What lane should I be in?
I’ve been ‘wasting’ a lot my time in the last while (read:2years) keeping up to date with current events In Canada and the world. I say wasting because someone could easily argue that I would have been better off to ignore such things and focus on myself…but that’s not who I am. It’s an interesting activity (being ‘informed’) to spend time doing because the more you look around the more you find out that no one really knows whats going on. We (loosely stated) ingest only a little bit of information, enough to keep our brains in a state of acceptance to what we perceive reality to be. Thing is, everyone has their own set of circumstances that create their reality and thus things that occur in political realms, scientific realms, spiritual realms all happen to each individual in a way that affects them differently than say their neighbour Jeffery or Susan. So each person creates this understanding about what is important to them, and at the same time an understanding of -loosely- what’s important to other people.
Herein lies a problem I think.
When we act on these understandings of what other people deem important without having real conversations with them, we post freely our feelings about certain current events or topics expecting validation that our understandings are correct. In my experience, when a strong feeling expression of thought is countered with objection or clarification, people are quick to mindlessly dismiss the counter as arrogant or ignorant, without asking for clarification. I wonder if this is a symptom of short text box replies or if they truly think any counter to their understanding of things is quackery? I dunno.
This makes me wonder about how I conduct business as a Coach. There is a scientifically proven method to increasing our capacity for oxygen transport in our cardiovascular system. Their is psychologically proven methods to maintaining sanity. Their is spiritually proven ways to maintain goodness in your heart and treat others with respect and dignity.
These all exist, so do I focus on one provable method for achieving success in athletic pursuits? And in turn judge the success of a program or a person based on their adherence to that method. It would be an easy way to judge a business’s success. How did the client do?
Well, did they follow each training session to a T. Did they tie their shoes just right each time they went out? Did they eat their post workout food exactly within 30min to an hour every single time? Did they allow a full 20hrs between each run to allow max recovery. Did they pay for professional treatment to every single niggle and tweak? Did they drink the recommended water intake and get 8-9 hours of sleep every single night? If the answer is no than I guess it is their own fault that they didn’t achieve their goal right?
I think that is a BS way to conduct a business, especially one that is looking at taking care of the human. We are so complex, and we live in a garbage fire of a society. There are arrows attacking every aspect of what it means to be a human. So I think it’s a better approach to acknowledge that these things exist and work with athletes to make sure success is happening outside of ‘the perfect formula, which only works if executed perfectly’.
So I suppose that I’m still trying to find a lane that I spend most my time. And for now I think that changing lanes to speed up and slow down en route to community connection and pursuit of passion is how I will conduct myself. Adaptability and curiosity is what I’m trying to develop to best serve the lives and goals of athletes that I coach.
As athletes, I think that for peak performance strictly from a physical sense, you do need to spend more time in one lane. For me personally as an athlete, my interests and pursuits mean I won’t reach peak performance in running, or any other pursuits. However, I think I will reach peak enjoyment and fulfillment out of the life that I live, and for me at this juncture in life that is what I am aiming at.
Some athletes I may coach in the future will want to stay in one lane to find their peak performance in running, and that will be a fun goal to be pulled by. And some will want to double dip and speed up and slow down while pursuing the best they can offer on a race day in the short term, and that will be equally fun to be pulled by.
End of day, allow yourself to be pulled by your identity in sport, in culture, in spirituality, in politics. But don’t let that sour you to another humans reality and pursuit of their own identity which can differ greatly from your own.
All Peace and Love,
Joedy Dalke
