and keep moving forward. It takes true fearlessness to walk out of your front door and face the world. Each time you do, you’re proving to everyone around you, and most importantly to yourself, that you DO have great inner strength.

The fact that you’re still here, the fact that you’re still swimming, and the fact that you’ve managed to continue moving forward and following your path despite what you’ve been through proves without a shadow of a doubt that you do indeed have great inner strength. If you didn’t, you would have walked away a long time ago. You would have given up after the first painful swim, the first bad race, the first bad meet, or first bad season. Yet, you didn’t.

Swimming will always be complex. It will always hurt, both physically and mentally. It will always place challenges and obstacles in front of you. It will always present you with setbacks and roadblocks. It will always give you moments of disappointment and experiences of heartache. You’re always going to swim a bad race, get a bad time, have a bad meet, or have a bad season at some point. However, no matter what happens, and whenever you start to doubt yourself, just always remember this:

You’re stronger than you think you are.

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About Will Jonathan

Will Jonathan is a sports mental coach from Fort Myers, Florida. His clients include athletes on the PGA Tour, the Web.com Tour, Major League Baseball, the UFC, the Primera Liga, the Olympics, and the NCAA, as well as providing numerous talks and presentations on the mental aspect of sport and peak performance to various sports programs and organizations across the country. He’s currently the official mental coach for the Florida State University Swimming & Diving team. He provides private, 1-to-1 mental coaching sessions for swimmers on location or through Skype, as well as providing talks and presentations to swim teams on the mental aspects of swimming.

• Website – https://willjonathan.com/
• YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC33_eUb7wjnlB1AGw4sDSfQ
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/_WillJonathan_
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Stop Making New Goals—Create Habits Instead

Finally become the person you want to be.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wander-woman/201802/stop-making-new-goals-create-habits-instead

Marcia Reynolds Psy.D. - Wander Woman

The scenario: You declare a change you want to make to achieve the results you desire. You eagerly set a goal and plan the steps. You tell yourself this time, you will commit to your goal.

Then you go back to days full of urgent emails and texts; projects falling behind; messes to clean up; fires to put out; agendas, lists and people who need to be heard out.

You think about your goal between frantic interruptions, but the days feel so overwhelming and out-of-control, you cling to what you have done in the past. You say, “Next week I’ll change when I have more time.” Lapses of distraction and masterful rationalizations crush your best-laid plans.

Sound familiar? You might feel guilty for a while, but then you conveniently forget your goal so you can focus on the more important things you must do. Or you say things like, “I am who I am” and people should accept me for that.

Humans are creatures of habit. Nearly half of what you do each day is repeated behavior. ¹

No matter how invested you are in your goals, taking consistent action to change your habits is difficult. There is safety going back to old thinking and behaviors. You must take deliberate, consistent actions repeatedly over time to defy your brain if you want to achieve the results you desire.

To achieve a goal, don't plan on taking progressive steps. You must first create new habits.

People do like change, they just forget they do.

Your desire to create different outcomes is not enough to sustain change.²To create new habits of behavior, your brain needs consistent evidence that your goal is achievable and worth the effort. Without consistent evidence, your brain will fabricate rationalizations for not changing, and give you reasons for decreasing the value of the goal. You forget why the goal is so important unless you have someone help you see your way through these typical blocks to progress.

Change is a continuum, not an event.

Your brain’s primary function is to protect you from harm and discomfort. You must convince your brain that you will not only be safe if you change, you will be better off.

To convince your brain, you must compose easily attainable steps that you will repeat for a period of time until they comfortably fit into your routine. You need visual reminders that there is a feel-good payoff for the change you want to make. Then every day, you want to recognize every time your remembered and tried to meet your commitment, even if the attempt was small. You have to show your brain that you will succeed, little by little over time.

The key to transforming your choices into a long-lasting behavioral change is to:

1. Use pictures and notes to visually remind yourself of what you want to create.
2. Plan and repeat small shifts in behavior so you can see early and consistent evidence that you can be successful.
3. Document the evidence of each positive step when you journal and dialogue about your progress.

First, make sure you define specific activities you can celebrate. Chunk your goal into small behaviors that will move you forward to achieving your goal one step at a time. For example, if you are trying to improve your relationships by being a better listener, you might start with the practices of releasing a full breath before you respond to a question. Notice when you do this for days or weeks until the pause becomes a habit. Follow-on steps might include 1) noticing and shifting your emotions to feeling curious after your breath, 2) making sure you have fully stopped walking and working to be present with people you talk to, and 3) seeking to understand more clearly what people need and already know before you respond.

