Big or Small - Stick with It!
Oh my, how time has flown by. Fall is here and another bobsled season is on its way. I can't believe this will be the start of my 5th season on the bobsled team. Time has flown! I feels like yesterday that I took my first trip in a bobsled and went to driving school. I am now a veteran, which is a crazy concept to me. I feel like there's so much left to learn, so how could I be a veteran?! With each Olympic cycle, bobsled has a pretty high turnover rate, so anyone sticking around for more than four years is kind of rare from what I've gathered.
Sorry I've been so bad about writing these last few months. I haven't been feeling creative, which is really rare for me. I've had my nose to the grindstone, which is a very strange and horrible sounding phrase now that I think about it. Between training and my engineering job, I've been busy, focused and hard at work. As I prepare for another season, I've been looking back on what I accomplished last year.
Sorry I've been so bad about writing these last few months. I haven't been feeling creative, which is really rare for me. I've had my nose to the grindstone, which is a very strange and horrible sounding phrase now that I think about it. Between training and my engineering job, I've been busy, focused and hard at work. As I prepare for another season, I've been looking back on what I accomplished last year.
October was spent in Lake Placid competing in the combine, push championships, and the first half of team trials. I placed 6th in the first race and headed out to Park City, UT. November brought the second half of team trials, where I placed 6th again. I competed for the first time of my career in Park City, placing 5th in my first NAC race of the season. Next we headed to Calgary for another week of racing. No deer or crazy incidents to report for this roadtrip. Thank goodness! We placed 11th & 12th in those races. I came back to Park City for Thanksgiving with my teammates and a few weeks of training before Christmas. After the holidays, I competed in NAC 5 & 6 in Lake Placid, placing 5th & 4th. I sent new personal bests and achieved my highest finishes to date. February brought me back to Park City for the last 2 NAC races. I placed 3rd & 1st, winning my first race, setting more personal bests and finally getting on the podium. One of my goals this season was to medal in a race, and to wrap my season up with a gold medal felt great! My last race of the season was Nationals at the end of March, where I placed 3rd.
One of the highlights of last season was taking my mom and dad down from the top of Park City. Such a blast! They were both pros and handled it really well. It was so fun to share that experience with them and bring them into my world for a minute (actually less, but who's counting).
Looking back on it now, I mostly remember another season of growth. I had a different brakeman for every set of races, which changes the push and weight in the sled. I slid in all types of conditions from rainy, snowy, sub-freezing to very warm weather. I learned about adapting to your environment and how the sled reacts. I also learned to adapt throughout each run. I feel like I became more consistent everyday and all the hard work paid off.
That brings me to what I really wanted to talk about in this post. Setting goals and sticking with them. Spending many hours of my life at the gym, I know from personal experience that all most of those people who showed up in January with new year's resolutions have fallen by the wayside. The crowd is thinned, and people have returned to their old habits and given up on their goals. Life gets busy and pushes all those dreams back into the corner. This is the time when you really have to dig in and fight to make those goals happen.
One of the highlights of last season was taking my mom and dad down from the top of Park City. Such a blast! They were both pros and handled it really well. It was so fun to share that experience with them and bring them into my world for a minute (actually less, but who's counting).
Looking back on it now, I mostly remember another season of growth. I had a different brakeman for every set of races, which changes the push and weight in the sled. I slid in all types of conditions from rainy, snowy, sub-freezing to very warm weather. I learned about adapting to your environment and how the sled reacts. I also learned to adapt throughout each run. I feel like I became more consistent everyday and all the hard work paid off.
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| Brooklyn & I standing on top the podium with our gold and bronze medals from NAC race 7 & 8. |
That brings me to what I really wanted to talk about in this post. Setting goals and sticking with them. Spending many hours of my life at the gym, I know from personal experience that all most of those people who showed up in January with new year's resolutions have fallen by the wayside. The crowd is thinned, and people have returned to their old habits and given up on their goals. Life gets busy and pushes all those dreams back into the corner. This is the time when you really have to dig in and fight to make those goals happen.
