The End Goal

“On your marks. Set. Go!” As we know, these are the words the starter says before pulling the pistol trigger to commence a race. After athletes begin, their end goal is to finish as quickly as possible. Toward that end, although they may glance in their peripherals to monitor the field, they do not stop along the way to check how they are doing. If any competitor did this, they would lose the benefit of momentum and by the time they restarted and got back into stride, everyone else would be way ahead.

Many times, we start a project, aspiration or personal goal and stop before we get to the end. Maybe because we get distracted, tired, discouraged, or even forget what we are heading towards. We may discover that we are in the wrong race. A coach, mentor or accountability buddy becomes invaluable in keeping us spirited enough to keep moving forward or enabling us to vector in a more appropriate direction.

“And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”

2 Thessalonians 3:13

This verse serves as a poignant reminder to persevere in our endeavors, even when faced with challenges or setbacks.

Bob Bowman was the coach behind Michael Phelps’, the most decorated Olympian of all time. Michael amassed 28 medals, 23 of which were gold. Bob, in a talk sponsored by ASU’s First-Year Success Center, addressed hundreds of students on how to work toward achieving excellence. He said that in one of Michael’s races his goggles filled with water, yet he still managed to win and even set a world record. This resulted because Michael spent years honing his craft, learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. “There can be no growth without discontent,” Bob said. His end goal was to win gold medals.

We want to make sure we clearly define our goals, determine what it would take to get there, employ competent guidance, and get to work. Some days will be harder, and others will be easier. The path is not a straight line to success but overtime we get there.

“Michael learned skills so that under pressure, he could perform. Don’t try to make everything perfect for yourself — be tough on yourself.”

Bob Bowman

We are each pursuing our own goal medals and we will keep swimming, water filled goggles or not.