Step 1 of Your Personal Speed System—Fierce Mindset
January 11, 2010 by Mike
Filed under Speed, Think Different
In the last post, Coxswains Head Explodes, I wrote about being fierce and mentioned if you want to find speed being fierce is a key ingredient.
A natural follow up question would be, “So how do I become fierce?” All in good time, but right now let’s take the discussion one notch further and dive into the first step in constructing your own Personal Speed System (PSS).
Step 1: Create a Fierce Mindset About Speed
Over the next several posts I will specificaly lay out a Personal Speed System that you can use as a foundation to improve how fast you row. Now realistically what you do with this system is up to you but you should know that its foundation is based upon conversations and interactions I’ve had with numerous coaches, along with distialtions of books, podcasts and lectures, and my own person experiences (both fast and slow).
In those posts I will detail the 7 steps that compose your PSS. The first one, if you want to be fast regardless of your level or experience, is the most critical component. And that step is the creation of a fierce mindset about speed.
Remember, fierce in this context means to be intense, be strong, be untamed.
There are four parts to creating a fierce mindset about speed. None are difficult, really, and actually they may just require you to think a little differently or at least creatively about being fast. I’ll briefly go through each of the four parts here and give a resource for each one. But please keep in mind that this post is only an introduction to this topic and just knowing about these parts and actually mastering them are two vastly different things
Part 1: A Vision
Pretend for a moment that your body is actually run by a computer operational system (such as Windows or MacOS). If this was the case then a computer programs would be the mechanism that gets your body to do things.
Want to climb stairs—put in a program. Hit a baseball—a different program. Wanna go fast in a rowing shell—pop in a program, and in this case the program would be the one marked “Vision.”
That probably sounds funky but the vision that you have, in our case the one about generating speed, is critical to getting your computer (your body, or your team) to find the speed. Your vision helps you achieve a task, or in this case get a goal, that of being fast. No vision, no achievement.
Now many rowers and coaches do have visions but the difference I see between fast rowers and those who aren’t is the fierceness of the vision.
A Resource: There is a simple and free resource that can help you fine tune and become fierce about your vision. Should only take a few minutes. Simply enough, just answer these three questions:
- How much speed do you need?
- Why do you need the speed?
- What price are you willing to pay for the amount of speed you need?
Stop and really think about those answers.
How fast do you actually need to be? Row a 2K at 6:20? That is fast and a significantly different amount of speed then needing to row a 2k at 7:40. Or 10:00. Investing time here figuring out exactly how fast you need to be can save you hours of wasted or unproductive training, and some heartache.
Why do you need the speed? Is it to satisfy your life-long yearning to make a boat and then win a World Championship? Again, a much different reason than wanting to beat the boathouse time from the dead tree on the shore to the dock that has stood for 30 years. Or it is just to see how low you can get your Speedcoach to read. Knowing why you need speed will be a great help to get you through tough workouts and keep you focused when the distractions popup.
What price are you willing to pay? The hardest question of all to answer. Would you quit your career/schooling and dedicate your life to going fast, risking all you have? Interesting. I saw a recent documentary about a retired pro football player who is, in essence, crippled. It took him over an hour to get out of bed each morning, and he could not dress himself. When the reporter asked if he would do it again (play pro) knowing what he would be like now (at the age of 40) he responded, “Heck yeah!”
What price are you willing to pay?
Answer these three questions truthfully and honestly and then build a vision. When you do, if you were truthful, you will be well on the way to having a fierce vision.
Part 2: Love Failure
We live in a failure adverse society. We are surrounded by people of all ages who don’t give their all. They hold back. A major reason is that they don’t want to fail.
That is backwards. Failure is something we should welcome—a great assest and tool to have. Fierceness can come from learning to love failure.
Tom Peters and Seth Godin have both written in detail about failing and how important it is. They are two smart and well respected business leaders who certainly have failed, and have they great (and fierce) visions.
Resource: There are a wealth of books, dvds, podcasts and websites about how to push yourself and get past your fear. Most are good. However, in my mind the one (and it is a wonderful story) that gets right to the core of what many of us are trying to do is a book by cool friend Brad Alan Lewis. If you have not read Assault on Lake Casitas
Part 3: Give Up Control
The speed world seems to be divided up into two distinct categories. There are those items you can control. And those items out of your control.
A critical part of a successful speed mindset is to figure what goes into those two categories and then focus on the things you can control.
For instance, you cannot control the weather, the wind, illness, or other people’s commitment. You can’t control the stockmarket.
Focus on the things you can, let go of the things your cannot, and invest that extra energy into making your vision fierce.
Resource: Zen Habits, by Leo Babauta, is a fantastic resource about control, what is important, and vision. For instance he was one of the first bloggers and web writers to make all of his writers copyright free. So what does that have to do with giving up control? In essence he knew that his material, once on the web, was being used (stolen, in copyright terms) and he could not control that unless he wanted to spend tons of money in legal pursuits. So he just gave it away. In fact, here is his disclaimer to that effect:
Just to clarify, this post is an official notification that my writing here at Zen Habits and in the Zen To Done ebook are now in the public domain. I hereby waive all claim of copyright in this work; it may be used or altered in any manner without attribution or notice to the me. Attribution, of course, is appreciated.
He knew his writings were being used, he could not control it, so he gave up control and it has proved to be a very wise business move for him.