One of our bobsled coaches gave a talk on goals last season that really challenged me. I am always talking about dreams, but she made me realize dreams and goals are two very different things. Dreams are important. We need to take time to imagine the impossible, to dream of what we want without limitations. Once we have those dreams, it's so important to write them down so they become real. But without a date or any type of time frame attached to these dreams, they remain nebulous, vague, undefined and hard to accomplish. When you attach a timeline to your dreams, they become goals.
One of my favorite questions of the day came from a fellow athlete, "What if you don't accomplish your goal? What if you run out of time?" I was sitting there in a room full of driven individuals who are pushing themselves to reach new goals everyday, yet we still all have the same struggles, doubts and questions. Her answer was so simple. "Re-evaluate your goal. Is that still what you want to accomplish? Then set a new date and keep going for it!"
Don't sell yourself short by only setting goals that are easily attainable today. It can be hard to envision yourself actually accomplishing those dreams you're too scared to say out loud. Don't be afraid to dream big and set big goals. The key is breaking that big goal down into steps. She gave us this great picture. Your goals should be S.M.A.R.T. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. Being a visual learner, the staircase was great to see. You should have short-term goals (days/weeks), mid-term goals (weeks/months) and long-term goals (months/years). Just because you can't accomplish that long-term goals today, doesn't mean you can't start working your way up the staircase by accomplishing those short-term goals. No matter what your goals are, start taking small steps toward accomplishing them today. ACTION is required. Don't put it off until tomorrow, because we all know how easy it is to procrastinate. (Definitely guilty!) And once you talk yourself out of moving forward once, it's much easier to do the second and third and fourth time. Small steps every day.
My goals last season were to become a more consistent pilot, improve/learn daily and medal in a race. I've been competing as a pilot for three years now, and my goals have changed with each year. Rowing in college taught me about patience. Coming into my freshman year with absolutely no rowing experience was daunting, but it made that first goal really easy to set. Step 1: Learn how to row. The following years brought new goals. Learn how to row more efficiently, earn a better 2k score, make the first novice boat, make the first varsity boat, win at regionals. They all built on each other. Without attaining the first goal, I couldn't move on the next step. I have applied so many of those lessons in bobsled as well. Learn how to push a sled, learn how to pilot a sled, learn how to make it down upright, learn how to consistently make it down upright, learn how to apply coaches feedback, learn how to adapt throughout the run, learn how to mentally prepare to win.
You may be facing a dead end right now — physical, financial, emotional, or relational — but if you will trust God and keep on moving in faith, even when you don’t see a way, he will make a way. It will become more understandable as you head down the path he sets before you, but understanding is not a requirement for you to start down the path. Proverbs 4:18 says, “The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (NIV). One day you will stand in the full light of eternity and view the big picture. You’ll see God’s purpose behind the path he specifically chose for you. That's a huge part of goal setting in my opinion. Faith. Believing something that seems completely impossible right now will be possible in the end. My pastor recently said this, "The opposite of faith is certainty." If you are certain of the outcome, you don't need faith. If you are aiming for a goal so big is seems unreachable right now, that's when you need faith.
In the meantime, do what Proverbs 3 says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” It's no small thing to have the Creator of this big sky at work in your life, on your side, giving your life purpose, regardless of what He calls you to do. Be patient. Long term goals take time to accomplish. God knows what he’s doing. He wrote the end of your story and worked back to the beginning. He gave you gifts and talents to accomplish what he created you to do. God knows what is best for you. He can see the end result. You can’t. All those problems, heartaches, difficulties and delays — all the things that make you ask “why” — will one day be clear in the light of God’s love. For now, we’re learning to trust God.
No matter how big or small your goals, they are all important. So dream big dreams and break those down into goals. Often we don't see the effect we have on others, Even if you don't ever reach your goal, your motivation to fight for your dreams can inspire someone else to do the same. Everything we do - whether it's raising money for charity, riding bulls, or raising a family - can set an example and inspire the people in your world. Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. So put a timeline to those dreams. Break those goals down into steps and take a small step every day. What step are you on today?
