Recently, I had the pleasure to conduct workshops at the NCAA DIII American Rivers Conference Student-Athlete Leadership Conference in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Around 80 attended, representing each of the member schools.
I got to thinking after it was over, why were they there? What mattered to them? What does success look like? With such busy schedules, college student-athletes make a big commitment to play athletics. Their daily lives are full: a robust course load, practice and game travel, plus add in a social life. They have fierce, competitive spirits to achieve success and their goals. No denying that. So, thinking about “defining success” needs a placeholder in their busy day.
Achieving or exceeding one’s goals is a metric for success. Yet, what’s a goal without a purpose. Much is written about value-based goals. Values anchor us and become our internal checkpoint to ensure we’re being consistent in what we do.
At our session, we spent time thinking about values and all were challenged with thinking about how well we live them. Values are only as good as the things we act on to fulfill this value. Think of values as our emotional compass, which give us purpose and guidance to what is important and not as important to us. Thus, when we are clear about our values we gain focus, confidence, and are more intentional in everything we do. Think about this, “When I show up with positive energy about my perceptions, values, and point of view, the things I look at and do change for the better and have more meaning.”
Take for example, if a goal was to travel with the team to Barcelona, then a value might be to travel and explore the world. Consider having your student-athletes and/or staff complete a chart like the one below. You can download it. They can list their values and their goals. And then they can chart how they met that goal – their metric of accomplishment or success.
By the way, we all have many goals. Challenge yourself to realize what’s important and not as important. That way the important things rise to the surface and become priority.
In the end we want to have clarity about our goals and by doing so, we become more thoughtful and mindful. Student-athletes have enough to do. Just remember keep it simple, be present with your thoughts so you increase performance and ultimately success, on the field and in life.
