“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” - Winston Churchill
Background
Optimism is in the fibre of my being and undoubtedly a part of my core belief - optimism and the idea of why everything can and will turn out just fine has gotten me through some pretty dark days. Couple my optimism with a challenge and you can understand why my darkest days are my fuel for future success. I will share with any athlete in a moment of doubt or perceived failure, or even a bad race - ‘We live and we learn, we do not live and lose’. Every failure is another opportunity to learn, this just gives us a longer list of what didn’t work as we hone in on what does.
Optimism and the Positive Mindset
So many people thrive on pessimism - you know why? Because they get to be right, and deliver shame and blame and avoid the responsibility of owning that outcome. Optimism affects our lives with either its abundance or lacking. Abundance is the key to living a life with hope and genuine connection with the people around you. This positive mindset allows us to possess a belief that we can achieve a positive outcome despite evidence to the contrary.
This is where I personally get riled up - when I hear people say - ‘ why would this work out?’ , ‘ So and so shouldn’t do this meet because they won’t run in college’, ‘I won’t qualify for Boston, I missed a few runs’. Say these tings to me and I will give you a 1,000 reasons why I think you’re capable and your dream is possible. My athletes know that if they are presented with a daunting task or challenge they can come to me and the first thing they’ll get in return is - ‘Heck ya! Let’s go for it’. The next step is to start planning how we get there. This execution is the important part.
“We’ll never survive!”
“Nonsense. You’re only saying that because no one ever has.” - William Goldman
How we manifest optimism in people
Athletes, especially youth need to first understand they are inherently capable and possess infinite ability to accomplish any task ahead of them. Adults need to understand that there is no such thing as your ‘prime’ and your best days are always ahead of you. Why? Because we’re learning. We’re learning all the ways we could have made it a little better, learning when to be happy with an outcome, how to own the result good or bad. It’s my job as a coach to not only present you with a situation to test yourself but the opportunity to fail or succeed. Most people get stuck when the first rep that doesn’t go as planned and they drill down. Teaching athletes to hold onto hope until the 10th rep is what makes the difference to not only teach them to keep going but is what creates a new personality and attitude - why not me? Why not today?
Situational optimism can challenge an athlete all while creating ownership, self analysis, and vulnerability. Take last Wednesday - I am letting Brittany lead our distance section and before we step foot on the track , I tell her my objective for the athletes she’ll be working with today. ‘I want you to have them walk away from the session with a new confidence. ‘ She knows exactly what I meant - 2 of the athletes in question struggle to believe that they are infinitely capable and while they do possess the skill to accomplish their wildest goals, come to the start line defeated before the gun goes off. So she dove in, they knew they had 10 reps and shared that they only focus on the rep they are in and not get overwhelmed with the 9 they had in front of them. The first hurdle they had to get over was believing that 10 was possible. The clock started and they tackled 7…8…9…10. There was definitely doubt and sideline coaching but when it all came down to it, they just had to get back on the start line and do the work. Watching that 10th rep, it was like they were set free - they accomplished the goal and in accomplishing that goal they grew more confident. They began to believe!
Situational Optimism
So how do you teach them to be optimistic in the heat of it? Situation awareness - read it, understand it, coach it. If you are not breaking reps down into pieces, big projects into a series of smaller ones, and analyzing your success in increments - you’ll surely be overwhelmed by the task ahead of you.
Teach athletes to break down a race into pieces - it’s how you eat an elephant!
Believe in achieving the highest and best outcome until the very end.
Set up a challenge that requires ownership, and replicates the desired outcome. Put them in a position to succeed AND fail.
There is a lot to be learned through failure. Failing frequently often means you’re pushing the limits and you will begin to uncover the ways that lead to success.
Optimism is not avoidance
I’ve been challenged that optimism is avoidance and that it means you don’t deal with the realities of a situation and just lean on the ‘well, it’s supposed to be that way’. Optimism leans on the premise of ‘why couldn’t it go right?’and not ‘why would it ever go right?’ Optimism at its center is the belief that we can foster hopefulness; it is the ability to believe that life can be good and satisfying. Optimism is not avoidance and optimism requires us to own all of our shortcomings, and understand that if we repeat the same mistakes we will get the same results. Try, fail, change, repeat.