It is a common cliche in sports to tell an athlete to give it their all, one hundred percent. It’s pretty easy to tell when an athlete is holding back — maybe for legitimate reasons — but why do athletes even need to be told to give one hundred percent? Shouldn’t they give everything to every game, every match, and every meet for the love of the game?
The easy answer would be to assume that these athletes who don’t give one hundred percent are lazy, but the real answer is slightly more nuanced than that.
Early in his career Steve Magness was a coach as a part of the Nike Oregon Project under Alberto Salazar. It was Magness who blew the whistle on one of the biggest scandals in distance running.
Magness has since moved on from coaching and has written several books on the psychology of sport, with the goal of freeing people to perform to the best of their abilities.
“Ninety percent of coaching is helping people get out of their own way,” he says.
Magness suggests that athletes can subconsciously find ways out of giving it their all by finding excuses. These excuses aren’t to protect themselves physically, but to protect their ego.
“Trying to do anything well exposes you. It opens you up to criticism … and wondering whether you are good enough on the inside. Any time we are doing something where there is a concrete result attached to our name, it makes us vulnerable.”
This can apply to anyone who gives something their all and still falls short. It hurts more than if they didn’t give it one hundred percent, so often we ‘leave something in the tank’ to protect ourselves.
“We like to walk around with a story in our heads that we are a good, decent, competent person. Whenever evidence presents itself to the contrary, our ego goes into overdrive … to explain away why the opposite cannot be true.”
If this is the case, how can we free ourselves from our ego in order to give one hundred percent? Magness gives several examples, but the Bible provides a clear message on being freed from chasing perfection.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
So as you begin this semester of school or athletic participation, give your weakness over to Christ and free yourself to perform!