Take time with each step. Don't be impatient. You are making shifts in your routines and behaviors, not drastic changes.

You can spend as many days as you like on each step until you see consistent progress but acknowledge yourself each day for even minor attempts at achievement. Keep reminding your brain you can succeed so it will support you instead of protecting you.

The transformation is more likely to stay on track if you make a point of noticing your accomplishments every day. Write about your victories in your journal. Talk about them with others who support your growth. Send congratulations notes to yourself.

Piece-by-piece, you shift your mind and behavior. Little by little, you create new habits. Eventually, you become the person you vision yourself to be.

Dialogue keeps your brain on track

Even if you accept that you must change a behavior or habit, the act of letting go of old ways takes constant self-encouragement. It is easy to be discouraged. You might feel rejection and embarrassment if your attempts to change are rebuffed by others. You have to try out less than perfect behaviors, which can be frightening.

Asking for support and assistance can make you feel vulnerable, yet social support is important to help you override the emotions that can trigger your brain to give up your plans.

Just sharing your desires with others will strengthen your commitment. Research shows that making a new behavior automatic can take 18 to 254 days, with 2 months being the average.³ During that time, ongoing dialogue with a coach or a trusted friend can:

• Remind you of your overarching desires when you question your choices.
• Call on your strengths when you question a goal’s achievability.
• Celebrate wins with you, no matter how small, as significant steps in your journey.
• Mine the learning from each lapse so all actions are seen as valuable instead of setbacks.

Creating consistent evidence that you will succeed and using a social support system that includes a coach or mentor can help become the person you want to be.

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References

[1] Neal, D.T., Wood, W., and Quinn, J.M. (20?) Habits—A repeat performance. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 15, 198-202.

[2] Nowack, K. (2017) Facilitating successful behavioral change: Beyond goal setting to goal flourishing. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Vol 69, No. 3, 153-171.

[3] Lally, P., Van Jaarsveld, C., Potts, H., & Wardle, J. (2010) How habits are formed: Modeling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1009, 998-1009.

4 Simple Ways to Improve Performance

By Alice Reeves-Turner, Swimming World College Intern.

Whatever the level of meet, whether it be a junior event or the Olympic games, all swimmers have a pre-race ritual. This may simply be listening to a specific piece of music, eating a specific meal or a specific set of stretches– whatever the level of complexity of our behaviour before a meet, all swimmers believe that these things will help us improve in our race. Although these little quirks make us feel good on race day, there are many things that a swimmer can do which guarantee they will achieve their full potential…

1. Sleep

We all know know we should get around 8 hours sleep a night, however with the pressures of balancing training and the other commitments of life there are very few swimmers who can manage that every night. To improve performance at a meet, swimmers should try to get a solid night of sleep before a race. Studies have shown that athletes who sleep better are more likely to achieve as they can concentrate better.

2. Diet

Swimmers are renowned for their enormous diets, with Micheal Phelps featured on an NBC special eating 12,000 calories a day before his retirement. But this does not mean that swimmers eat the right things. Many never see their full potential because they never take time to focus on food. By quite simply eating the rights things and having a balanced diet, a swimmer is guaranteed to improve there performance.

3. Training

It seems logical that if you try hard in training you will achieve more in races, however some of us seem to forget that when faced with a tough training session. Hard work pays off. Despite the temporal pain a hard training session can cause it will pay off in the end.

4. Mindset

Going into a race with a good mentality can make all the difference. In fact, studies have found that if someone goes into anything with a negative viewpoint they are less likely to perform to their full potential. So, the next time you think a negative thought prior to a race about your performance, banish it from your thoughts and rocket into a world of happier, faster swimming.

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

Everyone You Meet is Your Mirror

by Coach Mike

I discovered that for me to be more compassionate to others I had to first start with myself. We are only able to see things within others that we see within ourselves. Hence the saying - Everyone you meet is your mirror.

Like most people, my response to this was, “I do not act like a lot of people who annoy me and push my buttons.”

However we come to understand ourselves best through our relationships with other people. The traits we tend to get triggered by in others are usually the traits we do not like about ourselves. Hence judgment and criticizing of these characteristics ensue. When we are aware that our judgment of others stems from judging ourselves it can help us be more compassionate towards ourselves.

