I recently read an article by Brad Stulberg titled, “It’s Okay to Be Good and Not Great.” It was a great insight into the pressures we all face nowadays to strive for success in today’s fast-paced world. There’s pressure to perform at school, work and/or in sport and with increasingly high clinical anxiety and depression rates this was an interesting piece about accepting good enough.
It’s very hard to be successful every day so a mindset of being great can be detrimental both physically and mentally if you feel like you’re coming up short all the time. It’s good to have realistic goals but constant defeats can compound over time and reduce confidence.
The biggest take-home message was not being great, but being consistent. The case study of Eliud Kipchoge highlighted that point perfectly. He shattered the marathon world record and dedicated the feat not to pushing 100% in training every week but instead the success was from weeks and weeks of consistent training, feeling good, and enjoying life.
As an athlete, it can be quite overwhelming when you think about the end result in isolation. Instead, it’s best to break it down into manageable, achievable, small steps that can be reached daily, weekly, and monthly. Patience is the key, and consistency will help deliver that desired end result. Life’s a great example, it’s not a race to the end but more a fun and enjoyable journey.
Being an athlete, you constantly strive to improve, and it’s hard not to fall into this ‘being great’ mindset, which can potentially be counterproductive. I think being realistic about your goals – long term and short term, accepting where you are and not always striving for success but instead for consistency will help you achieve getting closer to your goal.