I’ve worked with athletes who suddenly say they don’t love the game anymore or that the pressure has become too much. Sometimes, as we dig deeper, we find that they want to get out before they give themselves the chance to fail.

They don’t want to fall short. They don’t want to look bad. They don’t want to give everything they have and still come up short. So they quit before they ever give themselves the opportunity to fall flat on their face.

Then there’s the athlete who stays in the game but holds something back. Afterward, they say, “Well, I wasn’t trying my hardest.”

Sports psychologist Jim Loehr described this withdrawal of effort as “tanking.” By holding back, we give ourselves a psychological escape. We can explain away the outcome by telling ourselves we didn’t really try.

It’s a way of protecting our ego... Because if we give our best and still come up short, what would that say about us?

In our minds, we might believe it means we’re a failure. That we aren’t good enough. That we don’t have what it takes.

But those are judgments we attach to the outcome. They don’t have to be the lessons we take from it.

As we explored in the last newsletter, a loss doesn’t have to be a failure. We can choose to learn, adjust, and grow from the experience. But we limit that opportunity when we hold back to protect ourselves from disappointment.

And this reaches far beyond sports.

We can hold back in our work, our relationships, or a goal we’ve wanted to pursue. We leave ourselves an excuse instead of giving ourselves a chance.

My challenge to you is to empty the chamber.

Give your full effort. Allow yourself to care. Be willing to look bad, feel embarrassed, or come up short while pursuing something that matters to you.

You won’t be perfect. You won’t win them all. But you can choose to learn from those moments instead of letting them define you.

When the "game" ends, when the opportunity passes, when you look back on what you pursued, I hope you can say:

“I gave it everything I had.”

Avoid letting the fear of falling short keep you from finding out what you’re capable of.

Empty the chamber.

 Easy Easy,

-Luke Falk