Can You Quantify Belief?

This is a case study from the first workout of the 2024 CrossFit Open about the power of belief to change a result, and whether we can quantify the value of a belief.

The CrossFit Open

The CrossFit Open is a 3-week competition in which every CrossFit gym does the same workout each week. For elite athletes, it’s the first round of qualifications that eventually leads to the CrossFit Games.

For mere mortals, it’s a chance to see how you stack up against other CrossFitters around the world. More important, it’s a chance to test your capacity — to show yourself what you are capable of.

Open 24.1 was a marathon of 90 dumbbell snatches (bringing the dumbbell from the floor to overhead in one move) and 90 burpees over a dumbbell, with a time cap of 15 minutes.

When I saw the workout, my heart sank. I texted my coach:

I don’t think I have a chance of getting past the rounds of 21…I suck at burpees.

Setting Myself Up to Win

Even though I didn’t think I could get past the rounds of 21, I did what I could to set myself up to get as far as possible.

• I took a later class than my usual 5:30 am time, to align better with my natural rhythm and give myself some extra sleep.
• I made sure to nourish well before.
• I watched videos with tips for how to approach the workout for the best outcome.

Can Strategies Overcome Beliefs?

This video captures the feeling of how the workout unfolded.

The start of the workout felt wide open. As the workout progressed, it was as if the walls started to close in. I could hear the people around me finishing as I slogged through.

By the end, it was chaos.

A blur of bodies surrounded me. I heard voices encouraging me, yelling at me to dig deep, to keep moving.

It was as if the community was carrying me.

My final round of burpees — when I was past what I thought was my limit — was far faster than any set of 9 burpees I had ever done before.

The community and coaches had helped me tap into another level of myself — a capacity I didn’t know I had in me.

Ultimately, I came only 2 burpees short of completing under the time cap.

I finished the workout in 15:15 — 15 seconds over the limit.

The Win and the Disappointment

By all objective accounts, this was a huge win:

I far surpassed what I had believed I could do.

Even more important: I now believed I could do it. With the support of the community, I had accomplished something I hadn’t thought was possible.

Coming so close to finishing proved to me that I could finish.

But as I peeled myself off the floor, that elation started to shift.

I had done the outer actions to set myself up well to do my best possible. But I hadn’t really done the inner work.

I hadn’t believed in myself.
I sold myself short.
I bet against myself.

It was a stark reminder that without the “inner work,” the “outer work” of tactical actions and strategies can take us only so far.

Without the “inner work” of addressing our beliefs, the “outer work” of tactical actions and strategies can take us only so far.

A question loomed large for me:

What if I had believed in myself from the start?

I wondered: What had my lack of belief in myself cost me — in terms of time and energy?

How might I have shown up differently if I had believed in myself?

There was only one way to find out: I was going to the thing that nobody wants to do with an Open workout: re-do it.

Not in a few months, after I’d have a chance to improve my skills, but that weekend, before final scores were due.

As best as possible, I wanted to test the power of belief.

Could I quantify it? Could I put a metric on it?

What Do You Do Differently When You Believe in Yourself?

Emboldened with my newfound belief that I could complete this workout in under 15 minutes, I was even more attentive to what I needed to put in place to set myself up for success.

Over the weekend, I gave myself time to fully rest and recover. I paid more careful attention to my nourishment and sleep.

I applied my best skills to the task: I reviewed the video of my workout to identify all the little places where I could be more efficient.

As I reviewed my first performance, I started to believe that I could do better than finishing under the 15-minute time cap.

I started to believe that I could finish in under 14 minutes.

I considered what I needed to do to hit that mark.

I knew I would need the energy of the community to help me push through.

This required that I do the heaviest lifting of all: as for support.

I asked people I knew at the gym if they would be willing to hang around after class to support me and cheer me on — for no reason other than to prove to myself what I was capable of. There was nothing in it for them.

Not one person turned me down.

Open 24.2 – Take 2

On Monday morning, just 72 hours after completing this grueling workout for the first time, I slogged through the 90 burpees and snatches with a crowd of community members and coaches pacing me through and cheering me on.

I shared my goal of hitting sub–14:00 with the coaches and my judge, so they would know to pace me appropriately.

The second time was harder. My body was still sore. The burpees still sucked. I was even slower on the burpees this time around.

In the middle of the rounds of 15, when people started to blur and the voices started to blend together, I began to wonder why I had wanted to put myself through this again.

I thought about quitting.

But I didn’t quit.

I had the power of community supporting me through it.

And even more important: I had the power of belief in myself.

I knew I could finish. I knew what I was capable of doing.

The Quantification of Belief

This time, even on a tired body, I finished the workout under the time cap. Not only under time cap — under my goal time.

My new time: 13:35.

Almost 2 minutes faster than the first time.

My improved time reflected some clearly quantifiable adjustments and improvements. But there’s an element to the improvement that goes beyond the numbers. I don’t know that I can quantify the impact of belief in linear terms, but it clearly had an influence on the whole process.

Without belief in my ability, I wouldn’t have embarked on this workout a second time. I wouldn’t have had the motivation to give myself what I needed to succeed. I certainly wouldn’t have asked people to support me.

My belief that I could do better is what empowered me to commit to doing this workout again. And it’s what emboldened me to be vulnerable and ask for the support I knew I needed.

Within the workout itself, belief in my ability is part of what kept me going when I wanted to quit.

Lesson learned: don’t underestimate the power of believing in yourself.

What is Lack of Belief Costing You?

Where is a place in your life that you aren’t believing in your abilities?
What is that lack of belief in yourself costing you?
What might be different if you believed in yourself?