Seth Godin wrote a post on his blog titled, How Big Is Your Red Zone. In it he describes and maps what happens in the gap/zone defined by difference between the difficulty of learning something new and the joy of mastering that task over time. Godin writes:
“Every activity worth doing has a learning curve. Riding a bike, learning to read, using Facebook… the early days are rarely nothing but fun. The red zone, is the gap between the initial hassle and the initial joy. My contention is that the only reason we ever get through that gap is that someone on the other side (the little green circle) is rooting us on, or telling us stories of how great it is on the other side.
The bigger your red zone, the louder your green dot needs to be. Every successful product or passion is either easy to get started on or comes with a built-in motivator to keep you moving until you’re in. This is so easy to overlook, because of course you’re already in…”
Godin’s contention is that the “built-in motivator on the other side telling us stories of how great it is on the other side” is the “only reason we get through the gap.” As coach and parent, I like that focus. It appeals to my vanity. My job is to tell those stories and root those in my charge on to the place where they hopefully experience the joy of mastery.
But that appeal to my vanity misses what I am coming to believe is the most crucial piece to mastery. Godin does hint at it though. In the last sentence he writes, “This (his main contention, ed.) is so easy to overlook, because of course you’re already in…” What are you “already in?”
My contention is that what “you’re already in,” is what Dr. Carolyn Dweck calls Mindset. Dweck posits there are two predominate mindsets - a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
For those who are held fast by a fixed mindset, no matter how big or small your red zone is you will need a loud motivator to break through your preconceived notions of your ability to realize the joy of
accomplishment. And in that mindset there typically is no joy in accomplishment, only relief.
For those who have a growth mindset, the joy of the struggle is equal to or greater than the degree of
difficulty of the challenge, or hassle as Godin puts it. In the growth mindset you enjoy not only the
accomplishment but the hassle. That is part of it.
Godin’s charts illustrate a point, but there is a larger point to be made. There are not two separate lines, hassle and joy, in the process of gaining mastery. There is only one line and two mindsets. One looking for the end of the line and the other enjoying the journey. Overcoming the challenge, managing
the hassle is the mastery.
At 2010 Pan Pacific Games, [iX3]sports family friend and reader, Charlie Houchin, solidified his place on the US National Swim Team by posting the 2nd fastest time by an American in the 400 meter freestyle. He is becoming “one with the water.”
Keep your eye on this one. We will be watching his progress with great interest.
Gotta give my nephew, Nick Tyrey, a bit of pub. He’s a sophomore at Cardinal Gibbons H.S. in Raleigh, NC and an outstanding distance runner. He broke the tape in his first race of the 2010 fall campaign winning the Freshman/Sophomore Kickoff 3K at WakeMed in Cary, NC. He covered the distance in 10:13. A very good time for early season on a course with some very nice climbs on it.
He’s the guy rocking the [iX3]sports T in the pic below. Keep your eyes on him.
Reading Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck and found this graphic that illustrates the differences between what she calls a fixed mindset and a growth mindset:
Disclaimer. I do not have any direct knowledge of the specific people described in this post. But, these types of parents are on my team, and if you coach swimming or any other sport, at any level, they may be on yours.
“Not long ago we were coaching at the local Junior Olympic long course meet. We observed a young man in the 15-16 age group racing the 1500 meter swim. His Dad was counting for him. After about 300 meters it was obvious – at least to the Dad by his body language – the swim was not going particularly well. At about 600 meters the volume in the Dad’s voice came up 20 or so decibels and had a decidedly critical tone to it. As the swimmer came into the turn Dad was furiously shaking the counter up and down and yelling ‘Kick harder, come on kick harder.’ We wondered if the swimmer could read the counter since it was moving up and down pretty fast. We wondered if the swimmer could actually hear the words the Dad was yelling. We think there is a difference between a loud voice exhorting a swimmer on to glory and a loud voice yelling ‘commands.’
When the race concluded the Dad walked away from the end of the pool, heading down to the finish end, his head hung down dejectedly muttering to himself. One could only imagine the scene that was to become the swimmer’s next life’s chapter.”
