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The New Year is just beginning and we hope this article finds you excited about all that 2018 has in store for you! For most people, New Years' is the time to make resolutions, but for Athletes, it is something more. The dawn of a new year offers a special opportunity to go further than making resolutions, by crafting a plan to achieve our very best. At Big Wheel Coaching we encourage our Athletes to do more than set goals. We want them to make milestone objectives and other process-related targets in addition to evaluating their own strengths & weaknesses in a process we call "Athlete SWOT". For those unfamiliar, SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. It is a common process that business-leaders perform regularly to ensure they are on the cutting-edge of their industry. For Athletes, this process is also extremely helpful as it helps us better understand ourselves and identify our individual path to achieve success.  Performing your very own Athlete SWOT is sure to help you achieve heights you never thought possible! Photo Credit: Cotton Sox Photography Strengths: What Do You Do Well? For an Athlete, it is imperative that the word “strengths” be thought of as more than just physical prowess or fitness. Certainly, it is important to be as physically strong and capable as possible, after-all top-level conditioning is a pre-requisite to athletic success. But with said, many of our true strengths reside in our non-physical attributes, such as our resiliency, support network, or even the climate or region in which we train. Ask Yourself These Questions: #1: What are my strengths, both physical and non-physical that will help me achieve my goals? #2: How can I further enhance or improve my current strengths? Weaknesses: Not Weaknesses, Just Undeveloped Strengths! The idea of a weakness doesn’t sit well with us at Big Wheel Coaching. The word itself implies a "state of being" and discourages growth. Yet as humans it is in our nature to grow, develop, change, learn, and improve. Thus, your current weaknesses should be viewed as undeveloped-strengths! With some time, attention, and focus, there is a great chance that these so-called “weaknesses” can become a source of great strength. Ask Yourself These Questions: #1: What are my undeveloped-strengths and how might they impact my ability to achieve my goal(s)? #2: How can I develop my “weaknesses” into a source of strength or minimize their impact on my ability to be successful?  One non-physical strength that some cyclists enjoy is being a member of a great team! Photo Credit: Brian McCulloch Opportunities: What Situations Enhance Your Chances For Success? One of the foremost synonyms for the word “opportunity” is “possibility”. With opportunity we create the possibility to achieve our highest potential. As an Athlete, opportunities come in many forms, training with someone more experienced than us, attending preparation-type events to test our fitness and progress, or simply adding another workout or hour of training to our weekly routine. Ask Yourself These Questions: #1: What opportunities or resources exist to help me achieve my goals? #2: How can I maximize these scenarios to ensure I am as prepared as possible for my goal-event? Threats: Adversity Is A Given When Pushing Our Limits In the cut-throat world of global business, threats come in the form of competitors that may have better products or services that would cause a business to become obsolete. As Athletes, the risks aren’t quite as high as in the business world, but the notion that confronting adversity, and how we work through these challenges, absolutely threatens our ability to be successful. With that said, we encourage Athletes to consider what adversity they might face, and how best to overcome it before the situation arises. Although you will not be able to anticipate every bit of adversity on your journey toward success, chances are you have a good idea of the major pitfalls and setbacks you might face. Ask Yourself These Questions: #1: In the past, what adversity has confronted me, stunted growth, and otherwise impeded my progress toward achieving my goals? #2: Of the items listed from question #1, what can be done to avoid or prepare me to overcome these scenarios and situations?  The Athlete SWOT process can also help you craft event strategies and tactics as you will intimately know your own strengths and weaknesses! Photo Credit: Danny Munson, DMunsonPhoto.com
Summary: We hope that this introduction to our Athlete SWOT concept has proven helpful and motivated you to take your 2018 New Years’ Resolutions a step further! We leave you with two quotes regarding success: “There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure. -Colin Powell “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” -Vince Lombardi No matter what your goals or resolutions, something has driven you to make these dreams become a reality. So as Mr. Lombardi & Mr. Powell suggest, the recipe for success is not all that complex. And the best part is that his simple formula can be mastered by every one of us! Big Wheel Coaching would like to wish all of our Athletes, newsletter readers, and fans a wildly successful 2018! #TrainYourPotential Until Next Time, Be Safe, Train Hard, & Have Fun! -Brian and Joy McCulloch Big Wheel Coaching |
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September 2020
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