the achievement of deeply personal goals, my hope is that you will read the stories in this book and say, “That is just like me! I am experiencing that!” Through my coaching practice and research, I have learned that although the stories of high achievers may be different, their experiences are relatable, no matter what discipline you pursue.
The “Time Out” sections at the end of the chapters include questions based on those I asked the people interviewed for this book. Many of these high performers commented on the deep self-reflection stimulated by answering the questions, and I hope they will bring you new awareness, too. In the “Practices in Play” exercises that conclude each of the three stages of the book, I invite you to engage with the nine practices of high performers, using a journal to track how these practices have manifested in your experiences and how you can harness them for future goals.
As an Olympian, I am deeply proud of my swimming career and the experiences it provided me. Like all such events, however, now that it is over, it only lives in the past. Holding on to past personal bests to define your present self can hinder you from discovering potential new versions of yourself and as-yet undiscovered opportunities and successes that exist only in the future. As you will see, I fundamentally believe in repurposing, not retiring. I believe in filling life with opportunities to learn and grow, with challenges and failures, explorations and experiences, relationships with and feedback from friends and colleagues.
New opportunities are doors to potential, but we must choose to engage with them. Transitions are inevitable and essential elements of the process of actualizing potential. All of us will travel through both small and large transitions during our lives. For me, sport was a starting point on the journey.
I choose to keep moving toward my personal next, and I hope you will, too.
The Arc of Transition
“I always tell other hockey players who I run into, to retire to something. I don’t care what it is, but you’ve got to retire to something.”
—MIKE HOUGH, HOCKEY PLAYER
Most athletes can identify a personal best—a moment of peak performance when their entire being swells with pride knowing they’ve achieved that obsessive dream they’ve nurtured since childhood. The route to these pinnacle moments of achievement, the adjustment to a life post-sport, and the subsequent movement toward a personal next is a common journey that all lifelong high performers travel.
As I carefully combed through the many interviews I conducted, the “arc of transition” revealed itself clearly. This arc is a visual representation of the trajectory of many high achievers, and in particular it represents that of athletes. The arc slopes upward to the experience of peak achievements, down through the inevitable movement away from those achievements, and back up again with the discovery of a new path. When I look at this arc, I see the reclining body of an athlete (perhaps a freestyle swimmer in mid-stroke), probably because the body and its movement affect how I, as an athlete myself, think about the world. The beginning and the end of the arc are open-ended to illustrate that in life we all go through many cycles of the arc of transition. For the purposes of this book, the arc is marked by nine key points.
1. Testing the Waters
For athletes, this point includes formative influences—family and culture, coaches, the sports environment—as they venture into a new arena. For other people, this point might represent undertaking a new career, testing out an interest, or beginning a new relationship.
2. All-In
The concept of all-in encompasses the joys, pitfalls, and intensity of becoming part of a team. Here, athletes encounter the lure of an (addictive) culture, an organization, and the coach. High performers are wholeheartedly absorbed in their endeavours, focused and attentive, aware that they are worthy of success and promotion.
3. Personal Best
A personal best occurs when an individual reaches a significant achievement. Peak achievements may be experienced publicly, such as winning a medal or an award. But they can also be highly personal and private experiences and may include reaching a long-sought-after goal, perhaps in honour of the memory of a deceased person, for example.
4. Gut Checks
When athletes reach this point, they begin to reckon with the inevitable ending of their athletic careers, and with the results of their intensive training and lifestyles. Others might recognize this point as a feeling of bumping up against the reality of their current circumstances, such as being forced to change careers.
5. Unravelling
Athletes see the undoing of all they know as their world collapses around them, while their athletic mindset, developed over many years, remains intact. For others, this point may look like a specific aspect of their lives disappearing, such as a faltering relationship, an imminent retirement, children leaving home, or the death of a loved one.
6. On the Outs
This point marks the depth of the valley between a personal best and a personal next. Athletes recognize that their lives have significantly changed because they’re officially off the team. There is a range of deep and challenging emotions here, as high achievers process significant change or loss.
7. Shift
Shift is characterized by a switch in perspective. High achievers become more aware of their changed circumstances and might even embrace their new reality. Here, individuals begin to learn how to disrupt embedded patterns that no longer serve them or their movement forward.
8. Rally
This is a time of reinvention. High performers focus on self-awareness and taking ownership of the process of change to reshape their lives. They might get a new job, further their education, or develop new interests.
9. Personal Next
This stage represents the ongoing journey toward new heights of meaning that are different from those of the past. As high performers create new goals, they integrate their best aptitudes to fuel success that is new and different from what they have achieved before.
In chapters 1 through 9, we look at each of these points in depth. I recommend reflecting on your current situation to figure out where you might be on the arc right now.
NOT A STRAIGHT LINE
We’ve all been through beginnings and endings; these experiences are often entwined. One transition builds on the next and, within the arc of transition, there can be many smaller arcs within a larger one. At the age of fifteen, in 1979, even though I had only been training seriously for two years, I experienced early success qualifying for the Pan American Games. At the time I felt on top of the world and assumed that my trajectory would simply continue. Far from it! Similar to other athletes who are catapulted quickly up the ladder of success, I was naive, unaware, and unprepared to deal with the weight of expectations (mine and others). Consequently, I had trouble qualifying for a national team again. I began to see myself as a one-time wonder, a failure. I feverishly
