What's Your Project 56?

I’ve happened to be in countries other than my birthland during an olympiad.

I didn’t imagine I could watch quite so much table tennis when in Singapore. Or root so loudly for the Silver Ferns ladies basketballers in New Zealand. Or be so infuriated by the refusal to display metric measurements and the most unbelievably ugly partisan coverage in America.

So many outside of the Team GB bubbles may not know about the amazing achievement in the pool of Adam Peaty. At 21, 6 foot 3 (chuckling Americans note I know this is also 1.91m), and with massive hands, he obliterated his own 100m breaststroke world record to time 57.13 on his way to Gold.

From which I heard of his Project 56. Not an old techno album from his myspace archive, but Adam’s next focus, post-Rio.

He believes there’s plenty of room for improvement. His dive, the start, the back end, removing any anxiety.

He is the only man in this event to ever clock under 58 seconds. His new goal? Swim inside 57. Hence the label, Project 56.

I wondered on the psychology of it. Particularly as one option could be Project 14 Hundredths.

Most sales teams tend to have a numbered target in the round. Like The 100% Club.

Yet Adam and his coach Mel Marshall have not gone for this treatment. No Project sub-57.

56.99 would be success. So 56 is the magic number. Which one’s yours?

footnote, the 2019 update