Are You Letting Yourself Win?
Triathletes and open water swimmers are often split into two categories, those looking to compete and those who just want to complete.
"Completers" love setting themselves a challenge which feels a little scary but creates a real buzz of excitement at the same time. They use that heady mix of fear and excitement for motivation to train for the big day. They try to fit training and racing in around their normal life and see their chosen sport as part of a bigger picture.
"Competers" on the other hand are all about performance. Just finishing an event isn't enough, it's about where they place and improving on their previous performances. They train hard and can't help but get a little obsessed about how things are going. Rather than fitting training around their lives they end up fitting life around their training.
Unfortunately Competers often look down on Completers thinking "If you just trained harder and believed in yourself a bit more, you could be so much faster than you are". And whilst that's undoubtably true, would getting more focused ultimately make them happier?
The thing is Completers are very good at something that Competers are very bad at: letting themselves win. They set a challenging goal but something that is actually achievable and feel great when they reach that goal.
Competers on the other hand tend to set their goals just out of reach so they rarely hit them. Or, when they do hit them, immediately move their targets higher again. Rather than taking satisfaction from training hard and doing their best, they judge themselves and their self worth from their pure performance. All too often things end in failure: "I was 2 seconds per 100m slower than I should be" or "If I hadn't got that injury 2 months ago I could be winning my age group".
If you are one of those competitive types, take a leaf out of the Completers book and occasionally give yourself a pat on the back, taking satisfaction from doing your best. Not your best as in the best you ever could be if you didn't have a job and never got sick and all the stars aligned on race day... but your best given there was a howling gale on race day, you had to go on that business trip and yes, your husband doesn't understand.
In a nutshell: let it go and let yourself win occasionally.
Swim Smooth!
"Completers" love setting themselves a challenge which feels a little scary but creates a real buzz of excitement at the same time. They use that heady mix of fear and excitement for motivation to train for the big day. They try to fit training and racing in around their normal life and see their chosen sport as part of a bigger picture.
"Competers" on the other hand are all about performance. Just finishing an event isn't enough, it's about where they place and improving on their previous performances. They train hard and can't help but get a little obsessed about how things are going. Rather than fitting training around their lives they end up fitting life around their training.
Unfortunately Competers often look down on Completers thinking "If you just trained harder and believed in yourself a bit more, you could be so much faster than you are". And whilst that's undoubtably true, would getting more focused ultimately make them happier?
The thing is Completers are very good at something that Competers are very bad at: letting themselves win. They set a challenging goal but something that is actually achievable and feel great when they reach that goal.
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| Allow yourself to celebrate before you even start! |
Competers on the other hand tend to set their goals just out of reach so they rarely hit them. Or, when they do hit them, immediately move their targets higher again. Rather than taking satisfaction from training hard and doing their best, they judge themselves and their self worth from their pure performance. All too often things end in failure: "I was 2 seconds per 100m slower than I should be" or "If I hadn't got that injury 2 months ago I could be winning my age group".
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| You should never be unhappy if you've given it all you've got. |
In a nutshell: let it go and let yourself win occasionally.
Swim Smooth!