Interview with Phelps

Last night I watched an interview with Michael Phelps after the 4x200 freestyle relay. He said something that caught my attention. It was something along the lines of: our goal when we came here was to break 7 minutes (which would have been a new world record). As I thought about that mindset, I realized that that is the mindset of champions. He didn't say: "we came here to win gold" or "we just wanted to smash the French." Champions realize that the only thing they can control is how well they perform.

I compare that philosophy to what coach Bronco Mendenhall at BYU has coined as the "Quest for Perfection." Taking that at face-value, which most people do, it seems he wants 12-0 and a BCS game. However, if you think about what he really means (speakly purely in the football sense, though he applies it to his players off the field as well): we expect each individual to learn, understand, and perform at their full potential on the field, to perform perfectly essentially. We expect each player to understand their role as part of the team and to be perfect in their execution. He doesn't say anything about wins and losses or BCS games. He used to say that his team "needs to execute at a higher level." Now he has established what level of execution is required: perfection. That is the mindset and philosophy of champions: we will take care of the things we can control-our level of execution; we will be as perfect as we can be. In the case of BYU, and certainly in the case of Michael Phelps, if they do their best, the victories take care of themselves.