Today I will do what others won’t so
tomorrow I can do what others can’t.
— Jerry Rice (Wide Receiver SF 49ers)
In a rather poor job market, I found a job right out of College. I signed on to an Electronics startup company, in Silicon Valley, as a circuit engineer laying out and testing integrated circuits. I worked the job, not because I cared about the product, but because it brought in enough money that I could do the things I wanted to be doing. In retrospect it wasn’t very satisfying; no surprise there. In time I became so miserable that I quit my job, sold my house, and moved 500 miles away to attend graduate school. I am ever so grateful to my dearest bride for believing in me through this period.
Sometime after the great move, I found Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, and I can honestly say that it’s one of the few books that have changed my life. After reading his book, I totally changed my focus. I put effort into figuring out just what I was good at, and liked doing, then used the results to select and guide my field of study. It increased the length of my graduate studies, but this was less of a problem since I worked for tuition and never took out loans. Oddly enough, the results directed me back to food-webs; but that’s another story.
Amazingly, just before I finished my graduate studies I was recruited into my first job in my new profession. The job wasn’t much and I backslid from Flow into accepting work responsibilities I didn’t care about just to keep the money flowing (new mortgage). But given a few false starts, and one utter disaster, I was able to find a job where things started to ’Flow’.
In this position it was much easier, and actually fun, proving my value to my employer. This made it even easier to exchange responsibilities such that they ever more closely aligned with my interests and abilities. Not only did this return ever increasing value to my employer, it led to my being extremely satisfied in the work that I do. So satisfied, that there have been times when it was more work to go on vacation than to go to the office; particularly since I work from home.
It’s now been over two decades since I first read Dr. Csikszentmihalyi’s book, and through this time my interests have changed. But I’ve put effort into shifting my responsibilities to keep up with the new interests. And to be honest, the converse is true, some new responsibilities have sparked new interests.
As long as I have kept changing, evolving the work into new areas the satisfaction has continued. When I’ve settled into simply refining the details and not incorporating new ideas it becomes harder to achieve the feeling of flow and my satisfaction declines.
Dr. Csikszentmihalyi did not write his book specifically as a career planning guide. He was focused on increasing happiness and contentment; but I consider those to be two very powerful career goals. The weakness as a career guide comes in addressing unpleasant trivialities, cultivating human interactions, and building inner strength. There were times that I used the desire for the experience of flow to opt out of projects that in retrospect would have increased my skill set; and that did me no favors.
Along comes Ben Bergeron with Chasing Excellence. Ben is currently the most successful CrossFit coach in the world. Given the difference in target audience it’s not surprising that his book covers aspects of life that Dr. Csikszentmihalyi didn’t. As I discovered, even in Flow, there are times where you have to find the strength to deal with life’s little annoyances and push beyond obstacles; Ben provides a method for dealing with those times. In his own words: “This book is the story of how well-developed character and unwavering commitment to the process can transform talent into champions.” What’s not to like about that?
Chasing Excellence is a look into the mindset of athletic champions and how that mindset can be used to improve our everyday life. Ben starts the book with a look at CrossFit Games champion Katrin Davidsdottir’s failure to qualify for the 2014 CrossFit Games and her subsequent meltdown. He then traces the timeline of the 2016 CrossFit Games where Davidsdottir earned her second Fittest Woman Alive title, and Mat Fraser, another Bergeron athlete, won his first title.
Using that as a backdrop he lays out 12 character traits, behaviors, and attitudes that he works to develop in all of his athletes, from commitment and positivity to embracing adversity and understanding control.
Unlike the military, Bergeron begins with building his athletes up as people. He sets expectations of them (“Never Whine, Never Complain, Never Make Excuses“) and teaches them to control their emotions, live with purpose and focus, and continuously improve. By pushing his athletes to be better people, Bergeron molds better athletes. Athletes more inclined to tackle the boring, day-to-day minutiae and work it takes to be a champion.
An example of this is his meeting with Katrin. Following her meltdown at the 2014 games, Bergeron wrote to her: “I know you might not see this right now, but this could be the best thing that ever happened to you.” When Katrin hires him as her coach, he shows her just how right he was.
Here is an excellent review combined with a description of the book’s contents. I agree with the reviewer, the stories alone are worth the price of the book; but the lessons are the important part; the cake under the icing.
Chasing Excellence is a wonderful and quick read offering insights and actionable lessons for developing the mindset of a champion. As Bergeron points out, “Nothing within these pages constitutes a groundbreaking secret.” And cautions, “Reading this book will not make you more competitive any more than being an expert in nutrition will get you a six-pack. The only way the process works is through action.”
Reading Chasing Excellence has made me wonder if my fixation on Flow has not been an optimal career strategy. To this point, I have encouraged people to work themselves into positions where their talents and abilities well match their obligations. Ben Bergeron has made me reconsider the wisdom of doing this.
I now think I’ve been wrong; humans, like every other creature in the world, need adversity for growth and I have used Flow to avoid adversity. Mark Rippetoe was on to something when he applied Selye’s general adaptation syndrome to weightlifting and then to life in general. Friedrich Nietzsche saw the same thing; it’s the overcoming of adversity that forms the surest base for happiness and contentment.
So, read Chasing Excellence and practice the techniques then read Flow and practice the techniques. Once you have internalized the best of both, compare them to your life practices, find the common ground. Perhaps you can, with intention, improve your life. I really hope the ideas in these books make as positive a change in your life as they continue to make in mine.