I coached runners for years before I could explain why some improve and some just… don’t.
My kid isn’t the most talented one on his basketball team. Not close. But he’s getting better faster than the kids who are. Same deal with his swimming, piano lessons, school, track and field, etc.
It took me a while to work out why, but then I wrote down the actual formula really quick in my productivity app of choice (:cough: NOTION :cough:) during the middle of his last basketball practice.
Intent x Content (Joy) x Consistent = Progress
And yeas, I know… “content” is a funny word choice coming from a guy who makes running CONTENT for a living, but stay with me cuz it works.)
- When he’s got intent, that beats being perfect.
- When he’s content (joyful), actually vibing with the process and his mates, he keeps showing up.
- And that’s what gives him the energy to be consistent.
Once that wheel’s turning, the precision just happens on its own. He gets as good as he can get without anyone forcing it.
Oh and those x’s are multipliers, not addition. So if any one of them is a zero, anything times zero is zero. So your progress doesn’t go anywhere.
Of all the runners I coach, it’s the exact same formula. The ones who nail all three see crazy gains. The ones who don’t… you know what happens.
So figure out how to get all three, in whatever order you can get them. Usually, it lands in the original formula’s order anyway: Intent. Content. Consistent.
