Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.
– Abraham Lincoln
“Put in the videotape,” coach Bob Bowman would tell high school swimmer Michael Phelps.
Every night and morning, Michael visualized the perfect race, from stepping up to the blocks and jumping off to executing each stroke and turn. He imagined how the water would feel when he entered the pool and the sensation of pulling off his goggles and swim cap when the race was over, looking up at the scoreboard to see if he had won. He pictured every moment—every second—until he knew each one of them by heart.
But he didn’t just visualize his way to becoming the most decorated Olympian ever, he trained relentlessly.
On August 13th, 2008, when Michael rolled out of bed on the day of his 200-meter butterfly race at the 2008 Olympics, he was ready. The morning went as it always did—he had his usual breakfast of oatmeal, eggs, and energy shakes, and then as the race approached, he underwent his stretching, warm-up, and pre-competition routines.
Michael approached his blocks alongside seven of the best swimmers in the world. He himself was considered to be the greatest swimmer ever and was expected to dominate. Michael got up on his block, swung his arms three times, and waited for the gun to sound.
BOOM! The swimmers were off. But as soon as Michael hit the water, he knew something was wrong: there was a leak in his goggles. As he passed the first turn, his vision was blurry and he was trailing New Zealander Moss Burmester. It was the worst-case scenario at the worst possible time. How did Michael respond?
He was calm, cool, and collected because he had been preparing for this moment all along. During his training, Michael regularly practiced swimming in the dark or with goggles he’d colored in with a Sharpie marker to completely blind himself. That technique forced him to feel, measure, and time every stroke in the rare eventuality that he’d lose his vision in a race.
And now the time had come.
Despite his cloudy vision, Michael took back the lead as they crossed the halfway point. As the third and final turn approached and he was about to head down the homestretch, Michael’s vision completely disappeared. He couldn’t see anything, not the lines to the left or right of him, not any of the swimmers, not the wall he’d have to touch to register his final time.
But he’d done the blind swims and mental visualizations exactly because this moment could happen, this moment when things went utterly downhill. As Michael made the last turn, all he had to do was remind himself to—as he later explained—“put in the videotape.”
As the final lap began, he started counting, knowing he would need 20 or 21 strokes to get to the wall. He approached the end, completed two final strokes, and then reached out his hand in the hopes to touch the wall.
And…he had timed it perfectly.
Michael took off his goggles and looked up at the scoreboard. Not only had he won, he had set a world record. Not by accident, but because of hours and hours of deliberate preparation. Not just for what was expected, but for what was unexpected.
When asked about the incident, Michael said, “If I didn’t prepare for everything that could happen, when my goggles started filling up, I’d have probably flipped out. That’s why I swim in the dark.”
By preparing for chaos and the unexpected, you become accustomed to it. You become ready for it. Then when things go south, rather than being thrown off-board, you’re in your natural habitat.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” said Benjamin Franklin.
The moment will come.
The time will arrive.
The opportunity will present itself.
But will you be ready to answer it?
Not just what’s expected, but what’s unexpected.
Life doesn’t lay everything out on a platter. It’s the opposite—it will test you and it will challenge you. Life will destroy you if you’re not ready. But we can all be ready! As Abraham Lincoln said, “I will prepare and someday my chance will come.”
Prepare for what you expect and prepare more for what you don’t expect, because it’s in those moments when you leave a legacy. Those are the moments when you defy all odds, when you do what seems impossible. When you stun the world.
After his race, a reporter asked Michael what it felt like to swim blind. “It felt like I had imagined it would,” he responded.
To be ready for the moment, prepare for the moment. What if the time comes now? What if the plan doesn’t go as expected? What if it’s worse than you thought?
Will you be prepared?
Thank you for reading. This is a story from my book, Chasing Greatness. If you enjoyed it, you can check out the book here.
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You can check out the podcast on Michael Phelps for a deeper dive on his life and greatness.
You can check out other episodes of the Greatness Podcast, where I dive into the lives and stories of the world's greatest individuals.
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