As a coach I patiently wait for this phrase:  “But it feels SO weird!”  Why?  Because when a client says this I KNOW we’re making progress.  It doesn’t matter what it is – it could be running, piano playing or weight lifting.  If you’re trying to learn the finer details of how to do something, the nitty-gritty of proper technique…it has to feel “weird”  

It’s a frustrating concept – this idea that the more weird it feels, the more right it is.  Our adult brains have a difficult time accepting this dichotomy because we wrongly expect new techniques to instantly feel better.  If you’re taking swim lessons because you know it will improve your swimming, then the new techniques you are learning should feel great!  Big sigh…if only it were that straight-forward…

Here’s the rub, folks.  You are USED to what you currently do.  Most likely you’ve been doing it for years…so you’re really good at it!  It feels normal.  When you begin the work of changing your technique in order to improve it, you can’t continue to do what feels “normal”.  Those new techniques (even though they are more effective) are going to feel weird, bizarre, strange, not right for quite some time.  

I too have been through this process – the process of changing my “normal”. Watch my swim video below & you’ll see what I mean. For all of my competitive swim career (high school & college), I was taught to have the water line at my eyebrows. Really! That is what we all thought was “great form”! But times change, we get smarter, technology advancements show us new perspectives. About 20 years ago I relearned how to swim – I learned to lower my head, rotate my body & extend my arms under the water (rather than over). Talk about feeling totally WEIRD!! But over time I adapted to the new techniques & my swimming got even better! Progress!

Skill acquisition is a messy process.  First you have to let go of your old (i.e. “normal”) way of doing things.  Then you have to learn the new (i.e. better) skill & go through the “weird” phase (which can take quite a long time).  In that weird phase your performance will often get worse.  This is when people often quit mistakenly believing that their old way of doing it was better.  No, it’s just that you haven’t yet mastered the new way of doing it.  Once that new skill sinks in THEN your performance will improve…sometimes quite dramatically!  Just be patient – this process can take months to years, depending upon the complexity of the skill.

My advice – don’t fight it.  Embrace the “weird” knowing that you are going to be better, faster, stronger, fitter, more competent in the end.  It’s just gonna be a mess to get there!