During the 1960 Olympic trials for rowing, the favored team from the University of California did not intimidate the crew from the Navy, who upset them in the finals. Coach Lou Lindsey understood and countered Cal's strategy, as one team member later recalled:
"The idea was that if you [stick close during their big push], you're going to gain the upper hand. If they don't gain a thing, it is inherently demotivating for them. And that's exactly what happened the next day. At a thousand meters we were even with Cal, and when Cal took [their burst], we took ours. At the end we were still even with them. And five strokes later we were four seats out front. Why does that happen? Both crews did the same thing. But in their minds they lost, and in our minds we won. And the adrenaline you get from winning, and realizing that you had done, makes a helluva difference in your performance. We spurted to that four-seat lead and ended up winning by a full boat length."
Chances are that your today is fairly similar to someone else's. Will you see the bright or the dark side of it? Will you end up a boat length ahead or behind tomorrow?
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