On Talent
“Sport taught me about failure, and the cruel idea that you can come up short because you’re not good enough, not because you didn’t try hard enough.” Nicholas Thompson
“Sport taught me about failure, and the cruel idea that you can come up short because you’re not good enough, not because you didn’t try hard enough.”
The Running Ground: A Father, a Son, and the Simplest of Sports - Nicholas Thompson.
This morning, I bought a Cinnamon Roll from my favorite bakery in town. I cut it in half, in the hopes of having a lighter dessert after lunch, but it was tasting so good that I ate it all.
Was I lacking mental fortitude? Was I too weak to be the athlete I wanted to be?
Then, I remembered my stay in Kenya, where I was surrounded by great European and African athletes.
They were training a lot, sometimes easy, sometimes very hard.
But they also seemed to enjoy what makes a human life worth living: the time spent with friends, the taste of a sugary treat, the occasional drink.
They were humans, not saints. They were just running faster.
From my observations, I would say that our society is becoming pretty polarized.
On one side, there is an increasing number of sedentary people who suffer from a lack of physical activity and an excessive energy intake (due to their inactivity, first, and an excessive consumption of highly processed foods).
On the other side, we see a growing number of amateurs (myself included) that are dedicating their entire time around work to sports, training with the same intent as would pro athletes and trying to optimize every tiny aspect of their lives: the sleep, the nutrition, the routines...
While the first are pushed to move even less (you can pay for people to bike and deliver food to your home) and consume even more (how would you survive without this new feature on your iPhone?) to serve the profits of some giant industries;
We tell the second a different kind of narrative: “You are not enough as you are, and you will only be fulfilled by achieving X or Y.” We sell them things too, but different ones: self-optimization routines, fad diets, training plans… and we make them promise that if they follow the advice they are given, they will become great.
The truth is: most of them (as I am) will stay normal people, trying to balance a work life, a family life and an athletic life, with all the messiness that comes with it.
I used to (and sometimes still do) see this with a lot of frustration, and ask myself if I should give up sports completely. But I recently realized that it was a fortune.
A permission to do the work because it’s fun and you bloody like it, and let the result speak for itself.
To me, it means different things:
running in nature without any specific goal when I want to unwind;
doing some structured sessions, for the feeling you get when you hit the gas;
running with people, because the journey is always more enjoyable when it’s shared.
But above all, it means nailing the basics and leaving self-optimization on the table, because it won’t transform myself into a champion I’m not. It might only make the adventure less enjoyable, and shorten my lifespan in the sport.
I wish you a late but happy 2026.
Peace,
Constant.
Really solid take on the polarization around athletic pursuits. The permission to "do the work because it's fun" without chasing some imagined championship level is something I needed to hear. Spent years optimizing sleep and nutrition for marginal gains that probably only mattered becauseof the placebo effect anyway.
Great observation on how both ends of today's social spectrums are used for making money and increasing sales!
And endless cycle you can only exit by following your own path and listening only to your own inner voice and not to the narratives (identically, from which direction they were coming) we are being told.
I recently read a lot from Albert Camus and about his idea of absurdity. When looked at it with the right intentions, I think it is a great way to view and navigate through life.
Another great book, even if not from a philosopher but from a "normal" author, I really enjoyed and can only recommend is "Le plus grand des miracles" from Thomas Glavinic.
I hope you are doing alright! Haven't heard much in a while :)