The Universe of the Champions in Life: Instead of a big bang, this universe was created piece by piece. It grew out of the need to communicate with athletes about the mental behaviours that are so important in determining their level of performance and enjoyment in life. These behaviours are so subtle that words alone are insufficient to describe them.
Instead, the Universe is a series of stories designed to help athletes develop the inner mental skills of Champions in Life. These skills mean Champions in Life can operate well beyond their comfort zone and make the uncomfortable seem comfortable.
Backstory: The stories are linked to Philippe’s own journey of personal growth and development through swimming and a lifelong commitment to sport.
When the first story came to him, he had barely begun emerging from the lowest period of his life. Every step he took forward in his personal growth was rewarded with new insights on how best to guide his swimmers to get acquainted with their own inner Champion. These nuggets eventually became the stories.
In one fateful practice in 2014, Coach Philippe finally realized that if his swimmers were doing poor streamlines after pushing off the wall it wasn’t because the swimmers weren’t good, talented, interested or motivated enough.
Philippe thought he wasn’t setting the standard high enough. Taking full responsibility for the poor level of execution of this most basic and crucial of swimming skills, he decided to really emphasize the quality of the streamlines to his swimmers.
He soon realized that it was not so much that his swimmers were unable to perform a Michael Phelps’s grade streamline; it was more that when it came time to do them at every wall, they simply didn’t have the “resilience,” “motivation,” or “toughness” to do it. They were tired from the swim between the walls.
Wanting to find a practical way to teach his swimmers to develop their resilience, motivation, and toughness, he looked back to when he had been a young competitive swimmer.
Almost 12 years old at the time, Philippe was swimming a hypoxic set where he had to hold his breath in much longer patterns than usual. Finding it scary and challenging, he started cheating.
But that was also not sitting well with him. During the raging debate in his mind, he eventually asked himself: “What would a Champion do? Would a Champion cheat?”
The answer came directly from his heart of hearts and he knew, no matter how much he may not have liked it (because it implied that he was responsible), that Champions never cheat and that Champions always choose the hard way.
He also understood that every time he ‘cheated,’ he was somehow making it right, or giving himself a justification to explain why he wasn’t cheating. That way he could cheat without feeling like a cheater.
This memory led Philippe to think that if he had a way to talk to his swimmers about the process that goes on in their minds, that he could help them develop their resilience, motivation and toughness.
Following this recall, Philippe started asking his swimmers regularly: “What would a Champion choose? The easy way or the hard way?”
And after they’d answered, he would ask them: “On this streamline, did you choose the easy or hard way?”
A few weeks after he had started doing this, he realized that if he could find a way to help his swimmers before they chose the easy way, he would have better odds at getting them to choose the hard way.
Otherwise, all he was doing was giving them feedback after they’d already taken the easy route. It was effective because he never made the kids feel bad for choosing the easy way, but he wanted to find something that could be even more efficient.
The story of the little Devil
The story of the little Devil on our shoulder came about when it became clear to Philippe that all his swimmers were going through the same debates in their heads as he had often experienced as a youngster. Before choosing the easy way, they would hear things like:
“Coach isn’t looking.” (I won’t get in trouble.)
“No one’s doing it anyway.” (So why should I?)
“I could do it if I wanted, I just don’t feel like it.” (I’m too good for that.)
“I’ve done it all the other ones, I deserve a break.” (Everyone needs breaks.)
“I’m tired.” (No one should be too tired, it’s not good.)
“I can’t. It’s too hard.” (I’m no good, what’s the point in even trying?)
And then they would agree with it and feel justified to do less than what they’re truly capable of.
These sentences became the voice of the little Devil. In using the idea that the little Devil was telling them sentences to convince them to choose the easy way, Philippe effectively developed the awareness of the swimmers of the process going on inside of their heads before they chose the hard or easy way.
The story of the comfort zone
Months later, Philippe understood that the little Devil on the shoulder emerges when we’re just about to get out of our comfort zone.
- It acts as a natural alarm system to warn us that we’re close to the edge of our comfort zone.
- It protects us and tricks us into agreeing with it so that this time, we don’t have to step out of our comfort zone.
Over time Philippe and his swimmers developed their ability to recall, verbatim, the sentences they would hear while swimming.
Eventually, Philippe learned to start giving race feedback based on the sentences the swimmers had heard throughout their races.
In the race feedback, Philippe talked about technique, effort and all the other things coaches usually talk about, but always as a consequence of what had taken place inside the head and heart of the swimmer.
“At the third 50, when you were about there (pointing at the spot in the pool), you saw me cheering and your arms and kick just exploded with a big surge of speed. What made your arms and legs speed up, even when you thought you were dying? Did they decide to do that on their own, or did you tell them? ” (You can find many examples of post-race feedback in the blog section)
The story of the channels
Channels give coaches a way to talk about the different mental states which swimmers experience before, during and after their races.
It also demonstrates how each of these mental states affects performance.
The ultimate mental state for performance is called their racing channel. In psychology this is called: the State of Flow. These “best” races ever, the ones where they were the most ecstatic – regardless of their results – become the reference point to compare and analyze new performances.
Specific mental states have been named as official channels such as:
the poor me channel,
the nothing to lose channel,
the beat my sister channel,
the get it done channel, and so on.
Blank Map: The naming of the channels led to adding the component of a blank map to the story of the channels.
When swimmers realize the channels are a real thing they can relate their own experiences to the story. Then they start their journey in mapping out their mental states in relation to the only dot on their map, which is that of their racing channel, their best race ever. Each race adds a dot to the blank map. Overtime, getting into the racing channel becomes easier as the map helps you steer to the right spot.
The story of Brutus and Joe Ramen
The next story in the Universe of the Champions is the story of Brutus and Joe Ramen. Philippe noticed over the years that swimmers tend to set goals they think they should have and then create very little evidence to make them believe these goals are achievable. Then they end up being too scared to even take a real shot at it. The story is meant to illustrate the need to carefully choose the level of challenge in our goals and the importance of “in-workout evidence making.”
The story of the little Angel
The following story in the Universe of the Champions is the story of the little Angel on our shoulder. The little Angel’s voice is the voice of our confidence.
As we build evidence, by resisting the temptation of the little Devil, we dig up the little Angel and can hear it tell us things like:
“I can do it,”
“I may not be the best, but I’m giving it my best shot,” and
“Nothing can stop me.”
As the little Angel emerges or spreads its wings, the voice gets louder and clearer.
The story of the shield
In this story, athletes learn that like warriors who carry shields into battle to help them face the unknown, they too can use a shield to handle the natural fear that comes when we leave our comfort zone.
This story helps the athletes understand and discover a mental approach to handle their “nerves” before challenging races and other situations beyond their comfort zone.
On a practical level, workouts are designed to create situations where swimmers have experiences that validate the stories. As their experiences and understanding deepen, new stories are added to continue supporting the athletes in their quest for personal excellence. Over time, the stories and daily interventions become the Universe of the Champions in Life.
The stories themselves do not create the Universe of the Champions. What makes the stories become a Universe lies in how the coach uses the stories to guide the swimmers into making sense of them through their own experiences. Once the stories are validated, through personal experience, the Universe of the Champions in Life starts coalescing.