This is important because when certain characteristics in someone’s personality trigger a negative reaction from you, there is something within you that is coming up because it is ready to be healed. Every person we meet in life shows up at the perfect time in our lives to reflect something we need to heal within ourselves. The people with whom you interact are showing you who you are and ultimately providing you with an opportunity for self-compassion. When you find yourself triggered by a person or situation, ask yourself the following questions:

• What is this person teaching me that I need to learn to become a better version of myself?
• Do I behave like this now?
• Did I behave like this in the past?

Believe it or not, giving yourself some self-compassion and forgiving yourself is the most effective way to disengage from negative interactions with people. We can only show compassion and acceptance of others to the degree that we show self-compassion and acceptance of ourselves. When you make it a habit to learn from your relationships, eventually you will discover that you can observe negative traits within others without judgment and without getting hooked into someone else’s drama.

This also works in reverse as well. The desirable behaviors we see in others are also a reflection of ourselves. When we predominately choose self-compassion we live in a reality of compassion.

How do we practice self-compassion? Dr. Kristen Neff, author of Self-Compassion offers some great insight.

“Be gentle first with yourself if you wish to be gentle with others.” ~Lama Yeshe

Let’s define self-compassion. Self-compassion creates space within you that is free of judgement – a place that sees your pain and failures and softens to allow those experiences with kindness and caring. Instead of mercilessly judging and criticizing yourself for various inadequacies or shortcomings, self-compassion means you are kind and understanding when confronted with personal failings – after all, who said you were supposed to be perfect. I remind myself everyday that I am perfectly, imperfect.

Practicing throughout life, it is our human right to make mistakes; this is how we learn…

We can practice self-kindness. This entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate, rather than ignoring our pain or beating ourselves up with self-criticism. Recognize that being imperfect, failing, and experiencing difficulties in life is inevitable. Be gentle with yourselves when confronted with painful experiences rather than getting angry when life falls short of expectations.

Some believe that we have to criticize ourselves to improve. Just the opposite is true. The judgment only holds the pattern in place. So be gentle with yourself; show yourself the same kindness and patience you might show a young child – the child you once were. If you won’t be your own friend, who will be?

Embrace your common humanity. Frustration is not having things exactly as we want them. All humans suffer. The very definition of being “human” means that one is mortal, vulnerable and imperfect. Therefore, self-compassion involves recognizing that suffering is part of the shared human experience – something that we all go through rather than something that happens to “me” alone.

Be mindful. Mindfulness is a non-judgmental, receptive mind state in which one observes thoughts and feelings as they are without trying to suppress or deny them. We are unable to ignore our pain and feel compassion at the same time. At the same time mindfulness is recognizing that thoughts are just thoughts as well as emotions are just emotions. It is our choice to stay or act on that thought or be that emotion. For example; my thoughts are my own but they do not describe me. Because I think or feel anxious, that doesn't mean that I am anxious. It means I am experiencing the symptoms of anxiety, not that I am anxiety. By being mindful, it allows us to notice these sensations and be an observer of them and not become them.

“Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” ~Reinhold Niebuhr

Affirmations for Self-compassion

I accept myself as I am	I let go of the old and make room for the new.
I am enough	Today I will treat myself with kindness.
I am worthy of compassion	Like any human being, I have strengths and weaknesses, and that’s OK.
I forgive myself and allow myself to feel inner peace.	I’m healing through self-compassion.
I allow myself to make mistakes and to learn from those mistakes.	I give myself the gift of unconditional love.

Go out there and challenge yourself to be the change in the world, one person at a time. This isn’t about forgetting or ignoring the troubles in the world or our lives but it is about stopping the complaining and taking charge, one small step at a time. Showing people there is a better way.

Changing our face can change nothing. But facing our change can change everything.

Why Not?

BY LEXIE LUPTON

Reposted from swimswam.com

Regardless of how talented, fast, or experienced, there may be one common area where swimmers struggle – self-doubt. Whether during practice or behind the blocks, we sell ourselves short by thinking we are not capable of reaching our highest potential. Self-doubt can creep into your head when you least expect it. For example, being given an interval or goal time that seems unattainable and your mind is already thinking “There’s no way I can do that.”

I myself had developed this negative habit without even realizing it. One night at practice, I dramatically argued to my club coach that I would NOT make the first swim on the intervals I was given. It took only one challenging question back to snap me out of my self-doubt. My coach simply looked at me and tested, “why not?” I quickly realized that I didn’t have a reason why besides that I considered them “too fast”.

Hard work isn’t all it takes to achieve your goals. You have to 100%, without doubt, believe that you can do it. Once I realized I was holding myself back by writing off the practice as a failure before trying it, I decided to buy into it and ended up making those times. From then on, I began to ask myself “Why not?” every time I felt self-doubt surfacing in my mind. 

