When we go shopping, the mindset of the “win-at-all-cost” culture, manifest itself in us trying to find the best deal. The best deal is always the one where one feels like they got more than what they paid for.
For us to decide to put effort in something, we must be certain it will reward us in a generous manner. In general, we have learned to put effort, our heart into what we’re doing, only when we’re sure, that we’re going to get what we want, otherwise; it’s not worth it!
In swimming, we see kids everyday choosing to fail on their own terms rather than giving it their best shot. For examples:
When asked to go 10 m underwater after their turns, many swimmers breathe between 9 and 9.99 meters missing the standard by very little without allowing themselves to really struggle. At swim meets, coaches even make the distinction between a race and a swim to denote a “race” where the swimmer was not invested, not in it to win it.
To help our athletes understand this situation and give them a way to talk about it, I tell them the story of my pizza place.
“Did you know that I own a pizza place?” I start with usually during a post-race debrief.
“It’s really good pizza but what’s the best about my pizza place is the deals. One pizza cost $15, two pizzas cost $20 and for $22 you can get 4 pizzas!”
Before I ask the following question, I make sure the swimmer understand the deal structure.
“Which deal do you want?”
Every kid easily understands that four pizzas for $22 is the best deal by far and choose that deal.
“For only $2 more, you get four pizza instead of two! So, in your race, which deal did you take? Did you spend the extra $2 to get all the pizza you wanted?”
This question really helps the athletes inspect how invested they were in the activity and can be helpful in many situations where I need to help an athlete evaluate their effort levels, degree of investment.
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