My Rambling Mind (Part 3)

Mount Katahdin - Baxter State Park

It’s my favorite time of year for reflection and goal setting for the upcoming turn of the year. With this in mind I have a couple of thoughts that I had to get out of my head and share with you all on motivation, teaching, learning, and training alike that don’t have enough meat at the moment to create their own posts. There may be room to expand upon them in the future, but for now let’s take a look at what this year’s realizations have concocted.

When approaching training I have always backed the idea of having a plan or a goal in place, but what keeps someone like myself (or anyone for that matter) focused on achieving that said plan? The answer is very simple; weighing the consequences. Over quarantine I had accomplished some amazing goals that I had set for myself throughout the year based off of the idea that when faced with a decision. If I wasn’t actively making the choice to help contribute to my goal, then it wasn’t the right choice to make. Simple as that.

Next comes following through with those choices to see the decision come into fruition. I need to drink 3 liters of water today, but I want to drink another cup of coffee. I have decided to drink the water because it will bring me closer to my goal. Now just because I made the decision to drink the water, does not mean I’ll actually do it. I have to hold myself accountable for the decision. A consequence should be put into place if I cannot fulfill the decision (that I made consciously) and enforced when there is no follow through. This is the art of self-discipline in a nut shell.

So what did I do those days I came up short and did not meet my goals, or action items to achieve those goals? I suffered the consequence of the action. For something like the water consumption, it may have been the denial or a certain snack or other beverage later in the day. That internal dialogue of, “Well, if you aren’t going to drink the water, then that coffee is completely off limits until you do,” is that driving force to actually get it done. It’s the same thing with bigger goals; without that discipline to effectively make decisions that contribute to your end-product, the further you get from reaching the target.

When it comes to teaching, keeping people focused and motivated can be a tough task. You can successfully provide all the necessary tools and the proper environment for someone to prosper, but they will fail to realize those goals if they have no desire or drive to do so. That old adage of leading the horse to water feels all too real now. From a student perspective, have that goal in mind of what you want to achieve and have a solid talk to yourself in the mirror if you are willing to do what’s necessary to get there. Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to be a better athlete? Do you want to complete some sort of bucket list item? All of these questions involve you, so you have to buy into it 100%! Once you’ve come to terms that you are going to hold yourself accountable, the teacher/coach can help guide you in the right direction.

The biggest challenge a teacher faces is to teach their students how to learn. Without the proper mindset to learn, the information relayed won’t stick. It just doesn’t hold enough weight in that sense. I can remember most of the things I used to learn about in college and grade school were difficult to retain because I wasn’t passionate enough about the topics. If you have set yourself a goal you have to be passionate about it, which transforms into that willingness to learn. Passion breeds great students. They want to be there and they want to learn; their success depends on it. Do yourself a favor and find yourself a goal of passion and the search for knowledge and wisdom will not feel like work.

Mount Monroe - White Mountains

The last bit of this is what happens once you’ve gone all in, you’ve set your goals, the choices are always made in favor of the bigger picture, you stay motivated and driven, and then finally the day comes where your goal has been achieved. What now? My thought is that you need to enjoy that accomplishment, but don’t get too caught up in the celebration that you forget that it isn’t the end of it all. Be willing to start the process over again and achieve a new goal. Never settle with the idea that you’ve accomplished all that you possibly could in your lifetime. Even if you fail you are in the position to learn from those mistakes and make the choices to realize your dreams. There may also come I time where you need to shift your focus or breaking your goal down into smaller parts to assure yourself that you are going in the right direction.

Life is full of many trials and many errors, but through it all we become the best versions of ourselves that we can possibly be. Without the ability to convince ourselves of our worth, it’s hard to buy in to the idea that we deserve the opportunities to succeed. Give yourself the reason to try and hold yourself to your word. Your honesty and integrity you hold within yourself, for yourself, is your key in seeing things through. As a coach or teacher we can guide you, but as the student you have to make the climb with your own will-power. If you stumbled do not fear, an outstretched hand will always be waiting to help you back up. Just don’t ever give up.