It’s crazy the things that can happen when you set your mind on a goal and not let your confidence waver. Of course there will be times where you fail, but you gain more by trying and failing than never trying at all. The only way to get better both in the pool and in life is to take the risk of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.  Thankfully, I had a coach that was willing to call me out and push me in the direction that I needed to go. Since moving on to college swimming, I have carried that phrase with me in everything I do.

So from now on, before shying away from a goal you deem too big, challenge your self-doubt and ask yourself “Why not?”

What Meditation and Mindfulness Have to Do With Mental Toughness

by Dr Alan Goldberg of competitivedge.com

There is a tendency in the world of sports to be “tough” and put on a brave face no matter what, to push yourself through obstacles with force, and to keep yourself moving because the alternative of slowing down might mean that you’re “falling behind.” But the problem with that full-speed-ahead approach is that it’s bound to burn you out in the long run, and it’s not going to help you mature as an athlete.

Real Mental Toughness requires slowing down both physically and mentally.

Many of the techniques I teach, such as controlling your eyes and ears, staying focused in the NOW, and emphasizing the process over the outcome are a unique way of applying the concept of mindfulness to sports. But if you really want to grow as an athlete it’s helpful to understand the broader definition of mindfulness and apply it to life both on and off the field so that you can benefit in multiple ways.

So what is mindfulness?

If you’ve ever time-travelled in your head and got distracted with thoughts while your body was doing something on autopilot then that’s a good example of what mindfulness is NOT, and what it aims to address. When “the lights are on but nobody’s home” so to speak, you are not doing whatever it is you’re doing to your full capacity.

If you’re in practice and thinking about how you really need to win the next game, how embarrassed you are about some mistake you made in the past, or how you’re failing chemistry then your concentration will suffer because your body and mind are in two separate places. Mindfulness helps bring the two back together so that you have more focus, clarity, and are able to perform better.

It’s a concept rooted in the Buddhist tradition that basically asks that you bring more conscious attention to what you’re doing in that moment. Whether you’re brushing your teeth, having a laugh with family, or stretching pre-performance, being mindful means keeping your thoughts only in that action rather than allowing them to wander elsewhere.

Let’s take the example of stretching. Doing it mindfully means fully feeling your body with a quiet mind. If it helps you can “think” about how a certain muscle group feels when you’re stretching it, imagine tense areas relaxing, and really appreciating how your body allows you to engage in a sport you love. That’s it. If you start to think about other things then just bring your attention back to the stretch, no need to self-criticize for those wandering thoughts, just bring your attention back and continue with the mindful action. Try mindfulness when you do other things too, like walking, eating, playing with your dog, etc.

The more you get in the habit of doing all sorts of things mindfully the easier it will be for you to access the concentration necessary to reach peak performance when it’s crunch time!

Now here’s another practice that will improve your performance: meditation.

Stay with me here, this isn’t woo-woo stuff, I’m not asking you to dance in the forest and go on a shamanic journey. Meditation is a scientifically proven effective strategy that helps increase mental functions, lower stress, and even improve resilience to adversity. And if I’m not enough to convince you then consider this: some of the most successful athletes like Kobe Bryant, Joe Nameth, Arthur Ashe, Barry Zito, Lebron James, Derek Jeter, and many others meditate. It worked out pretty well for them so you might as well give it a try!

Meditation is both incredibly simple and very difficult at first. Here’s what you do: sit and do nothing!

You can start with 5 or 10 minutes every day, and choose a time of day where you can do it consistently. Mornings tend to be best but you should prioritize consistency, so if you’re not a morning person then try afternoons or evenings. Sit down on a cushion on the floor or in a chair, close your eyes, and just focus on your breathing. That's all, just focus on your breathing. Without altering your breath in any way, feel the breath come in and then the breath go out. If there's a pause between breaths, notice the pause. As thoughts come in, label them, "thinking," and immediately bring your focus back to your inhale and your exhale.  Use a timer so you don't have to keep checking the clock.

Mental Toughness is all about training your mind and these techniques will go a long way in helping you reach a new level of performance.

10 Ways Fast Swimmers Think Differently

by Olivier Poirier-Leroy

Fast swimming starts with your mindset. Here are 10 ways elite swimmers think differently.

If you ask any Olympic coach what the defining characteristic of elite swimmers is you will be told, “it’s their mindset.”

