Grow Into Your Goals

A lifetime ago, I used to be a part of The Ohio State University Men's Rowing team (Portside, "Engine Room"). We had a fiery coach at the time that pushed us to our physical and mental limits, the guy had no "off" button. I remember being a typical college student with an a-typical grueling schedule. We would be on the water and in the "shell" (boat) by 5:30am, practice for a couple of hours, go to class, then go back to row/train until the sun went down.

Eventually, we were allowed to go back to our dorms to lick our wounds, grab a bite to eat, and study. There were no "try-outs" to get on the crew team, you just had to survive which was no easy task, especially since there truly was no material reward, (read: scholarship) and nothing but pain, dedication, and sacrifice. We constantly trained and had our coach follow us with his motorized boat and a bullhorn yelling at us all day. Out of roughly 60 students/athletes that started, there were less than 16 left, just enough to fill two 8-man shells. To improve our cardio, we would have to do 3 hour rowing sessions on the erg (rowing machine). I was able to survive these mind numbing sessions by listening to music. I remember having to pause several times so that I can flip my cassette tape in my bright yellow Walkman (Note: Yellow Walkmans were the equivalent of the most cutting edge ipod today,…wait…those don't exist either?...never mind!).

At our first Regatta (race), our coach huddled us up for what we thought would be a fiery "knock 'em out" speech. Instead, it started out calm and methodical, "Guys, you trained like hell the last few months and I appreciate all the effort you've put in, now I just want you to go out there and have fun…" Our collective jaws dropped. We couldn't believe that's the speech he was going with which contradicted every tirade and intense practice we've had with him. Sure enough, he continued with the thunder we were used to "…and you know what makes things fun, WINNING!...so go out there and kick A$$"! We rowed our hearts out that season, and he was right, it was a lot more fun when we won.

I share this story because I distinctly remember all the pain and sacrifice we invested in our pursuit to be the best. There was plenty of blood, sweat, and most definitely soul crushing tears, but the more we trained and suffered the better we got and the more "fun" we had when it was time to win medals.

I have found that life is no different, if you want to "have fun" and win more, you have to put in the work and constantly…I repeat…constantly challenge yourself to become the best in whatever you do. Our world is changing at breakneck speeds, and just like the Walkman, Discman, and iPod became obsolete practically overnight so will our education and experience if we don't continue to upgrade and invest in ourselves. I read something out of the modern version of Encyclopedia Britannica (Google) that summarizes this concept in terms we can all understand today, 'reading is the human equivalent of a software update.' I hope you take inventory of your "software" and see if a few books (or even classes!) are in order to eventually translate into more wins in your life.