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Thanks to some jet lag I was wide awake at 5:30 am this morning wanting to stay in bed but avoid screens (tricky). I ended up listening to a podcast that my strength and conditioning coach had recommended to me; The Tim Ferriss Show. This particular podcast was advertising his latest book; Tools of Titans which is subsequently on my Christmas list. Anyway the book sounds to be a compilation of all the useful things he’s learned from interviewing a lot of very successful people. I have to admit it was pretty inspiring and a great listen so thanks jetlag for the wake up call.

It made me think a lot. Since I left my job in October 2015 I’ve been a full-time skeleton athlete. That is my identity. Before I was more; a committed athlete and an exercise physiologist juggling the two, sometimes well and other times not well. One thing that resonated with me from the podcast was the idea of creating yourself. Not looking for your purpose in life; I’ve never been particularly philosophical or spiritual, but being the person you want to be. Not looking back but planning who you want to be going forwards. Right now, I am not 100% the person I want to be.

Being a full-time athlete was and is my dream job! But you exist in a bubble; even more so for skeleton when we are away for such a huge proportion of the year. I have noticed that I have, at times, neglected some values that are important to me such a being a good friend, daughter, sister etc. In order to perform I have to train hard, eat well, and recover effectively. This can equate to a rather selfish existence; for example, when I am away I’ll often be asleep before my boyfriend is free to talk in the evening so I miss calls.

I don’t feel as productive as I used to either. I worked really hard over summer to start KimFit and it needs more attention than I’ve been giving it. I also miss blogging but have had zero motivation to blog so far this season. It’s so weird. I have very little to think about other than skeleton (which to be fair gives me plenty to think about) but I miss science and working with athletes to improve their performance. Some days it feels like my brain is turning to mush and I have forgotten two degrees of information and three years of experience.

Anyway, enough negative Nancy. We happen to be 11 days away from a brand spanking new year so what better time to set some goals and create myself. I refuse to settle or sit in my comfort zone in life; that gets you nowhere so even though I am technically in my dream job, I want more and I am going to get it in 2017. I have to be realistic; my priority is skeleton and qualifying for the Winter Olympics in 2022. I can’t jeopardise reaching that goal; I’ll be away for the first and last three months of 2017 and training full-time in Bath the rest. But, I know I can be better. I saw a really awesome goal/resolution schematic in a blog that my friend writes (paupertoprincess.com) and I thought I’d have a go at using it to set some goals for 2017.  I prefer goals to resolutions as they infer actions and accountability meaning you’re likely to stick with it.  xscreen-shot-2016-12-28-at-21-02-20

So there you have it. I have to admit sitting here looking at it it is pretty intimidating; a lot to achieve in a year. So much so I just had to have a little Facebook break on my phone (naughty). In order to get started each goal will need to be accompanied by details to make it specific, measureable, achievable, realistic and timely. It doesn’t mean that come January 1st I’ll be stressed out trying to achieve all eighteen by February; I can spread them out over the course of the year. When I think of everything I have done in the last 12 months I realise how long a year is and that I have plenty of time. And a year on I can review and hopefully be happy with the me that I created in 2017.

Why not try this yourself? The format is from secret owl society; but I have tweaked it a bit to suit me.

Happy 2017 x