Burn Your Goals? Focusing on the Basics

Happy September! I hope the school year is treating everyone well. For those not in a school setting, I hope the school year has made business better!

I had the amazing opportunity to sit in on a Mental Training seminar with our women’s basketball team and coaches 2 weekends ago. At first I was not going to attend as it was geared for “coaches and athletes”. I thought it would be a great time to spend with my new coaching staff and hear what the athletes were hearing. I was given the book “Burn Your Goals” a couple of day prior. I read the overview, so I thought I knew what was coming. I had NO idea.

Joshua Medcalf, a former Division I soccer athlete, started with a simple topic “Don’t forget your underwear”, meaning, put first things first. If you don’t take care of the foundation, the house will not withstand the storm. If you forget the basics, you cannot progress or achieve the bigger dreams.  As athletic trainers, I would say we do pretty well with this. We prepare, we practice, we learn, we grow. I was feeling pretty good.

Then he got me. He told us that living for the process and by a mission would produce better results than having goals. He said every situation is an opportunity to learn and grow. He said to burn our goals for 2 reasons: 1- If we succeed, but have cheated our way, cut corners and/or learned nothing, was it worth it? And 2- If we don’t reach our goal, but we improve, we learn, we grow; was it a failure? He asked us to stop labeling people as our labels can impede their growth and stop limiting ourselves because we will draw in what we put out. He encouraged us to read more. To take the time to learn for the people that have been there and done that. He said we are the average of the 5 people we hang around the most, so why not hang out with experts!

As athletic trainers we can become very engulfed in our outcomes. Wins, rehabs, treatments, concussion numbers, we are even give outcome measures! I lecture on SMART goals in my org and admin class and instruct my athletes on our rehab goals throughout my time with them. I like the feeling of reaching my goals for the day, the month, the year and giving myself the proverbial pat on the back. I’ve always called everyone by the sport they play and I know who I am. I have really long days and like to spend my free time with my husband watching bad TV, not reading. This guy said to stop!?!?!? Does he know what I do for a living?

After a few hours on Friday night, my brain was exhausted. Had I become so focused on my results that my process suffered? Had I banked so much on my return to play protocols that I forgot to encourage the process of healing? Were my treatments set up to get my athletes back on the court, or to give them a meaningful lesson in how to care for their bodies? Did I hinder one of my athletes by not having an open mind and putting them in a box? Have I missed out on learning opportunities because I was too tired, or didn’t want to read an article?

It has been 2 weeks and 2 books since that weekend meeting. I have done a lot of soul searching and realized that while we are all in different phases of life and workplace demands, his message can still apply. If we focus on the process of improvement, of learning and growing with every stumbling block and being grateful for every victory, what would our workplace look like? Our patients? Our athletes? Our stress levels? Our district and national organizations? Having dreams and visions are still important, looking toward the future for improvement is still necessary. Can we challenge ourselves, our co-workers, our leadership, to be process driven and not assume that where a person is now is where they will forever be? Can we focus on what we can control and staying in line with our mission, not worrying about a number or bad day. At the end of the day, can we take a step back and survey ourselves to see if we forgot our underwear?

If you want more information about this crazy, mind changing read, please contact me or follow @JoshuaMedcalf

Written By:Valerie Tinklepaugh-Hairston

SWATA Member at Large

Assistant Athletic Trainer 

 TCU Women's Basketball, Rifle
 Email: v.hairston@tcu.edu