Express yourself but whatever you do don’t enjoy yourself
Written by Stuart Haden on February 26, 2020
The concept of enjoyment is slightly misleading because it’s not always within our control. Throughout my sporting endeavours the phrase ‘go out there and enjoy yourself‘ was regularly rolled out. Problem is if you lose how do your rate enjoyment now?
Instead we need to control the controllables and express ourselves. ‘Go out there and express yourself.’ It’s down to us and might lead to enjoyment!? What’s more expression is at the route of authenticity. My definition of which is to express yourself fully and skilfully in the environment around you.
If you need to express yourself when the whistle blows then what’s the end game? Well I’ve often talked about authenticity as one of the shortcuts to optimal performance and flow states. Simply reverse engineer what you are aiming for and start with expression. Expression + skill = authenticity & optimal performance. Then you will be able to operate at high speed, aka the definition of express – convey, represent and say what one thinks/means.
