Remember What Got You There

Recently a talented young swimmer I have the privilege to work with has made a huge step for any swimmer to make. She has qualified for the Olympic Trials at a fairly young age. As you can imagine her team mates, coaches, and family were quite excited with the accomplishment and we are making plans to be there for the swim.

A lot of work went into getting her to this point. While the support certainly worked hard to give her (and others) the best chance to achieve her goals, ultimately it was her hard work that got her the Olympic Trial invitation. There was certainly a lot of training and sacrifices that went into making this dream come true.

An interesting thing happened after the goal was achieved. This swimmer began to train with less vigor and desire and began to show signs of trying to take an easier path than before. After a few weeks of this downturn in dedication, we went to a bigger meet that was sort of a test run for the trials. It was really no surprise that she did not do well. Everything that was accomplished just a few weeks before suddenly looked so imposing to her.

Since that meet, I am happy to say our swimmer is back to work and is determined to bring her best race to Omaha. A lesson was learned and hopefully the pitfall can and will be avoided in the future.

Often times it takes a lot of hard work and dedication to achieve meaningful things in your life. When you do achieve an important benchmark, whatever that may be, it is wise to look back at what you did to get to where you are. To get to a higher mark may take more work than before and that is the nature of life. Most likely you will have a difficult time getting to where you were by doing less, although most people will try that method, usually with little or no success.

So if you have done something great in your life, remember what got you there. If you have that type of mind set, getting there in the future will be easier to accomplish.