đWinning Isnât Everything
Simone Biles Rejects a Long Tradition of Stoicism in Sports
Simone Biles, the worldâs most decorated American gymnast, vaulted into global headlines when she failed to stick her landing and withdrew from olympic competition. What sent greater shockwaves than her performance, was her decision not to perform.Â
The divided response reflects a generational shift in cultural core values. The critics who judged Biles often reflected their own materialist values: winning, and the status, power & prestige that comes with it, should be valued over all else. Biles', in prioritizing her own mental and physical health, violated those values.Â
For her supporters, Simoneâs decision legitimized their post-materialist values: self-expression over success. Biles' decision spoke volumes to young people. In essence, she communicated: Itâs okay, itâs courageous, and itâs âgoodâ to take care of yourself. To trust your gut. To step back from the expectations of others. To make a decision that prioritizes care for yourself.
What about the outcome of her decision? No doubt Simone wondered what would come of her decision not to perform. What would she be sacrificing to care for herself? Would she lose the support and respect of others?Â
The day after bowing out of the competition, she tweeted:
What a profound revelation for every young person to fully and deeply grasp.Â
Biles and Naomi Asaka are representative of a generation thatâs slowly but surely shifting societal values. Two things about their withdrawal from competition stand out:
Their decisions are making the world a more inclusive place. Countries that endorse post-materialistic values are more likely to adopt legislation favorable to gender/sexual minorities. Women in countries that endorse post-materialistic values are also more likely to hold higher positions in political, economic and academic life. In leading by example, Biles and Asaka are bringing post-materialistic values to the mainstream.  Â
They rejected the âwin at any cost mentalityâ that permeates society. Their generation is pushing back against hustle culture and 80 hours work weeks in toxic work environments to be âsuccessful.â They are refusing to work bad jobs for worse pay. They are realizing that outward success does not determine their intrinsic worth and acceptance. Winning isnât everything.
Get Your Bearings: Do you or your young people feel pressured to live up to othersâ expectations? Do they truly âget itâ that they are more than their accomplishments?
Let us know in the comments.
đ„Performing Under Pressure
How To Be A Badass On and Off The Court
Fear of failure can plague us when the stakes feel high. Even Biles, the GOAT, admitted she felt the weight of the world on her shoulders. When fears cause us to overthink, we can lose our way. Simone Biles withdrew from the Olympic games after experiencing the âtwisties'' during the womenâs team final.Â
We all experience our own version of the twisties when the pressure is on. They can occur anywhere, anytime: during a big exam that may determine the college we go to, or before the presentation to land a promising client. At those moments we get overly self-conscious and we abruptly forget what we know. We fumble with our ATM passcode when thereâs a line behind us. We mispronounce the name of an important acquaintance when we bump into them at the grocery store. Our social skills fly out the window when weâre at a party or on a first date.Â
The twisties are ubiquitous and result from this strange irony:Â
The harder we think, the less we remember.Â
Overthinking interferes with automatic memory, also known as âprocedural memories.â Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory. Cognitive scientist, Sian Beilock, explains how the better we get at a skill, the more it encodes as procedural memory, and the less we rely on conscious thinking:
â(S)omething interesting happens as people get better and better at performing a skill. . . They forget stuff. Think about riding a bike. How exactly do you do this? Well, yes, first you have to get on the bike and pedal. But there is a lot more to it than that. You have to balance, hold on to the handlebars, look at what is in front of you. If you miss any of these steps, falling is a real possibility. This usually doesnât happen when proficient bike riders are actually riding, but if you were to ask a bike rider to explain the âhow-tosâ of this complex skill, he would forget details.â
Beilock explains why we canât overthink and perform efficiently at the same time:Â
âYou can think of procedural memory as your cognitive toolbox that contains a recipe that, if followed, will produce a successful bike ride, golf putt, baseball swing, or fully operating mobile phone. Interestingly, these recipes operate largely outside of your conscious awareness. Your own facility is because, when you are good at performing a skill, you do it too quickly to monitor it consciously.â
Self-consciousness can interrupt our procedural memory, hurting our performance (and making us more self-conscious!)
Thankfully, just recognizing when weâre feeling self-conscious can disrupt the overthinking that hinders performance.Â
Get Your Bearings:
How to help your students (and yourself) overcome the twisties . . .
Identify the trigger (when do you feel self-conscious under pressure?)
Reflect on the cause (whatâs causing the twisties? is it external pressure to perform? doubt in your ability to succeed?)
Affirm your people (remind them why they are pursuing the goal & reinforce your belief in their ability to succeed). Â
Where do you get the twisties and what strategies do you use to overcome them? Please share in the comments.
đŽThe Scenic Route
Because sometimes we need to slow down and enjoy the ride.
As a high achieving high school grad, and a new college student at Boston College, I often felt the pressure of pursuing a career and college major that would come with a materialistic view of âsuccessâ. I thought I had to graduate BC with a high paying âprestigiousâ job in order to succeed and receive outward validation from society. It was only later on in my college experience that I recognized it was okay to follow my own heart and passions, and pursue what was most true to myself.
I have tremendous respect and admiration for Simone Biles for sending the message that itâs okay to prioritize your own well being and mental health. She is truly so inspiring!
Confession: I get the twisties when having to do anything arts + crafts related. My mom is a potter and my sister a studio art major. I always told myself I wasn't artistic at all. Now I clam up when having to fold a piece of paper đ«