In my college Shakespeare course we learned about the “tragic flaw.” Every major character in a Shakespearean play had a tragic flaw, some traumatic event they were unable to move beyond. In the swimming scene described above we see a tragedy unfolding, a young athlete potentially getting stuck in a moment in time, in a tragedy forced upon him, solely created in the minds of those who love him.
I’m a swim coach and a swim parent. Every swim matters, every performance matters. But here’s the kicker, a single swim or performance really doesn’t matter that much - at any level. You have got to have the ability to move on, be resilient. That is what matters more.
Despite what may have happened, what is your life’s next chapter?
I’ve become a regular reader of Seth Godin’s blog, http://sethgodin.typepad.com. If you are not familiar with Godin, he has written a number of the most widely read books on marketing in a digital, networked culture. He’s THE GUY.
Godin wrote the following post on the power of self-talk:
“Self marketing might be the most important kind
What story do you tell yourself about yourself?
I know that marketers tell stories. We tell them to clients, prospects, bosses, suppliers, partners and voters. If the stories resonate and spread and seduce, then we succeed.
But what about the story you tell yourself?
Do you have an elevator pitch that reminds you that you’re a struggling fraud, certain to be caught and destined to fail? Are you marketing a perspective and an attitude of generosity? When you talk to yourself, what do you say? Is anyone listening?
You’ve learned through experience that frequency works. That minds can be changed. That powerful stories have impact.
I guess, then, the challenge is to use those very same tools on yourself.”
Godin does a great job of capturing two unique aspects being a coach or a teacher.
First as a coach, one would think that my primary responsibility is to provide a science-backed, experience-based training program that will allow the athletes I work with to succeed. I don’t think that is my primary role any more. Don’t get me wrong, if the training plan and program isn’t science-backed and experience-based, the athlete’s chances of success are low. But, before any athlete comes into contact with my program, I have to tell stories that resonate with them, spread throughout the community, and finally, seduce the athletes into committing to what I’m selling and joining my program.
A coach is a marketer, selling a vision of athletic success paid for through commitment, discipline, time, and effort.
The second and most important idea for coaches and teacher Godin mentions is the focus of the piece, self-marketing, the stories we tell ourselves. One of the most challenging aspects of coaching athletes is getting them to modify and change their self-talk. Many young athletes do not tell themselves stories that resonate and have a positive impact on their performance and ultimately their lives.
The challenge then for the coach is to help athletes create powerful stories which allow them to suffer, endure and accomplish.
Avidasports is looking to increase the science of swimming by providing metrics like pace, stroke count, stroke tempo, distance per stroke, turn time, kick count and kick tempo for up to 100 swimmers simultaneously.
“Five sensors equipped with a device that measures acceleration — weighing less than an ounce each — are strapped to a swimmer’s wrists and ankles. Another is worn on the crown of the head and is connected to a small ear bud for communication. The computer system requires no calibration and can track as many as 100 swimmers at a time — of any skill level. The sensors can distinguish what stroke the swimmer is performing.
Data is transmitted to a laptop on the pool deck. Algorithms crunch and spit out metrics like pace, stroke count, stroke tempo, distance per stroke, turn time, kick count and kick tempo. The data can be compared on the spot with how a swimmer is performing relative to their season average for a given workout. Previously, tracking this data for 25 swimmers would have required hundreds of stopwatches and fast thumbs.”
Some high-level coaches, Mike Bottom, Bob Bowman, and Mike Kredich, are excited about it, but only Bottom’s program at Michigan has purchased it yet. I’m an art and science coach and as an athlete typically do not like to focus too much on technology. At some level it begins to take away from m enjoyment of the act. Coach Kredich agrees with that as well, “Kredich did express concerns about the system becoming a distraction. “It’s not something we want them thinking about,” Kredich said. “If the technology takes their focus off the practice, then the technology isn’t happening.”
by James Allen
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![Nick Tyrey rocking an [iX3] T!](http://ix3sports.com/images//nick-ix3.jpg )