Part 4: Find Joy
Long time readers know that this is one of my reasons for being online. Too many in our sport, heck—our world, find little joy in their undertakings. It is really a sad state of affairs. I see way too many rowers turning in garbage miles and rowing with scowls with little or no joy.
Why?
You cannot be fierce with little or no joy in your heart.
Resource: I recently released a free ebook specifically on this topic. To get your free download just click here.
A Review
Developing a fierce mindset for speed for your PSS will take some work, but less than you probably think. However the rewards will be quick and strong if you do it.
The next step will be coming up in a few days.
Why don’t you leave a comment and tell me what you think.
- Post 1: A Hunt For Speed
- Post 2: A Cheater’s Guide To Making A Boat Go Fast
- Post 3: Coxswain’s Head Explodes. Too Much Speed The Cause
- Rowing Slow: The Secret For Going Fast And Getting What You Really Want From Rowing
Point 2: Loving Failure is a concept difficult to swallow and could be elaborated on just a little. Perhaps including the potential use of failure towards future attempts at success would have doubters nodding instead of holding that concept at arms length. Failure should cause us to review what worked and what didn’t work and make revisions to the plan and then re-test.
In business, my experience was that loving failure was a concept recited but not really believed because there was no context.
“keep doing what you are already doing, you’ll keep getting what you’ve already got”.You have to try new things. you may have been using the same technique or the same work outs for the past few seasons and you are afraid to venture out and give new ideas a go.you must experiment.without experimentation you dont make progress. millions of tests may never prove you right but just a single test can prove you wrong.
colm hamersley,
17 years old,
ireland
@ Corinne: Knowing at least that there are some folks in the business world who even recite that failure is important is a start. Maybe things are getting better. I teach a college course in failure and there is a growing stream of info on how important it is.
@ Colm: New things are important if you are chasing the holy grail of speed. Everyone else is innovating, why not you? Thanks for chiming in.
Failure is an important concept to come to terms with. You won’t always win, and a rower needs to understand that. Its the unfortunate truth of rowing, one crew wins, only one, first place. Understanding that there is nothing shameful about losing, unless its a screw up, is key to keeping steady and motivated for some, but the other side of the coin is that losing is unacceptable, you should never be happy about failing just say “ok, such and such was good, now let’s get in and make it better”. That is how a rower needs to think fast.
Failure is critical. It defines the week points, and everyone has them. If there is no failure, there is no maximal effort. Each point of failure drives the next plan to mitigate the failure and push it out, or to another area. I don’t think you can truely excel unless you are pushing to the point of failure and figuring out how to move that point out.
On the failure topic- I tell my athletes not to fear failure. Without it we would never be able to understand and appreciate success. they go hand in hand. There is a quote that i read- don’t remember from where or by who but it has stuck with me in all my training and competition both as a coach and athlete:
“Most people achieved their greatest success one step beyond what looked like their greatest failure”
I think this carries strong in the mindset arena- if one is so worried about failing or “not winning” then they will most certainly never win. building, growing, and of course gaining speed- is all about the combination of many failures,successes and pulling from those experiences what worked and discarding the rest.
If the mind is on board then anything is possible- the body is limited to what mind will allow it to do.. having a fierce mindset and clear vision on your goals, and the willingness to do what it takes- can only yield success on all levels.
David
New Jersey
The interpretation of failure is interesting. There is controllable and uncontrollable failure. One you can do something about, one you can’t. Knowing your failure points provides directed training, which changes each time you pushout or eliminate the failure point.
Winning or loosing, in my mind is not failure unless the plan was not executed well, and even then, poor execution is the failure, not the loss. We have no control over other athletes results only our own.
As in all processes, the bottleneck determines the level of production. It really doesn’t matter how good any one part is, the bottleneck will stop them short. Minimize the bottlenecks and the results tip towards the next limitation. This is the search for excellence that can be controlled.
Sorry for the wordiness. The subject seems to be my current passion.
Enjoy the articles and the conversation.
Remembering the difference being BEING a failure and failing is important. Knowing that failure is not an end point, just another opportunity to learn. An stepping stone to get to the next level.
I was interested in your ‘open mind” to the notion that the boat might be travelling fastest at some point in the rowing cycle other than at the release (which is the conventional view). In your book you adhered to the conventional viewpoint.Personally I think the scientific evidence is in favour of the position that it depends on the rate at which the crew is rowing all other things being equal.
I note that in your book you also suscribe to the theory that in terms of leverage of a rowing shell there is a 3:1 ratio between spread and inboard. In Volume 6 No 69 Rowing Biomechanics Newsletter December 2006 there appears to be some questioning of this “conventional” viewpointand a suggestion that there is no scientific evidence for it.I would be interested in your viewpoint after consideration of the article in the newsletter cited.
Thankyou
@ greg, can you explain a little clearer? or I guess elaborate a bit more on those two points (on being about the rate of a crew, the other about the ratio of oar dimensions)
@ Greg: I have not seen the article but will look it up, and then chime in. Sounds like a good one to read.
Failing is easy. There is no shortage of people who are failing at something. I have a grandson who hates to loose. I’m in the process of redirecting his zeal into learning he will succeed if just does one thing. Don’t give up. But then you persevere with what you love, right? Mike I’m glad you are offering a system to shorten the learning curve of gaining knowledge about getting faster and making it enjoyable.
Best wishes, Mark Borchelt