Prez Corner...
Thoughtful notes from a fearless LVTC leader.
What are your goals for 2019?
What is your definition of failure?
How do you identify with the subjective meaning of failure or success?
I was recently asked an interesting question: What is easier to deal with – success or failure?
We are always striving for success – and many of us set goals to achieve. When we achieve those goals,
that would seem to be a worthy accomplishment. But … how many of us explain away or minimize what we’ve achieved when we reach a goal? “Well, I made my swim time goal but I could have gone a minute faster if I sighted better.” “I made the podium, but I missed out on 1st place because my transition was long.”
It is often hard for us to celebrate our successes as we often ‘move the goal posts’ to new goals. That’s
great … always good to try to improve. But, it is important to celebrate when we reach the goals we set.
Failure – we’re always trying to avoid this, right? Failure is painful. But, many times, we can use them. We can use 'failures' to re-evaluate goals, adjust training, adjust race strategy, etc. We can learn a lot when we don’t achieve a goal! We can become better triathletes when we take the time to learn from mistakes. We can ultimately be able to turn things around and achieve our goal (or a new goal) when we declare/note the mistakes as tools for future success.
So … which is easier? Dealing with success or failure? If we can take the time to celebrate successes and learn from failures, both can make us better triathletes.
Set your goals high. Enjoy the success when you achieve your goals! Learn from the times that you
tried but did not 'achieve'. And KNOW that this alone is incredible progress by ANY standard!
