Overcoming Adversity in Sport and Life - Your Performance Guide
We can all agree that 2020 was a turbulent year. Almost everything we took for granted was turned on its head, not just in life, but also in sport. With few exceptions, our athletes came face to face with adversity. We are here to take lessons from those athletes and turn them into a performance guide for overcoming adversity in sport and life.
I believe that most of us found ourselves at a performance crossroads during the pandemic. Whether an athlete, a leader, or a business, the way we approached 2020 helped shape whether or not we emerged from the situation behind the eight-ball and playing catch up, or if we leveraged the opportunity in overcoming adversity and emerged stronger.
Today, I provide some perspective on a performance pathway in overcoming adversity in sport and life, despite the rigors and challenges that a situation can present. This is a framework to remind yourself in difficult times that: Yes, you can emerge stronger. If you set your mind straight and take appropriate personal action, there is an opportunity to overcome adversity.
We will go over:
Before I go on, I think it is essential to recognize those most affected by the pandemic. Our thoughts continue to go out to those most dramatically impacted. While not forgetting those who face illness or worse and those on the front lines of defense, this piece highlights the majority of us who navigated the situation retaining health.
Life Presents Challenges
As a coach, it was interesting to provide support and guidance in such a confusing time, with emerging situations around almost every turn. As I reflect and review, some important lessons have emerged.
In general, during a situation like COVID-19, most of us navigated a process that saw us pass through several phases, from shock and anxiety, then scrambling to control things so we could find stability. From this platform, many sought to be productive within the confines of the situation. Still, they were not immune to the oscillating levels of stress, frustration, and anxiety that aligned with managing a highly stressful situation. Then came the point that we found ourselves in what many called the new normal - a phase in which we collectively got on with life, as much as possible, and began to look forward. What does a return to the old normal look like? When would races happen? What is the path ahead?
This was still a time of uncertainty, but within it lay an opportunity for many, likely, including you! The question was whether you were going to seize the opportunity for overcoming adversity or simply treat the situation more like an earthquake (yes, I live in San Francisco!) and hide under a desk until it passed.
I believe most of us -- athletes, individuals, leaders, businesses -- were at a performance fork in the road.
Would you: Tread Water? Or would you: Emerge Stronger?
It is not without irony that endurance athletes hold so many essential tools and traits that can equip us to navigate situations like this. We train for challenges and stress to enable success on race day, and during uncertain times, we are challenged like never before. But, we can deploy many of the same traits to help here. Let me explain via a case study of two types of athletes, one who navigated this situation by treading water and the other who set themselves up to emerge stronger.
I should preface these two case studies by explaining that there should be a third case study of the athlete who experienced massive regression and challenge, but I am not going to discuss this. I will say that it amazed me when I saw many athletes and coaches questioning the point of training when there were no races clear on the horizon. Did they not learn anything on their performance journey so far?
Treading Water:
Let’s label our first case study, ‘Bill.’ Bill had several races planned for the 2020 season and was in the midst of his ramp toward early season events when the fog of Covid-19 descended. Like most athletes, Bill hunkered down with a mix of anxiety and frustration. However, Bill also understood the importance of training and decided to keep aiming to march forward, but his mindset and approach weren’t optimal in leveraging the misfortune of the situation. Bill hit a moment of having to overcome adversity. Bill treads water. By treading water, Bill’s approach looked like this:
He maintained training as he was. With swimming pools closed, he simply removed swimming from his program. He waited, with patience, for the fog to lift and races to come back on the docket.
He was treading water, simply waiting for the situation to resolve. There is nothing massively wrong with this approach, as Bill remains healthy and stable. Still, there is so much more that Bill could actually do to convert negativity into an opportunity and emerge stronger. In fact, one small addition is that I don’t even believe you can tread water here. By doing so, you are, in fact, retreating.
Emerging Stronger:
Let’s compare with case study #2, ‘Jennifer.’ Like Bill, Jennifer was continuing to train. Still, she had completely repositioned her approach to align with her situation and the times and created a platform to use for her one performance advantage. Let’s explore her situation.
Jennifer identifies as a runner who dabbles in triathlons. She was scheduled to run a spring marathon and planned a series of triathlons over the summer months. It is no surprise that her run is a strength, but riding and swimming are a relative weakness. Keenly competitive, she loves to race and seeks to improve her placing in any event. Her racing guiding lights were extinguished in the fog of Covid-19, and following a week or so of frustration and confusion, she decided to take positive action. Jennifer created a routine, maintained training, and asked herself a question that she heard me mention in a Purple Patch podcast a few weeks prior: How can you emerge from this situation in an advanced place? Stemming from this question, Jennifer’s approach to overcoming adversity looked like this:
Reframing the ‘why’ behind her sport. She realized that the structure and benefit of her sport, coaching relationship, and community went well beyond rankings or finishes. The epiphany was that the journey was critical to her resilience, mental and physical health, and ability to perform across life.
Focused on advancement. She couldn’t improve swimming, the pools are closed, but she could use this weird training phase to develop athletically. This included:
Increasing her high-end capacity in biking (higher intensity)
Developing her efficiency in riding (very low intensity and technical improvement)
Set positive habits. When life was crazily over-scheduled, and with the next race always around the corner, the capacity to build new habits was limited. Now, she had committed to always fuel well and prioritize sleep, two areas of common weakness.
Improving the training mindset. Typically, judgemental in her training, Jennifer is her own biggest critic, but intuitively understands that the pass-fail mindset isn’t productive. With no upcoming races, she was committed to improving her mindset and management skills of training performance. This was going to be a journey for her, and while leaning into coaching for support, she anticipated it would lead to great gains in the long-term. The situation had enabled the capacity to embrace these changes.
Getting connected. Typically a lone-wolf, the ‘shelter in place’ environment enabled Jennifer to realize the benefits of actually sharing the journey, but also that coaching feedback was not about judgment, but, instead, helping her improve. Always hesitant to join any group, she started attending my video bike class weekly, as well as a strength session with Coach Mike Olzinski and a swim-band session with Coach John Stevens. She realized that sharing the journey was powerful, but also gained from the high accountability and live feedback on form, posture, and execution that rained down on her.
Reframing The Why:
Quite meaty, eh? But the truth is that the removal of the racing immediately felt like a huge negative and a collapse of purpose. With a shift in lens and approach, it can actually become a huge opportunity to advance and emerge stronger.
Our case studies today are focused on two athletes, but I could tell the same story about case studies for leaders, for businesses, and much more.
PSSSST….Athletic I.Q., Tenacity, Passion & Grit. The Secret Weapons To Success
Many people have been terribly affected by COVID-19, and it is awful, but if you are one of the lucky majority that had relative stability mixed with large inconvenience, then I suggest that you self-reflect on the difference between allowing self-compassion and empathy versus falling into apathy and self-pity.
By simply continuing as normal and waiting for the situation to pass, you are essentially setting yourself up for regression. By reframing the ‘why,’ focusing on advancement, setting positive habits, and getting connected, you can emerge stronger. During difficult situations, it is the greatest time for you to seize the opportunity, step forward, and seek a route to actually advance and improve.
To the future -- it is ours to create despite the uncertainty.
Cheers, Matt Dixon