Comments on: What competitive swimming taught me a about professional careers

By: Kevin M

Kevin M — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:43:20 +0000

Good analogy, after 10+ years in accounting I think it holds true. I constantly feel the need to find new challenges for myself, but it is hard. I had no idea of the Outlier reference, that’s interesting.

I’m not a swimmer, but the same thing happened to me playing competitive roller hockey in college. It got so competitive it seemed like a job, not something I was doing for fun, so I ended up quitting.

By: Jeremy Day

Jeremy Day — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:48:26 +0000

This idea is commonly called “red shirting”. A lot of well meaning parents hold their kids back an extra year from kindergarten so that they can be the oldest kid in their grade. This generally makes them bigger, stronger, and sometimes smarter then their peers.

College athletes often red shirt their freshman year to give them an advantage. The NCAA only allows an athlete to play 4 years so they will stay in college for 5, watching the team play for the first year, and usually taking a lighter course load so they can focus on sports.

And you are right. If it stays fun you stay in it, and only the stars stay because they keep winning. If you have even a small advantage over your peers then you are more likely to win, and therefore, more likely to have fun, and therefore, more likely to stay in the game till you reach the top.

Did you like all the therefores? lol

Anyhow, same with your career.

For me, I started working in my company right after it started. We have experienced tremendous growth and I am at the top of the company when it comes to performance. Guess thats why I like my job so much…

Cheers,
Jeremy

By: dmitry

dmitry — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:25:15 +0000

Oh, wanted to add something about swimming – I had been mostly focused on the tri-sports and swimming is definitely my least favorite…It’s a great exercise, I cannot say anything there, but the fun of it to me would be in an open water, lake, ocean, etc, from point A to point B. Otherwise, it’s like running on a treadmill, only worse.
So I cannot blame any swimmers who quit. Plus sometimes public swimming pool’s water is just gross.

By: dmitry

dmitry — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:20:25 +0000

Yay, yay, yay…True on many accounts. The importance of the birth month – strike, just like Malcolm Gladwell describes in Outliers. The initial excitement of the job which is later replaced by boredom and feeling of being trapped – strike again.
Corporate jobs sometimes become a form of voluntary slavery, and that kinda takes away from the whole fun… Endless policies, rules, standards, procedures and other corporate bullshit. I’m happy to disclose my current job ain’t that bad with this stuff. Still, I’ll be honest – I wouldn’t go there every day if I didn’t have to. Just exchanging the years of my life for the promise of a better future…And learning in the meantime. Thanks for the motivation, Jacob & everyone!

By: SoCalGril

SoCalGril — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 14:58:35 +0000

LOL – add one more burned out swimmer to your list! Went all the way to NCAA and hated every minute of it. What an incredible anti-social sport. How is it even a TEAM sport? Aside from the relays? It’s an individual thing at best. I advise all my friends with children to NOT make them do the swim team thing – let it be their choice, including when to say when.

By: Executioner

Executioner — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 02:34:48 +0000

I see I’m not the only ex-swimmer who got burned out on the sport as a youngster. I still find it difficult to get excited about swimming, even though a decade and a half has passed since I finished my last competitive race in high school.

By: Caine

Caine — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 16:40:54 +0000

I’m still trying to determine the roles of competition/cooperation in our species. I used to be a believer in the “standard narrative” of high competition for limited resources and sex. I am now reading Sex at Dawn by Ryan and have changed my mind. Cooperation is natural(with a slight amount of competition), hyper competition is taught.

By: Jacob

Jacob — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 16:33:58 +0000

@Larry / Tina – Funny you guys mention Outliers. I just finished reading it a couple of days ago. It’s even funnier that I had figured out the birth-month importance when I was 12 or so as I’m sure many other teenage athletes have.

In swimming the cut-off date is January 1st (dunno if it’s different in the US) and I’m born in October. Every year at the club championship we’d mash together two years 74/75 or 75/76, alternating. I was the third oldest 75er (or the youngest, there were three of us). In 74/75 years, I’d not be competitive at all. In 75/76 years, I’d always take third. I was the slowest 75er, but faster than all 76ers. It probably didn’t help that I was late to enter the growth spurt. I quit in the middle of the 9th grade. At that point, I was 163cm. Within the next three years I added 24 cm.

By: Tina B

Tina B — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 16:14:05 +0000

Have you read the Outliers by Malcom Gladwell? Good stuff.

By: larry macdonald

larry macdonald — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:47:17 +0000

Professional hockey players also tend to have birthdays at the beginning of the year. It’s probably the same for most sports. So if you are starting a family and want your son to be the next Sidney Cosby, May or June is a good time to conceive. How’s that for family planning?

By: retirebyforty

retirebyforty — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:31:10 +0000

This is so true. It was fun and exciting starting a tech career when I got out of college. There was so many things to do and learn. After a while at the job, things are getting stale.
Even if you are a star at your job, the Corporate will keep pushing you to do more and more. The focus these days is for senior people to do more through others (be a multiplier in the lingo.) This is good if you can do it, but can be a career killer if you’re just happy with spending time in lab.
Anyway, have a spooky Halloween!