Fast swimmers possess a state of mind that is above-and-beyond that of the swimmers who talk about success and yet never chase it with any kind of conviction. (Hereafter referred to as the “slow” swimmer.)

The way they battle through setbacks. How they approach challenges. How willing they are to go the extra mile. Their ability to set goals, make a plan, and stick to it. These are the things that merge to form the mindset of an elite athlete.

Here are 10 ways that the mindset of fast swimmers is different to that of the slow swimmer:

1. Fast swimmers look to improve at practice, while slow swimmers go to get it over with.

Does this mean that fast swimmers don’t rue early mornings? That they love it when coach writes up 10x400m IM best average on the whiteboard?

No.

But they use those early mornings and those tough sets as opportunities to get better, to become better swimmers. For others, it’s punishment, a chore, simply something to be endured.

2. Fast swimmers know they have to risk it to win it, slow swimmers stay in their comfort zone.

There is no guarantee of success. Ever.

Even for Michael Phelps, arguably the most gifted swimmer of our lifetime, he still had to work hard to get to where he was, and even then, there were times where he still wasn’t the fastest swimmer in the pool.

Knowing this isn’t a deterrent for the fast swimmer. But it is for the other guy/gal.

3. Fast swimmers will do extra, slow swimmers will do simply what is required.

For those who aren’t as talented, or aren’t as physically gifted as the top swimmers in pool your talent must become hard work and tenacity. And this means doing extra.

Going beyond what is asked. They understand that exceptional results only happen with exceptional effort.

For your neighborhood slow swimmer, they will do the bare minimum and still expect out-sized results.

4. Fast swimmers have goals, slow swimmers have wishes.

They have the big, shiny goals. Just like everybody else. But more importantly, they have benchmarks and mini-goals that they set for themselves along the way in order to keep themselves focused over the course of a long season of training.

Other swimmers make wishes, and think to themselves how nice it would be to accomplish them, if only they had the time or energy to do so.

5. Fast swimmers are accountable to themselves, slow swimmers make excuses.

The top swimmers in the sport know that at the end of the day they only have themselves to blame if they come up short. And because they are willing to accept responsibility for their swimming, both the good and the bad, they own their performances.

Slow swimmers look everywhere else but the mirror when things don’t go well. It’s the competition’s fault. It’s coaches fault. It’s the pool’s fault.

6. Fast swimmers work through setbacks, slow swimmers give up the moment things aren’t going their way.

The swim season is long. You don’t need me to tell you that. The grind is vicious, and it is unforgiving. Through it you will experience setbacks and failures. Some large, some small, some under your control, some not.

Fast swimmers accept this as part of the process, simply things to be overcome. Slow swimmers view them as proof that they aren’t going to succeed, that difficult means impossible.

7. Fast swimmers act in the moment, slow swimmers wait for things to be perfect.

Given how limited our window of opportunity is to achieve great things in the water it is a wonder that there isn’t more urgency in the way we act.

Fast swimmers don’t wait until they feel like it, or when the mood strikes them—they act with controlled urgency.

Slow swimmers, on the other hand, sit around waiting for that ideal moment that never seems to come.

8. Fast swimmers prioritize their training and preparation, slow swimmers hope it comes together for them at the big meet.

Yes, for most training is hard. Really hard.

But it’s where those best times, records and gold medals are carefully sculpted and developed. Fast swimmers understand the importance of their training, and rank it accordingly within the priorities of their life.

The slow swimmer, on the other hand, cruises through training, swimming inconsistently, doing half the work, and then expecting to be able to perform at a high level when it comes to race time.

9. Fast swimmers focus on steadily improving, slow swimmers expect big time drops in time to happen overnight.

There is a special type of patience and faith that fast swimmers have with the process of becoming great.

They know that the result they want is built slowly. They understand it takes time, it takes patience, and to believe and know that their efforts will pay off down the line.

The slow swimmer expects to see a violent and rash improvement after a couple solid efforts, and is irreparably disheartened when it doesn’t happen.

10. Fast swimmers contribute to a culture of winning, slow swimmers expect the culture to only work for them.

Being successful in the water is a lot of fun. Seeing your hard work pay off is rewarding. And when you have a group of swimmers who are all interested in seeing the group succeed, support each other in practice and keep each other accountable to the goals of the team, you are going to end up with a lot of fast swimming.

The slow swimmer, on the other hand, solely expects the team to support him or her. They show up to practice, complain about the sets, grumble about the workout, and create a type of cancer within the team that diminishes the team’s chances for success.

Reposted from www.yourswimlog.com