In the spirit of this year's theme, "Fearless", I have signed up to run a race that's a bit longer distance than I'm normally comfortable running. Not significantly longer, but longer.
At the time I signed up for it, it seemed like a good idea---I would have plenty of time to train. But then....May hit, and the training took a hit. And now the race is less than a month away, and I'm very much behind in my preparation.
But this year I am FEARLESS, and I know the Worst Thing That Could Happen is that I have to walk for a bit instead of running the whole way. You know what? Big fat hairy deal. I made a deal w/ myself that I would do this race, and I'm gonna do it, and it's going to be fine, regardless of what happens.
Jeez, I wish I could be this zen about my tenure case.
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I've been trying to figure out the question of overpreparing vs. underpreparing vs. being overcommitted lately. There was some talk of it on Doctor Pion's blog: his point (or my caricature thereof) was that preparing (for lectures) in advance can help reduce overall stress levels and reduce wasted time. But overpreparing in advance is a waste of time.
On the other hand, being too overcommitted leads to burnout.
True, plam, very true! Finding that right balance between being prepared and being overprepared is tricky.
Good post. Have you read Stewart Walker's "Winning, the psychology of competition." 1980, ISBN 0-393-03225-8? Walker is a psycologist and world-class small sailboat racer who has written extensively on the subject.