The 50x framework

What is the 50x Framework??

It’s a mindset hack that can make a huge difference in your being more committed, more consistent and making better decisions on a daily basis. 

It can be a golden mindset change for you!

Here’s the gist of it: 

Everyday you make hundreds of choices - and those are just the ones you are consciously aware of!

Many of these choices can be somehow tied back to your performance on the track and trails. 

“Should I do the optional extra reps today?”

“What should I eat for lunch?”

“Should I go to bed now or stay up scrolling through more TikTok videos?”

“Should I go to that party?”

The list goes on and on. 

What happens in our lives is largely a consequence of those choices - good or bad.

The crazy thing is these choices are almost always a choice between making things easier in the immediate term vs. making things better for ourselves in the long run.

As coaches, we want to help open your eyes to this paradox.

When you realize making the hard choices now sets you up for a better life later - however you define it - you really turn a corner in terms of commitment, maturity and ownership of your life.

I’m sure none of this is groundbreaking to you… BUT, here’s where the “hack” comes in…

When you think about choices in the moment (however brief that moment may be!), your default analysis is usually weighting the two options equally. 

And that’s where the problem lies. 

The truth is, in many situations, this trade off between short-term comfort and long-term gains is FAR from a “fair trade”.

That’s the essence of the 50x Framework. 

It’s hard to always quantify, but often making the difficult choice on the front end tends to pay off with results 5, 10, even 50 times better for you in the long run than making the easy decision and choosing short-term comfort.

This big attitude shift can be life-changing, but it’s not a shift most athletes even think about without a little coaching. 

Here’s the quick and easy way to overcome that:

Contemplate the concept of the 50x Framework – most decisions you make can be viewed through the lens of short-term comfort vs. long-term improvement. 

Making the “hard decision” now can pay off with results fifty-times greater than any short-term comfort you would be giving up.

Take some time now to think of examples where you could sacrifice long-term improvement for ephemeral short-term comfort. Perhaps:

• Eating junk food (cookies, chips) after practice instead of making the extra effort to prepare/bring a nutritious post-workout snack.

• Staying up late Friday night and skipping the Saturday long run.

• Relaxing on warm up drills instead of focusing on doing them with intention to improve your technique.

Start using the 50x Framework anytime you are faced with a similar choice:

1. Recognize you’re about to make a choice.

2. Ask yourself which choice you want to make if you assume “the hard choice” will be worth 50x more to you in the long-run than the easy choice. 

3. Act accordingly.

Is it perfect? No.

Does it solve every problem? Nope. 

BUT, what it does do is force you to recognize your choices, slow down for a second to think, and make more smart decisions than you would otherwise. 

I would be ecstatic if everyone on the Summit Cross Country team did this.

Hope this helps!