Parts #1, #2

Expectation.

For our purposed the easiest way to define an expectation is when an athlete say the word should. As in this is what I should be capable of. I think many people confuse expectations with goals. Goals are great and needed to be a successful athlete. You need to be able to look at a season and a career and say this is where I want to get to. However, it seems to me that somewhere in the last 10-15 years goals have changed into expectations.

When I have a goal talk with an athlete, I want to hear what their ideal season would be. This is where we dream big. I want to make Nationals, I want to qualify for a World Cup, I want to set a school record. When I was a kid, we set goals that if reached we would be gaga. We knew that they were lofty and they should be. It seems now that athletes are so terrified of failing that they have started to only set goals that they know are within their reach. Here where it gets dangerous.

That is where the shift has come making goals expectations. Without dreaming big, we have dreamed of what is not only fairly easy, but therefore expected. If a swimmer says I want to make sectionals and they are a second off, they have created an expectation for themselves that the only way they are successful is if they get there. Everything else is a failure. How much fun does that sound. I am going to create a way that if I fall even a little short the season is a disaster. Hard to feel positive or excited for a competition where there is a chance that you will fail. Not fall short, but fail. If instead they aim for a 2 second drop and fall a bit short. I bet they have made that sectional cut. There is no failure in giving your best. Ever.

We have to create a way that falling short is not the end of the world. In fact, it is a success. I am not talking about feeling good and celebrating mediocrity. No, not at all, but instead aiming for one of the highest points imaginable, then training and working everyday to reach that goal.

Do not train expecting a result. Set a series of goals that will challenge and motivate you and then pursue them. However, setting a goal is not a contract, you do not owe anyone that goal. You merely owe yourself your best.