“I just wanna get faster…”
I remember saying that to my mom God knows how many times. It was the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school and I just decided that I liked to run fast and win races. I was pretty good at it too. Only one problem though…
I had no coach!
During that time our school was going through a transition in which many of the older coaches were starting to retire and we were sending new ones through a revolving door.
My freshman year, I had no coach whatsoever. My sophomore year we had a coach for half the season and going into my junior year, I didn’t know who my coach was going to be. I was coachless, but I wanted to get better so all I could do was take my time.
Fast forward a couple of years. I won a few state championships with the little coaching I had and I was STILL determined to get fast. I knew I hadn’t yet reached my potential even though I spent much of my time listening to former athletes in trying to figure out how I can replicate their speed training.
It was then I got to college and had one of the best coaches in the world. Almost immediately I started to see improvements in all aspects of my race. All of a sudden, running became effortless and was eons faster than I ever was.
You see, the point of this story is that sometimes you can have all the time in the world, but if you don’t have the right resources, you’ll never reach your potential. Time is great to have when you want freedom, but if you are actually looking to accomplish something, you have to have money.
For me, it was my college tuition. For you, it might be something else, but whatever it is, never underestimate the power of a good mentor/coach to help you in saving time.
Jerry “time for you” Washington
P.S. One more point I’d like to make is that you can find a coach, but also make sure they are a good one. Nothing worse than spending your hard earned money and investing your time in a fraud. Losing time and money is never a good thing. One rule I have for my coaches is that they have to be 10 years ahead of me in whatever I’m trying to learn from them. Doesn’t always mean they’ll be 10 years older (I’ve had coaches your that were younger than me), but just as long as they have 10 years more experience than you in whatever you’re trying to learn, you should trust that they will help you succeed…Talk soon!
