302 Days and Counting

With my trip to Canada over and done I am right back into hard training.  It is only 302 days until the first day of the London Paralympics and it is something that is foremost in my mind.  I still don’t know if I will be on the team but I am going to give myself every chance at being there.

I went to a, well let’s call it, a seminar the other night with 3 time Gold Medal Olympian Drew Ginn.  It was about Goal Setting and boy did it give me more than I ever expected!  Drew is an amazing athlete, but he is more than that, he is a deep thinker, great teacher and the most generous person with his time that I have ever met.  The night was supposed to be 2 hours, but I must say that 2 hours and 55 minutes later I had to drag myself away.

Drew taught me some very important things that night.  Yes it is good to have a goal but why do you have that goal?  He talked about taking the time to reflect not only when things may not go to plan but when things are good.  Reflection helps because what you are trying to achieve is irrelevant…it’s the process of what you are trying to achieve.  He had us look at what our “Focus” is, what challenges we had ahead of us, what we wanted to achieve, what we needed to do that and what we needed to change.  Then it was a look at the “Insight”, in other words what insights from the past we needed to be aware of to support our pathway moving forward.  Next was “Significance, so why does the focus hold significance to you and others and whats your purpose.  Lastly it was “Help”, who will each of us engage with moving forward, who will we need to influence, challenge, support and who will influence, challenge and support us.  It was brilliant!

It reminded me that from each and every circumstance, from each and every experience, there is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom to be gained, you just have to reflect!  The goal that I choose has to really matter to me because if it doesn’t then it’s not a priority.  If it isn’t a priority than any distraction or excuse can hold me back.

It really all comes down to communication with all of those “team members” involved in helping you reach that goal.  And after this evening with Drew I have already had a very good conversation with my cycling coach!  He has helped shift my way of thinking and by using his “personal vision map” that he introduced us to I believe it will give me a much better way forward.

With 302 days to go I feel I am more focused than ever and the last 2 weeks of training have been hard but rewarding!  I look forward to the next 5 months before Nationals and thank you to Drew for inspiring me to look in towards myself and really dig deep, to Reflect!

A last quote from Drew Ginn:

“To have a vision is important, to be able to enjoy life, working out ways to make that vision a reality is cool, fun and amazingly rewarding.  I figure if you can visualise it, you can make it happen.”