Self-Belief is Potent: I Am…
I believe I can break 5 minutes for a 500-yard freestyle.
For me, it’s my 4-minute mile.
This goal nestled itself in my brain in 2006. I was 26 years old at the time and I fell in love with long-distance swimming. For years, I’ve obsessed over this goal:
20 lengths of the pool holding at or below the following splits:
25s in :14.999
50s in :29.999
100s in :59.999
It’s 2022 and I’m 42-years old now.
14 years in and I still believe I am a sub-5:00 500 swimmer.
I’ve come close a few times.
Like really close: 5:00.51.
But, so far, no luck.
14 years in, though, and I know that I am a sub-5:00 500 swimmer—it’s the motivation that keeps me going to the pool.
“It’s all about their perception of self.”
Here’s a fun study on skill acquisition:
In 1997, Gary McPherson randomly selected 157 children in music lessons and followed each child from a few weeks before they picked out an instrument all the way through their high school graduation.
Within 9 months differences emerged: some soared, a few made little to no progress, and a big heap were clumped in the middle.
Your typical bell-curve.
So, what caused the curve?
Well, he ruled out some logical guesses: it wasn’t IQ, aural sensitivity, math skills, sense of rhythm, sensory motor skills, or income level.
What he found was, well, mind-boggling.
Before starting their first music lesson, the children were all asked the same question: How long do you think you’ll play your new instrument?
Initially the children responded with: “Uh, I dunno.”
But, when pushed, solid answers emerged and somewhere in their environment some of them picked up a self-belief along the lines of: “Yep, that’s for me.”
For the neatness of scientific study, McPherson grouped these responses into three categories:
Short-term commitment
Medium-term commitment
Long-term commitment
He also measured how much each child practiced per week:
Low: 20 minutes per week
Medium: 45 minuters per week
High: 90 minutes per week
Here’s what McPherson found:
When it comes to musical development, progress was not determined by a trait or ability that the children possessed.
Rather, progress was determined by a little idea nestled within their mind before they even started their lessons.
As the graph shows, long-term committers, regardless of practice time, outperformed shorter-term committers. And, as long-term committers dedicated more practice time, their performances were, well, almost off the charts.
McPherson concluded:
“We instinctively think of each new student as a blank slate, but the ideas they bring to that first lesson are probably far more important than anything a teacher can do, or any amount of practice. It’s all about their perception of self.”
“Yep, that’s for me!”
I’ve always had a marker in practice that lets me know when I’m primed to take a shot at my sub-5:00 500 swim:
5 X 100 on an interval of 1:05.
It’s basically touch-and-go. I orient myself to the clock and, just as I’ve done that, I’m pushing off for the next 100.
I haven’t done this set in years because, well, it scares the $&*% out of me.
On Monday at swim practice, we were thrown a wicked practice. One that, in a way, resembled the above marker.
The meat of it—what we worked over 2000 yards to get to— was 4 X 75 @ :50.
Basically, this forced a pace of :29.999 per 50, which is exactly the pace I need for my goal. And, knowing that through the build-up to this part of the workout, scared the $&*% out of me throughout the entire workout.
And that’s what makes these kind of workouts great: they induce a sense of fear because you know what is waiting for you at the end—that key factor that will stretch you just beyond your comfort zone and bring you that much closer to your goal.
The first one felt like cruise control: :46.
A quick orientation and we were off for #2: :46.
Just before we pushed off, the swimmer next to me, Paulo, said: “Let’s go, Reed.”
He was spot on, #3 was all about focus: :46.
Pushing off for the last one, I knew we had it and we both brought it in on point: :46.
A quick fist bump and we both pushed off for an easy 50 as I silently celebrated inside: “Spot on for where I need to be in practice to finally get that goal!”
Sub-5:00 in the 500?
It keeps me coming back every day because,
“Yep, that’s for me!
I am a sub-5:00 500 swimmer!”
And you are, too!
Whatever your goal is—whatever story you’ve always wanted to tell—starts with self-belief.
And, here’s what you have to both stop doing and start doing.
Rather than thinking of that goal and telling yourself—and other people—that one day you want to be something, start telling yourself—and others—that you are something.
Stop phrasing things as:
One day I will…
I want to be…
I’m working to become…
And start phrasing things as:
I am…
Yep, that’s for me…
Self-belief is potent.
And, if you don’t believe me, at least you should believe in yourself!
You are!
