From Lao Tzu to Socrates, Descartes to Sartre, philosophers have been concerned for thousands of years with the question of the best way to live your life.

I know the secret - and it’s all to do with your trainers!  I would bet that at least 75% of you own a piece of Nike kit. It is a phenomenally successful company, and it’s no coincidence that it’s named after Nike, the goddess of victory.

In 1963 American college athlete Phil Knight visited Japan for a competition. While there he came across a brand of running shoes called Onitsuka Tigers. 

Impressed by them, he went straight to their head office and asked to become their US sales agent. He named the company he set up to sell them Nike. He too was all about victory and triumph - but I think there is a downside to this. It’s exemplified by the strapline of the very first Nike advertisement: ‘There is no finish line’.

I think that’s a problem. We can’t live life with no off switch. But by chance, those original Onitsuka Tigers have the answer. 

Lindsey Hughes says that we can't live life without an off switchLindsey Hughes says that we can't live life without an off switch (Image: Channing School)

In 1977 Mr Onitsuka renamed his company ASICS, an acronym for the Latin phrase Anima Sana in Corpore Sano, a healthy mind in a healthy body. His view was that life needs balance.  We all know the importance of physical activity for mental health, and that’s what ASICS has stood for all this time.

In my view, then, we need both pairs of trainers: we just need to know which ones to wear at the right time. 

Luckily we have an answer for that too, in the concept of learning mode versus performance mode. We need two different attitudes (or pairs of trainers) because we train differently than we perform. 

In learning mode we need our ASICS. Musicians can practise for hours, sometimes just a few bars over and over again as they prepare for a concert. Likewise sportspeople train for fitness, and do drills over and over again to prepare for a big match.

It’s the same in academic work. Exam season may be the ultimate moment of high stakes achievement and success, but you don’t need your Nikes until the moment really matters - in GCSE and A-level exams. 

Until that point everything is practice and in learning mode we wear ASICS. We know that every homework, every test and mock paper is practice. We ask questions like ‘What does this tell me I know well?’ and ‘What do I need to work on next?’ - not ‘What did you get?’ and ‘What was the highest mark in the class?’.

Being in performance mode all the time guarantees a loss of perspective and the strong likelihood that you’ll blow things out of proportion. 

It’s absolutely right to be ambitious for oneself, it’s entirely correct to set goals - but remember to work towards them in your ASICS, so that you can enjoy success in your Nikes when it comes.  

  • Lindsey Hughes is headmistress of Channing School, Highgate.