Happiness

In swimming we are very goal oriented. Many people understand this idea, but many times don't realize all the phases of the goal process. I think the main thing that people overlook in the process is the celebration of success. Many times the swimmer may improve or achieve a goal, and the only thing they can think about is that they still aren't where they or their parents expect them to be. Yes, even the parents should understand the process, as you can take those successes and emphasize the positive aspects of the experience you actually reinforce happiness that can lead to more success later on.

I have to give credit where credit is do though first. Thank you to Adrian Dinis from Rattler who guided me to this video. I think this video is very good, as it examines how we look at successes. Improvement is always the goal, but once achieved it is many times not celebrated. There is always the look over the shoulder about how someone else is faster, or they still haven't qualified for this other meet. This leaves the child never taking advantage of happiness, and what happiness can do for them in their progress towards the next goal. If always thinking about what they haven't achieved rather than that which they have achieved; soon, they are left with the feeling that there isn't happiness in achieving success, and find it hard to strive for the next small goal along the way to their long term goal. Celebrate success; celebrate improvements in the small things; celebrate all the time; you can even celebrate that they just want to compete and doesn't shy away from a result. Stop looking at the future all the time and enjoy the present. Here is the video from TED Talks.



Next, comes how we view our world. I love this talk as it means so much to what we do in swimming. Actually it means so much in so many different areas of our lives. I hope you enjoy this and think about the idea of investing in the process.