Changing Course

I just left my role as a high school strength and conditioning coach. I was only there for one year. It's hard for me to say, because for the majority of my career I'd desperately wanted to get into a high school coaching role. I'd only only ever operated a business because I loved where I lived and the high schools weren't hiring. But after a year, I'm leaving, and it's been a great reminder of how our priorities surrounding training have to change just like our careers do.

I didn't leave my coaching job because I couldn't hack it. In fact, I did the job really well. But I was staring down the barrel of a district in financial crisis and a school culture which was too far gone in a negative direction for me to change with little help. And frankly, there wasn't enough time to change a department, program, or school culture that would also allow me to live a life my wife and I wanted. I wanted a life with my wife, not to work 60 hour weeks. My priorities have changed.

The same goes for training. Our priorities in training have to change. Our goals have to evolve and progress. Sometimes we achieve a goal and realize it wasn't what we really wanted in the long term anyway. Other times we get halfway there and we realize we'd rather do something else. We all have this, and it's a good thing!

Changing your training goals and priorities is a thing that people often attribute to burnout or something crazy. But it's not that. It's merely a function of what we want out of life changing. And with the change in goals, your training has to change. It's a good thing!

Now, some people may not get it. This is also normal, and is fine. You don't really need to explain to others why your goals are shifting. Sure, you can give them reasons, but the reality is we can chase goals entirely too long after it finally stops serving us. So change the course when it's needed, and you'll thank yourself in the long term.