Setting Goals

As the weather starts to change and the summer hair begins to shed off, I started to think about prepping for the upcoming cold months. Personally, I hate winter up here in the freezing north and I despise going to the barn at 5pm and already having it be pitch black out and below freezing. This is also the time of year when my trainer heads south for the Florida circuit so I'm left completely high and dry, unless there is a clinic set up or something (not that I can afford/take that many lessons in the first place, but its more than zero.)

So, I was thinking about setting some goals for myself and for Fire to try to get to by the end of the winter. This might help me to stay motivated and to actually keep creeping toward things, even when I'm stuck in the indoor and I feel like I'm not going anywhere all winter.

I find having short term goals to be very beneficial. Obviously the long term goal is to get up back into the FEI ring, but when that is your goal you can sometimes feel like you'll never get there and become discouraged, or feel like you're moving at a snails pace and lose your footing.

I also think its good to realize it's not the end of the world if you don't reach your goals by your set time too. I think that goals should be lofty and out there so if you were to reach them it would be a big feat. So, once you do get to that time.... say... early March, you reevaluate what you set up for goals at the time and then you see where you actually are at, what portions of those goals you did meet, which you did not and then figure out why you fell short and reassess things. This at least keeps you moving forward on your training continuum and keeps you motivated and you can actually see your process.

Though I wish I had a fun little app for my smartphone to *click*click* on and keep track of goals and things, I do find that this blog itself is a rolling "goal check" for me. I write and try to keep a very realistic outlook and open mind to things.