Let’s go all the way back to 2010. It’s the last race of my high school track career, league finals. But I didn’t want it to be my last race. The top 3 finishers would advance to CIF prelims, and I was seeded 3rd based on my times during the season.

I ran the best 1500 meters of my life that day — unfortunately it was a 1600 meter race.

I had been running strong, on pace to PR (personal record) by at least 15 seconds, and the pure adrenaline was preventing me from feeling any fatigue. With about half a lap to go, it was just me and the top runner from our rival school, San G, rounding the corner up front. He had gone out extremely fast, and I could tell he was slowing down considerably. “This is my chance” I thought as I began to pick up the pace. Forget 3rd place, I wanted to win the whole thing.

Over the next 100 meters, I got closer and closer to the leader, but he was still out of reach. Then it all hit me, like a 10,000 pound weight slamming against my chest.

I was done, with 100 meters to go. In the end I slipped all the way to 4th place. Even though I ended up beating my PR by a good 3 seconds, and the fact that I could barely walk after the race showed that I gave it everything I had, as I sat there vomiting in the middle of the field (my least favorite part of sports), the words of the San G coach to one of his runners during the last 100 meters played over and over in my head:

“He’s got nothing left, just pass him.”

Instead of being grateful for a great effort, I was left wondering why I hadn’t pulled through in the clutch moments, the last 100 meters. I didn’t understand it then, but I had been brainwashed to believe that winning and being “clutch” was just a matter of what you do on race day. All my life I had seen confirmation of this, from Michael Jordan’s ‘Flu Game’ to Kobe’s countless last-second 3 pointers to win key games during the Lakers’ 3-peat in the early 2000's. The problem is this: They don’t show replays of Lakers and Bulls practice on Sports Center. If they did, I would have understood that great “clutch” athletes such as Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan tried way harder in practice than they ever did on game day. They take hundreds of practice shots, lift tons of weights, and run through every possible drill and game scenario day after day. Game time was just a reflection of all the practice, and of course that’s when talent comes into play as well. There is no such thing as a clutch performance, but “choking” is a very real phenomenon.

See, choking occurs when you believe that winning and losing are decided on race day, when the cameras are on. When trying your best in practice is not as important as those visions in your head where you dust the competition in state finals. People who choke are more concerned about being something better than they are about bettering themselves.

So, for those of you wondering why you’re not “clutch,” or dreaming of holding that trophy someday, I have some advice:

1. Turn off ESPN (or the Grammy’s, Oscar’s, VMA’s, Steve Jobs Biography, Guy Kawasaki Book, the Social Network, or whatever is leading you to believe that some people manage to be more special than others)
2. Watch your role models at work. Here’s a start:

3. Emulate their work ethic. In fact, if they have something you want, you’re probably going to have to out work them to get it.

And, one more thing:

DON’T CHOKE!