Speed Skater’s Manifesto Illustrates Execution is King

Would you let your competition see your secrets to success? That’s what the world’s best speed skater did shortly after winning two golds at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. 

Nils van der Poel released his “manifesto” titled How to skate a 10k.. and also half a 10k and released the details of his training in an open source digital document that can be found here. 

Hearing about this invites some obvious concerns including, but not limited to, the fact that his livelihood depends on his ability to outperform his opponents. And, he’s just told his opponents his strategy to win! 

On the other hand, the bold move has a surprising moral to the story:

There are no secrets. 

And, frankly, life and sport is mostly about execution. Having the training plan to win is one thing. Doing what needs to be done is a different thing altogether. 

Now, maybe you’re not into speed skating and wouldn’t be duped into thinking that having an Olympian’s training plan wouldn’t put you on the podium. But, you might want to take inventory in your life for areas that you’re out sourcing responsibility to technical information when what’s needed is change and adaptation in you.  

Poel knew this. The quote that opens his manifesto reads like this:

“It seems that all true things must change and only that which changes remains true”

– Carl Jung