The last couple years I have wrote down a handful of things that I think I need to work on both personally and professionally to help become better over the course of the next year. Sometimes I have done a great job of implementing some of these changes and sometimes I haven’t – but that doesn’t stop me from making a small list each and every year.

Here are a handful of goals for the year of 2018. Enjoy!

Explain the ‘Why’
Everything we do in the weight room has a ‘why’ – if it didn’t it would be a waste of time for the athletes and as a result I wouldn’t put it into the program. One of the things that I feel I don’t do a great job with is actually explaining the ‘why’ to the things we do in the weight room. Without a doubt, athletes will benefit a ton from understanding why they are doing things more then they will from just knowing what they are doing, helping create more buy-in and athletes that understand the rationale for what they are doing.

Less Caffeine
This one is on the list almost every single year. I need to drink less coffee. I’m a coffee addict. I also need to stop drinking coffee past 1 or so in the afternoon. It would also save me a decent amount of money over the course of a year if I lessened my intake a little.

Slow Down and Enjoy the Ride
I admittedly am always looking forward to the next thing, trying to plan ahead and stay ahead in basically all areas of my life. On the other hand, I sometimes find myself not enjoying the moment because I am always looking ahead. Time to slow down a little bit and enjoy the moment.

Getting Out and Meeting More People in the Field
This one is pretty straight forward…one goal of mine is to visit a new/different strength program or facility each month, getting to at least 12 over the course of the year. I need to meet more people so that I can learn from more people.

Take Better Care of Myself
People find this surprising because I work in a weight room, but many times my training takes a backseat (and rightfully so) to the training of the sports and athletes that I work with and I end up not training more often then I would like to admit. Focusing on the athletes is the right thing to do – they come first, but I do need to find more time to take care of myself and keep myself in great shape. I’m not looking to look like The Rock, but living a long and healthy life is a priority and I need to commit to that on a daily basis.

Implementation of Continuing Education
Most people that know me know that I listen to a lot of podcasts in my down time and in my car while commuting along with reading a lot in my down time. Both of these things have helped me become a much better coach and person, yet I still don’t do a great job of implementing a lot of the things I learn through these educational resources.