At the end of the outgoing year and beginning of the next, tradition tells us to make commitments and plans to improve in the new year. It’s a new year, with new opportunities and new possibilities to make ourselves better.

Write down your goals.

Identify what you want to accomplish.  Select a race, for example (even if we are not sure it’s going to happen) so that you have something on the calendar to drive your training program.

Identify who you want to be. Set a goal to rise to a challenge (e.g. by doing your high-intensity intervals), or gain more consistency (e.g. by starting on 90% of your workouts). “I’m the kind of person who gets things done…”. Putting your goals down on paper in a place where you can see them daily will help.

Set down a program.

Write down the steps you will take to achieve your goals. This list of items should have only those things that will result in the goal, not everything you can think of.

Stick with your program.

When events present challenges to your program, remember that every day is a new day, a chance to step back, just like you did at new years day, and recommit to your goals. Then, move forward.

While your annual goals guide your long-term actions, every new day is a new opportunity to renew and refresh and make one day’s progress toward your annual goal.

Onward.

Mental Skills Performance Coach Will Murray often hears triathletes saying that the sport is at least 50% mental and 50% physical, but I’ve come to notice that they spend very little (if any) time doing mental training. Fortunately, it’s easy and fast to train-up your mind to help you achieve your triathlon goals. I’ve been lucky enough to bring these mental conditioning techniques to first-time athletes and Olympians, kids and seniors, triathletes who want to finish the race and those who are gunning to win.

Will is a USA Triathlon Certified Coach and holds a Practitioner’s certificate with more than 100 hours of advanced training in Neuro-Lingustic Programming.