Necessary Selfishness Pt 2

In the last post (take a minute to read it HERE if you missed it or want a refresher), I talked about how I believe that good selfishness is often undervalued and that you can’t surpass your own level of capability without it. One of the things I didn’t get to touch on was how equally as important finding a balance is when embracing this type of selfishness.

Here’s the thing; athletes at varying levels in their journeys require different levels of selfishness to reach their goals. An athlete at the top of their game has both more knowledge to give and more responsibility to maintain and surpass their capabilities - which usually diminishes their capacity to be more selfless than selfish. However, many of these athletes have found ways to prioritize their needs and training while also teaching and sharing their experience with other athletes/practitioners in their sports without it being detrimental to their performance. Seminars, online programming, tutorials and breakdowns are a few ways that professional athletes (and people of all movement practices) share their expertise with their communities. Of course, becoming increasingly selfish during times where it’s necessary for these athletes to be at their peak (such as during competition or performance) remains the status quo. But there’s plenty of time in between training and recovery where that necessary selfishness can be put to the side for the sake of helping others figure out what areas of their practice they should be focusing on.

However, for a sport like parkour that doesn’t necessarily have an “off-season,” where’s the line drawn for when to cut down on that necessary selfish practice?

What’s the purpose of hoarding all of the knowledge you gain over years of practice if it doesn’t get passed down to the next generation of athletes?

Take a couple moments to really think about that.

Prioritizing good selfishness has never meant not giving back to anyone else. It’s not an easy balance to find, but it’s a worthwhile one to aspire to, and I think that if YOU have the knowledge and experience - as well as the capacity to spread it - then you should consider it necessary to prioritize selflessness a little more often.

- Mel Rivera