Yesterday I had the pleasure of talking to the LSU Swim team. The coach, Dave Geyer and I have been friends for a decade plus and had been talking about the mental aspects of performance and the relationship of fear and being “all in.”

While I was preparing for this speech I kept coming back to a simple idea, and something that I tell the athletes I coach. It’s the notion that the hardest part of training is sometimes just getting there. Now that you’re at practice or a meet you might as well be all in for the session/meet/workout.

For the swimmers I took it one step further. These kids have been swimming for roughly 15 years already and are now at the elite level. I likened the journey of getting to this point as their 99%. What they do with every day and every opportunity is the 1% difference it takes to win.

It’s eating right, nailing every workout, hitting it in the weight room, and getting your recovery.

This idea of 1% can apply to damn near anything. It’s the idea that anything worth doing is worth doing right. It’s finishing what we’ve started and it’s what my business partner Juba refers to as “the details matter”

So next time you show up to work/workout/race ask yourself, what’s my 1%. And are you making the best of it?

#hugsandhi5s