A Letter from Chris Suarez
Four Lessons From a Conversation With Michael Phelps
This week was a special week for our organization. We came together for three days of connection, learning, and changing our thinking. You see, wherever we are in our lives, our businesses, in our relationships, is based on what we know and how we think. The thinking that got us here, will always get us to right here. So, if our preferred future has a path that continues into the future, it means that our agenda should include learning from others that think differently than us.
That isn’t always easy to do - and even less easy to accept - because we will naturally challenge anything that shows up as different.
This past week I had the opportunity to interview a man with my partner that definitely thinks differently. Michael Phelps earned himself 28 Olympic medals in his career - 23 of which were gold - on his way to set 39 world records during that time. No other Olympic athlete has even come close to that level of performance.
What struck me was something he shared when asked the simple question of how he accomplished that feat. He said that he knew if he wanted “to do something that had never been achieved before” then he had to be “willing to do things that had never been done before.” On the path to that doing, he had to be willing to think differently than any previous athlete. Instead of focusing on the medal - or the “hardware” as he referred to it - he set his thoughts and eyes on world records. Five Olympic appearances later, he had crushed 39 world records. The world record times for any swim he was competing in hung on his closet door. Phelps said he put those numbers there so that every morning when he put his clothes on he was reminded what he was there to do that day, and who he was there to be.
I asked him why he went almost six straight years practicing every single day. Every day for 6 years. The answer? Because “no one had ever done that before.” Phelps realized that most swimmers that took Sunday off wouldn’t fully perform well in the pool again until Tuesday. In effect, one day off from practice took away two days of focus from the goal. And so doing things differently gave him a competitive advantage that led to a different outcome.
Lastly, it struck me that his motivation was completely internal. In a world that looks for external motivation constantly, Phelps stood alone. He went internal. It was him and the water. I asked Michael if he felt his motivation or drive came from his desire to meet the expectations of others - the expectations of Bob Bowman his coach for instance. His response? An immediate, “No.” He followed that up with a detailed explanation of how his motivation came from the internal drive to be the best, the internal desire to break world records, and the internal drive to compete at a different level.
My conversation with Phelps led to a few key lessons.
Lesson 1: Think Differently
Phelps was willing to think differently about what he was working towards. He thought differently about what he was working towards and why he was working towards it. The medals were irrelevant. The world records were what mattered.
Lesson 2: Do Differently
Phelps practiced differently than any other swimmer had practiced before. He did different work. He warmed up differently, he cooled down differently, he ran different practices. He acted differently because he wanted to achieve different results.
Lesson 3: Obsess Differently
Surprisingly, when asked about his medals he had to pause and think about how many he had earned. When asked about the finish time of any race he ever swam competitively, he can tell you to the hundredth of a second. He knows the race, the year, the record for the race, and what he either beat that record by, or the tenth of a second he missed that record by. The man is obsessed with his craft. I’ve never talked to someone as obsessed with every detail about what they committed to.
Lesson 4: Internalize Differently
Phelps was not distracted by external forces. He didn’t look to the left or the right in the pool, and he wasn’t distracted by anyone’s expectations other than his own.
Seek out coaches and mentors that exhibit these differences. When interviewed, one of Phelps’ greatest competitors said “I came in second to Michael Phelps in 2008 with a silver. Many people say ‘man too bad you had to race against Michael or you would’ve won a gold.’ I say I’m thankful that I got to race with him and against him and because of that I accomplished what I accomplished.”
Phelps thought differently about his sport. That caused others to think differently about their sport. Phelps acted differently than other athletes. That changed how future athletes acted and trained. Phelps obsessed about his craft like no other athlete. That changed the future focus of athletes across all sports. And Phelps found internal motivation always. That changed how future athletes and coaches showed up into the future.
Find those that think differently than you. Surround yourself with those people, learn from those people, and be willing to embrace change. It is change that leads us to our preferred future.
Chris