“Running around and constantly switching what you are doing from one day to the next is in vogue.” But if what you’re after is long-term growth and development, he says, speed and switching just don’t work. Physical progress requires playing the long game.

Knowing full well that short-term results can be deceiving and that a brief snapshot of a performance track record holds little value, Trosky never tried to keep the top spot any one year but rather to place in the top 10 percent over ten years, aiming for long-term excellence rather than peak performance. That meant taking small, consistent swings