Monday, December 24, 2007

Always Watch the Horizon



"...O.K. now you'll be coming out here and you'll be doing a stable fall face down frog modified. Now out here comes the static line 'cause it goes like from this to here see, and then the pilot chute will open and it'll pull the bridle out and then the main canopy will be open see, 'cause they're all connected, and then you'll be down here and you'll be looking up here at the WDI indicator and you'll also going to check for Mae West and if that's not there then you need to check here for 4 panels and a hole. Then when you come down you're gonna find the piece and you're gonna land over here and you're going to get in this position - except you don't wanna do that - because that means you in trouble, so what you want to do is you wanna get right here and then you're gonna come round here and you're gonna fold up and you're gonna do a toggle and jettison and always watch the horizon O.K?" - from the movie Fandango

In our training and our lives, it's pretty easy to get caught up in the minutiae and forget about the big picture, the goal, why we are doing things in the first place. We should "sweat the details", but it's important to take time to refocus on the big picture. Oftentimes, our needs change, and without a vision of where we are going and how the pieces fit in the larger puzzle, we can find ourselves on a path of, at best, marginal benefit. For example, I often read on forums people freaking out because they didn't hit their programmed numbers for the day. "OMG! What should I do? Should I start the entire mesocycle over, or should I substitute pull-throughs for the glute-ham raise?" With a larger vision of where they are going, a off-day here and there should not be cause of great concern. Have a vision. Establish some benchmarks to guide your training. Get busy. Occasionally stop and reevaluate your progress and vision. And always watch the horizon, O.K.?

2 comments:

SF said...

Good post. I total agree with you because I used to be that type of person that freaked out when I didn't make the goal I should have made. I used to feel pissed, even to the point when I almost quit.

But now, I just take things easier, saying to myself there is always next day/week, and stepping back to look at why I am really here.

Take deep breaths, relax and refocus. Once you do that, in no time you will blast through your benchmark of the week.

Boris said...

Thanks sf. Like I said, IMHO, it's important to "sweat the small stuff", but there's a time and place for that.

The great ones have learned to separate performance from outcome and think in terms of possibilities, not probabilities. (Overachievement, John Eliot)