It's Important to Take the Time to Define Your Purpose (Part One)

Image from Unsplash.

This past week on Wednesday and Thursday, rather than train for the first block of the training time, I worked with our volleyball athletes on defining their purpose for training at Blockout Strength. Now, it was odd because of how I had to frame it as they’re not in trouble and they’re doing great. They show up and execute. They work hard. Their attendance is solid. Their numbers from vertical to sprint to weight on the barbell are all improving consistently.

But we have had a couple of weeks where I noticed something was missing. When I’m in the team training environment, there is a common goal or purpose. If you don’t have a purpose, there’s no common goal. If you don’t agree on your common goal, there’s not going be a purpose. So for me to really help these athletes continue to grow, I need them to discover their purpose with regard to their training goals.

We spent some time talking and thinking about how to put language around a purpose. I brought in resources I’ve used in the past for similar situations. I also brought in some new tools based on what I’ve learned so far through the Brian Cain Mental Performance Mastery course, as well as some things I’ve learned from his podcast and Dr Rob Gilbert’s Success Hotline. I also wanted to use the existing environment and the screens I’ve placed in the common space of the gym to help them create and think about their goals. It was a bit more interactive and encouraged the girls to participate in a meaningful way.

When the athletes first walk in to Blockout Strength, they do a daily check in, so that’s where we kicked off their goal-setting session. Then we walked throughout the space to the various stations and discussed why it’s important to have specific goals for each aspect of training we do here.

I talked through the purpose of each screen and the various reminders I have put up for them. My instruction and our conversations continued as we walked throughout the space and thought about various goals and purposes.

I also talked about how the things we focus on in that space can also come up in our day-to-day life ,whether it be skill training at Blockout Academy or performance training here at Blockout Strength and even at school at home in your typical day. Then I asked the girls to spend some time walking through the space on their own and be thoughtful about the goals and purpose they want to have.

It went pretty well overall. I really only had one group that was not very receptive maybe a bit frustrated. But I really believe that I need to still challenge them to do things like this. When the time is right, they’ll read it and grow from it. I try to make sure they don’t feel any pressure to respond a certain way. I tell them it’s no hurry—when it’s time for them to grow in that way, they’ll have the tools they need for that growth.

It’s the same approach I take when I asked people to contribute and help around the gym. It’s always very busy with all sorts of equipment around. There’s always opportunities for the girls to help out and clean up but I don’t pressure them with that either. I tell them, “You can help now or you can help later when the time is right. if you want to be involved and contribute to the greater common good, get involved. It’ll all be here waiting for you.”

I really took the same approach with the goal and purpose setting exercise. I told them, “This is for you. It’s not for me. I’m not going to collect what you write down. This is for you to use to grow as an athlete and as a person.” I just wanted them to give some focused thought to what I was asking them to do. I will refer back to this process in the coming weeks and ask them to remember what they wrote down. And maybe when I mention it again, it will click more for the few athletes who weren’t too into it the first time around.

At the end, I emphasized again that it’s important to define your purpose for when you walk in Blockout Strength. We’re here to work hard and grow and the more specific we can be about that, the closer you will be to reaching your personal goals. Most of the girls appreciated the activity and the opportunity to think more about all of this.

I really think my prior experience with instructing on the university level helped me prepare to deliver this message to the athletes. This sort of interaction is very different from the ways we interact while we’re working out. I didn’t have a lot of notes and stories prepared, but my past experience teaching in the college classroom kicked in and gave me what I needed in this teaching environment. I was able to tell different stories to different groups of girls depending on how engaged they were and how they were responding.

So, overall, I think it was a worthwhile and positive experience for our volleyball athletes and I look forward to seeing how things progress over the next few weeks. My next blog post goes into greater detail about the screens and reminders I have in my space and how I utilized those things to walk the girls through defining their purpose and goals.