Drivers
Written 18 March 2009
To train hard an athlete needs to have a driver or motivation behind them. �This "driver" will obviously be different for everyone but discovering what it is can be most important when setting goals and making plans.
I had a planning meeting recently with my coach. During this meeting I verbalised to her a previously subconscious driver. I realised what my driver was without ever having consciously thought about it. �I had known what it was all along.
When I was young I was driven because riding was my community and to an extent, I did it for other people, coaches and family mainly. �I also did it because I was good and I wanted to qualify for New Zealand teams.
As I hit university I realised that I didn't have to ride for anyone else anymore and New Zealand teams just didn't seem that important either. �I only had to ride for myself, and due to other normal university distractions I didn't ride because I simply didn't want to.
Since 2005 (my last year of University) I have ridden again because I wanted to. �When you only ride for yourself it is no longer a chore but a choice. �As part of this I thought I was doing it to make it back into New Zealand teams because that is what drove me previously. �Until my planning meeting I thought this was what drove me; the aspiration of an external goal, making a national squad and racing for New Zealand.
My coach recently sent me an article (see excerpt below), which is exactly how I previously approached my riding, only ever thinking I could be so good or achieve a certain limited goal based on previous results or achievements. Because of this supposed goal of riding for New Zealand I put limits and ceilings on ever achieving that goal and in turn floundered around asking myself why I was doing it? Why was I training so hard?
"You're naturally motivated and naturally driven, but that's not always enough, is it? There's something else and it's keeping you from pursuing what you really want. It's the same thing every time. And it all comes down to one word: limits. What's really fascinating is how much we avoid doing what we love because of these arbitrary limits. If there is any enemy, it is the groundless divisions of the possible and probable. If there is anything we should limit, it is how many limits we let seep into our lives."
Excerpt taken from "Move Beyond the Limits That Are Holding You Back"
This is when it dawned on me, that my driver is now totally different. When Amy started asking me what the goals were for next season I realised - the only goal is to ride until I feel like I have fulfilled my potential. �That doesn't mean having my potential or ability acknowledged by an external selector or team. �I will know in myself when this goal has been reached. Realising this makes it all so much more simple. �It means I don't care about teams, or selection policies or what goes on in the power to the podium programme. �If selection in a national team is a by-product of my potential then so be it, but I don't need it as validation of my talent anymore.
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