How many days do you have left on this earth?
On that note, how many more seasons do you have left as an athlete?
On average most people live to be around 80 years old. Which means if you’re in your early 20’s you’ve already used up around a quarter of your time (that’s only 60 more Christmases remaining).
Now, before you go down a spiral of existential worry, 80 years is more than enough time to live a good life. Or as Seneca put it 2000 years ago:
“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.”
The challenge many athletes face is that it can be tempting to live as though the athlete lifespan and the human lifespan are equivalent. To treat the passing of each “athlete-day” as the same percentage of the bigger life clock when in reality the athlete clock is significantly smaller.
We all know this, but sometimes we forget just how quickly the athlete clock can pass us by. Nevertheless, it is this reminder that can keep us in check when it matters most.
The Athlete Clock
An athlete career-span (depending on the sport) is around 15 years. So if you’re 20 years old, you’ve probably used up well over a third and likely have around 10 good years left (maybe less).
In other words:
- That’s only 10 more chances to push for a championship.
- 3-4 more opportunities to work with a new coach.
- 2 more times to strive for the Olympics.
- And above all, it’s the 1 and only athlete journey that you get in this life.
You can’t just try a new sport once you hit your late 30’s. This is all you’ve got.
Today’s Clock
Now, I don’t bring all of this up to cause angst over your mortality. Rather, I want to remind you of the fleeting nature of your athlete clock. But don’t let it scare you. Let it empower you to seize all 24 hours and approach your training with a greater sense of urgency.
Yes, life will go on after sports, but in the same way that you don’t want to be sitting on your deathbed wishing you did things differently, you don’t want to retire from your sport wishing you treated each day for what it truly was.
Begin with the end in mind.
Do the math in your athlete clock.
How many days do you have left?
How many opportunities do you have remaining before your time has passed?
Are you using them well?
-Derek
