THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION:

I guess the question should be what is perfection? Who sets or defines the standards of PERFECT? As an athlete I think we all begin innocently enough loving and appreciating the games we play. Initially I think we all began just striving to win and do whatever it takes to better our last performance. Somewhere along the line we lose scope of the simplicity and joy of self creativity and become seekers of perfection. We stop training to win and start working towards the perfect run, hit, catch, jump or throw. Unfortunately, somewhere in that quest the chase turns into a self-defeating prophecy. Sometimes as coaches and athletes we lose sight of the big picture. We begin to train for the highlight reel segment and clips and totally lose sight of training the whole body for the whole game. In short we lose sight of progression and throw all rationale out of the window looking for the perfect conditions. Far to often have I sadly seen an athlete become so mechanical or over coached that they lose all grasp of their natural gifts and athletic abilities.

In my career I've been blessed to meet and become acquaintances with some of the greatest athletes to ever play sports. Athletes who at their prime were considered the pinnacle of their events or sports. Men and women who were and are world record holders or were deemed as achieving performances called perfection. In all of these conversations have I ever had any of these individuals tell me they felt their performance was perfect. Nor Perfectly executed according to their training plan and specific skill levels. There are however strong underlying currents, trends of regularity to all of the great conversations and even greater performances. They all expressed that they were well trained and prepared for any and all conditions. Likewise, they all expressed that their biggest training goals were on taking the basic and common things and doing them uncommonly well. What you find here is a recipe for extraordinarily gifted and talent individuals to perform well on a consistent basis. I once remember Brooks Johnson telling me that I had to train with the mindset that " on my bad days I win, on my good days I break the World Record" what he was telling me is that you're only as good as you are on your off day. Tom Tellez coach of Carl Lewis the greatest pressure performer ever echoed the same sentiment. You consistently and repetitively do the same thing well and when the big meet comes you execute and let adrenaline take care of everything else.
Another of the more strangely significant things I noticed was that most if not all shared characteristics of being exhibitionist. That meaning they had the tendency to look at their competitions more as performance than competitions against a group of competitors. They viewed competitions as an opportunity to perform, show the world how well they could perform a task and skill. Something to be viewed in awe and amazement.

Being a huge fan of all the arts I'm constantly in search of that intersection between athletics and art vice-versa. Looking for the common ground an overlaying epitome. Picasso and the evolution of his simplicity through time. Salsa music and its staccato have a strong resemblance to rhythm of the hurdles. The syncopation of Jazz greats like Errol Garner and the rhythmic clapping and phases of the triple jump. To say that Athletics and Art don't replicate and emulate would be a grave misconception. With this understanding and appreciation of Art I'm forced to look at this thing we call " The Pursuit of Perfection." Great artist are never thinking of perfect in the eyes or comparison to anybody else. In most cases their creativity is precipitated in a quest to be wildly and dramatically different. When painters, sculptors and musicians create great bodies of works its an outer manifestation of an idea and vision created internally. These great works are never created with you or I in mind and definitely not with the thought of perfection. However, what happens as an end result is some critic or fan deems its perfection and we thus begin to define anything in the same category by that standard.

At the end of the day I suggest doing what you do simply and uncommonly well. Compete with a passion and reckless abandon. Let the critics and cynics judge after you've won.

Will you be a creator or a replicator?