Lessons, through quotes, from Caleb Dressel: Olympic Champion, World Champion, World Record Holder

TO COMPARE IS TO DESPAIR

“I have some goals that I would like to accomplish…

The process of training for big goals reveals the same thing each time: a consistent routine develops over time and that routine is what leads to success. Habits are habits. When chasing a big goal, especially a fitness goal, you simply choose habits that benefit you. 

We had a really hard swim practice on Wednesday. Thursday morning called for a hard bike-run brick effort. Driving to swim practice on Friday morning, I was tired and trying to find the enthusiasm for a 90 minute practice. When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw that everyone was congregated at one end of the pool, “huh, I wonder what’s going on?”

The days when I want to are bliss. It’s easy to get up. It’s easy to get out the door. It’s easy to get started. Unfortunately, they are few and far between. As the damn process would have it, the days that I don’t want to are far too often. And, it has nothing to do with enjoyment. I love working out. I love challenges. I love hard. But, I think as humans…

I had been swimming the 500 freestyle at master’s swim meets for a number of years. I kept running into the same wall. No matter the amount of training that I did—no matter the amount of yards that I put it—my times stayed consistent: 5:15, 5:09, 5:12. Race after race after race I kept hovering around the 5:10 marker. I knew breaking 5 minutes was possible. I knew that I had it in me. I just couldn’t—no matter what I tried—figure out what I needed to do…

I’m not a naturally good swimmer. I never have been. It’s taken a lot of hard work coupled with an immense amount of attention to detail. Attention to the details that talent usually doesn’t want to attend to. The hard work has certainly paid off. I won’t deny that. But, for someone without natural talent, the accumulation of years of attending to the minutiae has paid off even more. After 32 years of swimming, I’ve learned that…

I’m still chugging along with Seth Godin’s newest book, The Practice. I’ll likely go back to this book repeatedly. It’s full of gems. The gems, as Godin writes about them, apply to creative work. But, really, they apply to any meaningful work that we want to engage in to achieve a goal that has deep meaning to us. Any goal that requires daily and consistent practice.

Like getting in shape…

Theory is much easier than practice. Unfortunately, though, theory doesn’t lead to change. The only way to change is through consistent and deliberate practice. Want to get in shape and feel fit? t’s pretty easy…in theory.

’m kind of obsessed with Seth Godin’s latest book, The Practice. I mentioned in my last post that it’s a book that has hit me square between the eyes. The last book that did that for me was Steven Pressfield’s, The Art of War. Both, in their unique way, basically tell us to quit focusing on the outcome and, simply (ugh…much easier said than done), embrace the process…The Practice (Godin)…Do The Work (Pressfield). Over the years of working with athletes, as well as those trying to find fitness and health, I repeatedly see the same pattern when setting goals…

Sometimes a book can hit you square between the eyes. Yesterday, I picked up Seth Godin’s new book, The Practice: “a road map to the journey taken by every artist, writer, maker, and entrepreneur—a powerful call to action for those who seek to make change.” When something really hits me, I find myself shaking my head and laughing in disbelief as I read passages, bunny-earring page after page…

“Wanna go for a run?”

After a slow start to our Sunday morning, both quite comfortable with a book and a cup of coffee in-hand, I asked Julie if she wanted to head outside for a run to get out and play. We went back and forth a bit, procrastinated, found all sorts of other little things to do, slugged down our remaining coffee, and, 45 minutes later, we were finally headed out the door.

While we weren’t jumping for joy about this little endeavor, I think we both had a sense of accomplishment…

Life is a lot of fun when we really start building momentum toward a goal. And, what do we do when we’re having fun? We tell people about it. It’s fun to share joy. We want to tell others about discoveries we’ve made. We want to tell others about barriers we’ve overcome. We want to tell people what we…

On Sunday, I had a 7 mile run planned. I wanted to get it done early so that I had the rest of the day to play. I woke up at 5:30am and went about my morning routine—coffee, reading, and sketching—to get me ready to head out the door by 7am for a morning workout. But, the coffee wasn’t working, the reading wasn’t grabbing my attention, and I couldn’t figure out anything to sketch. By 7am, I was no closer to starting my 7 mile run than I was when I crawled out of bed at 5:30am.

There’s no question about it: getting back in shape is just plain tough. If you’re anything like me, we make it so much harder on ourselves than it needs to be because of the mindset that we bring to the endeavor. To “get back in shape” means that we have a reference point.

Nothing happens by simply thinking about it. Nothing. The only thing that makes us move forward is action. Thought can drive action. But, thought alone will do nothing for progress. We must put thought to the test.

But I want to be…