The Polaroid Principle

Win More, Live Better Podcast

Before reading today’s email newsletter, I just wanted to share for those interested in my podcast, below are the latest episodes from the past week!

Guest Interview: 

JJ Van Niel (Head Volleyball Coach, Arizona State University)

Solo Episodes:

• Use the Difficulty: A Simple Rule for Challenging Moments (6 min)

• Here Be Dragons: Why the Unknown Feels Dangerous (9 min)

• How Great Coaches Build Their Staff (12 min)

Additional Update:

One thing I’m excited to start doing more of is bringing you into my guest interviews. If there are questions you’d love to hear answered from upcoming guests, I’d love to hear them.

I’ll be sitting down soon with Amy Morin (the author of 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do and her upcoming book The Mental Strength Playbook).

If there’s anything you’d want me to ask her around mental strength, resilience, or performance, you can submit your questions here.

March Madness

I woke up this morning planning to write about something completely different, but that changed after watching the Duke vs. UConn men’s basketball game.

In case you missed it, UConn hit a game-winning three with less than a second left to shock the Blue Devils in an epic comeback victory.

The shot itself was remarkable, but what will make it unforgettable was everything that came before it.

Right after the shot, CBS showed a graphic that highlighted how it was UConn’s first lead since going up 2-0 in about the first minute of the game. For nearly the entire game…they were losing. At one point, Duke had a 15-point second-half lead and couldn’t close it out.

It was an incredible finish and instant March Madness classic, but it also reminded me one of my favorite principles for performers and teams. I call it The Polaroid Principle.

The Polaroid Principle

When a Polaroid first prints, all you see is darkness. There’s no clarity, no color, and no definition.

And yet, we instinctively know better than to judge it. We wait, understanding the image needs time to develop.

Performance often works the same way.

Too often, competitors judge themselves critically at the very beginning and they fall victim to the trap of treating an “early snapshot” like a “finished product.”

But our performances aren’t meant to be fully developed yet. The problem isn’t slow starts, but rather when we prematurely judge them.

High performance often requires patience and trust, especially when the results aren’t visible yet.

The Polaroid principle is a reminder to resist judging the final outcome while the ending is still developing.

Before You Draw Conclusions

So here’s a simple question to carry with you this week:

What’s something in your life or performance that you might be judging too early?

A season? A role? A habit you’re trying to build? A version of yourself you’re working toward?

And what would it look like to give it a little more time and space?

Because one of the most beautiful things about sport (and life) is that some of the best outcomes look nothing like it early on.

The picture can feel unclear and even discouraging right up until the moment it isn’t.

Don’t judge the ending while the story is still being written.