Planning! (6-20-2010)

Perhaps one of the most difficult challenges about pursuing a dream is to keep the mind fully focused into the present. After all, the only thing we can control and we can change is our actions in the present, not the future nor the past. I find it extremely hard not to get frustrated or overwhelmed by my future goals. For the most part these actions are counterproductive and in general a terrible mistake that leads to tears, pressure and unproductive gymnastics.

So how do I stop myself from worrying about the future and concentrate on the present? I think the answer is simple: PLAN FOR THE PRESENT. Plan it!!! Preparation is always the key. Sit down one day, set up a timeline, look at your options, draw the objective, recognize your limitations, and all the hurdles that need to be passed in order to get to the goal. Then, write it all down, come up with a program that includes daily goals and stick to it day by day keeping yourself always accountable for your actions and rewarded for your accomplishments.  Simple as that!

Well simple, but for some reason not as simple as it may sound. Scott and I have tried this exercise but we have not succeeded.  I think the reason why it hasn’t work is because we haven’t fully followed the exercise.  This exercise requires constant going back to revise the objectives and set new goals and in my case it also requires good communication with my coach (Scott) in order to track down progress.  When we attempted this exercise we set goals that proved to be too big and too long term oriented, failing to drive my focus from the future into the present in a daily bases. Also to our bad luck, our gym practice times and venues changed and we failed to go back and make adjustment to our plans based on our new limitations.

After a couple of weeks I had a meltdown. I felt directionless, undertrained and overall unproductive, frustrated and worried that I wasn’t doing enough to achieve my goal. When I talked to Scott about it I realized that for the most part I wasn’t being unproductive, that according to his plan (one that I wasn’t aware off) we were on track and in fact I was making progress. It was hard for me to see this “progress” because of our lack of structure and goal setting in my workouts as well as our poor communication.  It has taken me a while to come down to this conclusion and although the solution to meltdown prevention now sounds so logical a minute ago it wasn’t so logical in my head. So I hope that we have learned from our mistakes and that from now on, we work together to establish a highly detail kick-ass (using some Scott language) plan.