You Have More Time Than You Think

Almost always, you have more time than you think. Almost always, it is more expensive to rush than it is to wait.

This is a perspective which I think all coaches and athletes would do well to inculcate. How many potentially great athletes have ruined their careers by trying to attain their peak too early? We’ll never know, but I’d be shocked if it was lower than the number of athletes who have failed to achieve greatness because they took it too slow.

I don’t mean to suggest this as an excuse for laziness, or a lack of focus or execution in training. Quite the opposite: I’m suggesting that oftentimes, the best thing an athlete or coach can do is slow down and behave as though they had all the time in the world. When you don’t have a deadline to meet, it feels like less of a big deal to go a little lighter, to step back and improve your mechanics, to dose your intensity more carefully.

Almost always, you have more time than you think. Almost always, it is more expensive to rush than it is to wait.