Stay in Your Lane

I only celebrated one race in my entire career.

I didn’t win.

I didn’t even medal.

I finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games, just the thickness of a t-shirt away from a medal. Two hundredths from bronze. Seven hundredths from silver. That was frustrating, of course. But I still celebrated.

Because for the first time, I managed to stay in my lane.

What does stay in your lane mean?

In a nutshell, it means focusing only on the things you can control. In a race, that means running your race, literally your lane, rather than worrying about your competitors.

This was something I struggled with throughout my career. In previous races, I focused on everything, some of which I could control, a lot of which I couldn’t. My mind would veer off into my competitors' lanes. I worried about what they were doing, how fast they’d run, and whether they’d perform better than me.

I thought I could do something about them.

I couldn’t.

And that clouded my judgement, stopping me from focusing on what really mattered, my own performance.

At those Commonwealth Games in Australia, the penny dropped. I accepted that if someone ran faster than me, I couldn’t change that. I could only execute my race and my mindset to the best of my abilities in that moment. In elite sport, you’re up against the best. Any one of them is capable of an incredible performance, whether I liked it or not.

Accepting that and focusing on what I could control freed me up to give one of the best performances of my career.

Unfortunately, three people still ran faster than me. But I could celebrate because I had made a significant and positive breakthrough.

Whatever your area of performance is, staying in your lane will be key to performing at your best. You can focus on others if you want, but it’s unlikely to help.

That’s not to say you should ignore others entirely. Watching others is a great way to learn what works and what doesn’t. Comparison isn't always unhealthy. Awareness of others allows you to be more informed and better understand yourself.

But when it’s time to perform, the focus must shift back to you and what you can control.

A practical task: Circle of Concern, Influence, and Control

Stephen Covey introduced this concept in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. It helps clarify where to direct your time and energy. We all crave clarity, and high performance demands focus. This exercise helps you identify what’s important and what’s not.

Take some time to reflect on different aspects of your life and categorise them into these three circles:

• Circle of Concern: Things you care about but have no control over.

• Circle of Influence: Things you cannot directly control but you can influence through your actions.

• Circle of Control: Things you can directly control through your behaviors, thoughts, and actions.

Draw the three circles, scribble down your thoughts, and shift your focus away from concern and toward control and influence.

If you manage that, you’ll give yourself a great chance of performing at your best.

And that’s always worth celebrating, regardless of the result.

Until next time,

Jack

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