What Michael Phelps’ struggle for meaning can teach us about peak performance
If you locate measures of success and failure outside yourself— whether by accepting the judgment of others or internalizing it to judge yourself—you give away control of your sense of accomplishment. If you feel happiest and most satisfied when you receive external validation and rewards, then your sense of who you are (and how good of a person you are) will come from other people as well.
That’s a risky way to live and work. Fearing external judgment and relying on external validation to feel good are equally problematic. And they are both barriers to high performance.
Focus on meaning and intrinsic motivation
Meaning lies far away from fear or a need for external validation in the form of praise, admiration, awards, approval.
Terminally ill patients never wish they had been praised and admired more. They don’t wish they had earned more employee-of-the-month plaques. They are focused on internal meaning: being true to themselves, having closer relationships, wishing work hadn’t defined them so much. They don’t think much about the What of life—their jobs or material possessions or trophies. They think about the Why of life.
It’s not what you do, but why you do it that enables you to reach peak performance.
What matters to you? It’s an important question.
When you are driven to perform from deep within yourself, you will do your best work and feel good about it. Conversely, when you are driven to perform based on factors outside yourself, like praise and rewards, your motivation will fall off and you will underachieve.
Even the greatest Olympian of all time struggled with meaning and performance
Here’s a story to illustrate how powerful personal meaning can be.
When we think of Michael Phelps, the first thing that comes to mind is that he has won more Olympic medals than any other athlete in history.
What many people don’t realize is that despite, or perhaps as a side effect of, his money, fame and success, Phelps went through the sort of dark period that many of us experience in our careers and lives.
In 2014, halfway between Olympic Games, Phelps was deeply depressed and struggling in every area of his life. At one point, he was photographed smoking weed out of a bong, and he was twice charged with driving under the influence, including once in a school zone.
At his lowest point, he called his coach, explained he was having suicidal thoughts, and said, “I’ve had it. I can’t take this anymore.” The coach helped Phelps get into rehab where Phelps wasn’t one of the most successful athletes in history. He was just a guy working through the steps.
One of those steps was calling friends and family to make amends. Reconnecting with people. Talking through what had happened. Working things through—for himself and for them.
When he called his best friend, the conversation didn’t unfold as Phelps had expected. The friend challenged him by asking a simple question, one that ended up being a catalyst for Phelps’ turnaround: “Is that the best that you can do?” Reflecting on the question, Phelps realized that though what he had achieved was amazing by any external standard, he wasn’t even close to everything he wanted to achieve.
Stepping back, he realized he had been focusing on the what (the medals), not the why (his passion for training, pushing limits, giving his best, and loving the sport).
Phelps left rehab soon after and returned to his training with a new focus on enjoying and embracing the process. He changed his diet. He committed to physical therapy. He added yoga, stretching, massage, and functional training to his swimming. He repaired a number of relationships. And, maybe most important of all, he stopped reading magazines and started reading biographies of people like Mahatma Gandhi and Steve Jobs—role models of meaning and purpose.
Fast-forward to 2016 and the Rio Olympics. Phelps was a picture of happiness. During all of his media interviews, his themes were being there to try his hardest, not ending up with regrets, and knowing that he had left it all out there in the lanes.
Connect to meaning to fuel peak performance
By pivoting his thinking from external validation to his own meaning and values, Phelps re-energized his life and rediscovered his purpose. He let go of fear. He let go of judgment. He put feelings of failure aside. He got back to living the life he loved.
That’s the power of internal motivation and meaning. And it lies at the heart of optimization and high performance.
Your peak moments need to be driven by something much deeper than praise or trophies. They must be fuelled by meaning and your personal sense of value and purpose.
External rewards are fine in the right mindset and can be fun to have once in a while. But they are not the meaning of our lives and they will not sustain us in our pursuit of excellence over the long term.
Want to learn more?
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In a 24/7 world, it can be a real challenge to get proper rest and give your mind and body the opportunity to fully recharge. In my new book, I outline how small changes in the way you rest, refocus and recharge can help you improve your mental health, prevent illness and deliver optimal results. In high-performance athletic circles, “deliberate recovery” practices are the secret weapon of the very best. But you don’t have to be an elite athlete to benefit from these strategies. Rest Refocus Recharge offers simple and practical techniques that you can easily incorporate into your existing routine, including:
Rest and sleep
Relax and create
Reflect and learn
Recharge and focus
Regenerate and perform
Let me know what you think about this article and the new book in the comments section below!
