Dealing With Setbacks

Dealing With Setbacks

Usually when we've worked hard and followed the process, like when we study our tail ends off for a test, we get what we want, like a good grade. Unfortunately sometimes we experience setbacks that push our goals back or our performance doesn't live up to our own expectations. This last championship season might have accurately reflected the hard work you’ve put in, but for some of us, we might not have swam as well as what we thought we should have. If the latter applies to you, what do you do? Hopefully the next 6 points help guide you through your next set back. 

1. Allow Yourself to Feel Bummed Out (But Not For Too Long)

Hopefully everyone took the week off to reflect on your performance at whatever meet you swam at in the previous month. Research suggests that by giving yourself a chance to experience the negative emotions associated with failure, you’ll be more motivated to do better next time. Feeling the pain now can act as powerful fuel to prevent yourself from making similar mistakes in the future.

2. Aim for a Sense of Perspective

Once you’ve given yourself a chance to feel your feelings, now’s the time to take a step back and focus on doing something about it. No one enjoys having a bad performance at a meet, especially when our chances to race have been so limited this year. Still, if you can look at the feedback that your coach gave you after a race objectively, you’ll be able to benefit from it. 

3. Set Clear Goals

Once you’ve determined the areas that you need to work on, set clear goals. Make them challenging, yet achievable by your next meet, and articulate what success for each one might look like. You’ll definitely want to run them past your coach to insure that you are on track to achieve those goals. .

4. Create a Development Plan

While goals are great, you’ll be much more likely to accomplish them if you have a strategy. Therefore, for each one, write out a step-by-step plan of action to guide your efforts. To make this as helpful as possible, consider the resources you’ll need. Are there books you could read? Make a list. Can a teammate or coach help you? If so, figure out what you need from them and ask. Do you need some extra time outside of practice time to work on something? Ask your coach what you can do. Once you’ve compiled this, present it to your coach and ask for their feedback. This will show that you’re taking your track to improvement seriously—and they may even have great solutions to help you move forward. Finally, start tracking your accomplishments in practice. Going faster in practice than you ever have before helps you gin confidence through your training. For example, If you are doing broken 200’s once per week where there is a 100 fast in the middle of it, keep track of what your fastest 100 effort is. You may start at 1:01, but when you go under 1:00 for the first time, that is tangible evidence that your hard work and the changes you are making are paying off.

5. Ask for Ongoing Feedback

To gauge how you’re doing over the next several months, check in with your coach and get their input during and after practice. Not only will this give you vital information that’ll help you to continue to course-correct, it’ll demonstrate to your coach a genuine desire to improve. You might also want to ask some of your teammates for ongoing feedback. In addition to giving you an additional perspective on how you’re doing, your teammates can act as accountability partners that’ll help you stay on track.

6. Be Consistent

Unfortunately, the sad truth is that when you’re changing a behavior, it can take a while for people to notice. Due to something called confirmatory bias, we’re much more likely to notice things that confirm our beliefs than those we don’t believe in. In other words, if your coach is constantly telling you to try harder, then even if you’ve been working your tail end off all month, they will still notice the one time you lack putting the effort in on an all out swim. If you’re trying to change your behaviors at practice, you’ll need to be diligent about demonstrating new behaviors, and realize it may take others some time to believe that they’re actually going to stick.

The bottom line? Setbacks such are a part of life, and many accomplished people have been on the receiving end of criticism. Make the decision to use the failure as a catalyst for development, and commit to getting better. By the next time you race, you’ll walk off that pool deck feeling awesome.

Go SMAC!

Julián