In 2012 Dana Vollmer had positioned herself for Olympic success. As the reigning world champion in the 100-meter butterfly race, announcers identified Dana as a legitimate contender to win at the Olympics. When the race came, Dana did that and more—she set a world record time. Fans roared, Dana smiled and received hugs from teammates, and then she was interviewed by NBC’s Andrea Kremer, where she revealed that her top cap came off when she dove into the water.
As some of us might already know, professional swimmers wear caps to reduce drag in the water. These caps are so important that you’ve probably never seen a professional swim in a race without wearing a cap, especially a swimmer with long hair. Having a swim cap come off could easily be the difference between winning and losing, which is why most professional swimmers wear not just one cap but two. Although Dana’s top cap came off, her second cap stayed in place, allowing her to avoid disaster, win the gold medal, and set a world record.
What does wearing swim caps have to do with living and leading well?
The Drag We Face
Just like swimmers, we deal with circumstances that inhibit optimal performance. For example, when we open our email and see a few messages that we need to respond to later, a little bit of mental drag occurs. We then remember that we need to set up a trip to the store, but before that, we should probably check in with our significant other about what they need. There goes a little more mental energy. Like the hair of a swimmer, these things aren’t bad, but they can create a mental drag, and when our brains are frequently confronted with all these secondary tasks that we must accomplish, they gets bogged down. Does this sound familiar?
Swimmers recognize something that leaders need to learn—if we want to perform at our best, we need to minimize things that get in the way of the goal. If we don’t, we shouldn’t be surprised when we don’t swim our best race.
What is Holding You Back?
What are the things that are creating a mental drag in your world? We often see two common drag points for leaders: how they structure their days and not taking the needed time to get personally refueled.
Establish Structure
Leadership life is a whirlwind. We are constantly bombarded with things to do, people who want our time, and fires that need to be addressed. These circumstances come with leadership, but if we don’t establish some space to pull back, think, and create, we are setting ourselves and our teams up for failure.
How can you address this? Encourage your team to schedule focused times to complete tasks. But don’t just encourage it, model it! Literally, schedule these times on your calendar and then turn on do not disturb. Too many leaders and team members get derailed from deep work because of an email, phone call, or Teams message that can wait.
Prioritize Wellness
We can clearly see how physical and mental wellness impacts high-performing athletes. When a running back comes into camp overweight or a basketball player stays out late before a big game, we anticipate they won’t perform as well. But what about leaders? Research reveals that our performance also takes a hit when we don’t prioritize our physical and mental health. Too often, leaders don’t acknowledge the correlation, but our mental sluggishness can have more to do with how we treat our bodies and minds than we might like to admit.
What can you do? Make your wellness a priority. Don’t cut your sleep short, be conscientious of what you put in your body, and be a champion for healthy mental health practices (e.g., establish boundaries around work and home life, honor the boundaries that others set, make time for things that truly matter to you, do something you enjoy on your days off).
Final Thought: No one likes to experience a mental drag, but we are in more control of this happening than we sometimes realize. What items are creating a mental drag for you? Make one choice today that reduces the drag.
