Act, Believe, and BE

An old track coach of mine had an important rule for us while we raced. It was our first day at practice when he explained what it was he wanted from us.

The ‘golden rule’ was this: 'NO DRAMA'

When we raced and we crossed the finish line we were not allowed to show ‘that we were beat.’ No hands on knees, leaning over and gasping for breath, no staggering off of the track – in fact we were expected to give it our all – but not show it. If we were going to collapse, puke, etc we better walk off of the track with our head high, and head straight to the back of the bleachers where no one could see. If we were pissed off at ourselves about our race we were to not show that either – no tantrums, no sulking off of the track. Instead, congratulate the other racers, and again head behind the bleachers to do what you need to do (I’ll admit I’ve thrown a track shoe or two at a wall, behind the bleachers, with no one around).

In other words NO DRAMA! No excuses, no whining, no collapse - no drama whatsoever! We were better than that. At the time we were one of the top ranked track teams – and to see us racing and walking off of the track with heads held high, smiles and congratulations while the other teams created drama all around them was pretty powerful. We would finish a race, and everyone else would immediately collapse or stagger away and we would walk. Walk with pride, walk with strength, and walk because giving in and giving up was not an option.

Hey, I’m not saying it was easy – it was extremely hard at first – especially when every muscle in your body is screaming and begging you to stop moving, when as you’re walking you can hardly breathe, when you can feel as if you’re 2 seconds from passing out if you don’t put your head between your knees. It was also hard to not show you were pissed off and upset about your race. The funny thing was, that the pain subsided after only moments. The feelings of needing to be upset about the race disappeared (after a few track shoes thrown, I never felt that need again.. why emotionally beat yourself up?). We were capable of so much more – and this ‘rule’ made us realize it. The other teams, in contrast, thought they had nothing more to give – they BELIEVED they were beaten. So did we at first – but after several track meets, these thoughts turned around for us to BELIEVE we could do more – and we did.

When explaining the need for this ‘rule’ he told us that we were one of the top teams – and if we weren’t then we sure as hell better start acting like we were. Only after acting like we were the best and showing that we had more to give would we become the best. And this meant eliminating any drama. Only when we were ‘doing’ what we wanted to become on a day to day basis would we ever ‘BE’ that.. huh.. sound familiar? Does 24/7 leader come to mind? Also, he told us that by eliminating this need for drama in front of a crowd would we be more likely to focus on tangible solutions to the problem. Rather than drawing attention to the reaction (throwing shoes at a wall because you’re upset with yourself), focus on what you need to do to be better (different workouts, more speed, etc). And better we all became!

In conclusion – yes, our track team was the best team, we were the team that was viewed by all the other teams as unstoppable – nothing could get in our way. But it all started by practicing day in and day out what we wanted to become – in fact his rule was not just for racing – it was for every practice, every run, every situation we were in – every day we needed to act, believe, and finally we would BE the greatest team.