Elite Athletes Know the Truth About Fun
Elite athletes know something about fun that average athletes aren’t willing to accept. Doing what it takes to become an elite athlete is not and will never be fun. Winning is fun, but putting your mind and body through the training pain required to win at an elite level is not.
Author Geoff Colvin writes this in so many words in his seminal book Talent is Overrated:
It seems a bit depressing that the most important thing you can do to improve performance is no fun, take consolation in this fact: It must be so. If the activities that lead to greatness were easy and fun, then everyone would do them and they would not distinguish the best from the rest. The reality that deliberate practice is hard can even be seen as good news. It means that most people won’t do it. So your willingness to do it will distinguish you all the more.
In this book, Colvin breaks down in detail how greatness comes at the cost of fun. Those who do great things do so by completing boring, repetitive tasks. In fact, Colvin specifically suggest that the one characteristic that separates world-class performers from everybody else is their ability to toil for long hours doing things that aren’t fun.
No Fun Does Not Mean Not Satisfied
Let’s not confuse fun with satisfaction either. An activity can satisfy you and not be fun. What’s more, it’s the satisfaction an elite athlete gains from working hard on their passions that motivates them to toil for long hours doing things that aren’t fun. Often, when an elite athlete describes hard work as fun, they are really saying it’s satisfying to work hard to get better at something they’re passionate about.
This is also what makes elite athletes different. Not only are elite athletes able to endure the absence of fun, they’re also extremely passionate about what they do. Without this passion, there’s no satisfaction. This is why an athlete can only reach an elite level by loving what they do more than anything else.