I’ve been listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s new book David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.
Really interesting book and it makes me feel like I should be wearing cool glasses and possibly wearing tweed with elbow patches.
One of the stories was about the smartest of the smart kids and what happens to them at the top Ivy League type schools like Brown University.
Kids that have scored higher on the math and science portion of the SATs drop out of Science and Math majors at a higher rate at the top schools, than kids that go to other lesser known schools even though these kids scored lower on the math and science portion of the SATs.
What went wrong? These kids clearly have the smarts to get through these classes. It has to be something else right? It is something else.
They compared themselves to others.
These were kids who were at the top of their classes in high school and were really smart. Then they get to the high level schools and they aren’t surrounded by smart any more, they are surrounded by brilliant.
It makes them feel dumb by comparison and they drop out. Even though they are really smart kids!
This happens in fitness all the time. It is one of the main reasons I started a fitness class for women only.
I worked in gyms for a long time and I would see women walk in all the time. I knew they would never come back when I saw “The Look”.
The look of “I don’t belong here”
The look of “I can never look like her” or “I am not as pretty/fit/strong/skinny as her”.
We provide a place where women can come be their best at any shape, size, or ability.
No matter what shape, size, or ability you are exercise is for you. You do belong.
The only person you need to compare yourself to is you. No one else matters.
Are you doing your best? Do you keep showing up? Are you doing what you can to maximize your results?
Worry about you because that’s the person who can make you better.
